Could Cold Compensate for Vitamin D Insufficiency?

Immunomodulatory effects of cold exposure thru biophoton emission in the mitochondria

How might populations living at extreme latitudes survive long dark winter nights without sufficient Vitamin D to support immune function? The key may be cold exposure. This picture of the Northern Lights was captured in Iceland in Dec 2022, where biophoton production by mitochondria during cold exposure might be sufficient to activate synthesis of Vitamin D that is never detected in the blood.

Summary

• Human populations living at extreme latitudes lack sufficient sunshine to produce Vitamin D. Good health and immune function can be at risk.

• However, the cold exposure that coincides with the nadir in seasonal blood serum Vitamin D might compensate by stimulating mitochondrial production of ultraviolet light inside the cell, thus activating Vitamin D production inside brown fat and other cells.

• Vitamin D synthesized from internal biophoton light might not be detected in blood serum tests to the same extent that Vitamin D synthesized from sunlight on the skin always is. Thus, biophoton Vitamin D from cold exposure could supply sufficient levels for health & immune function, despite a deficiency in blood serum concentrations of Vitamin D.

• If cold exposure compensates for darkness by stimulating biophoton Vitamin D and modulating immune function via other mechanisms, this could explain the long, healthy lives of cold-weather populations during sunshine deprivation.

Autoimmune disorders originate in Vitamin D deficiency

Many autoimmune disorders, including Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's, allergy, asthma (Mailhot & White 2020) and Parkinson's are associated with deficiencies in Vitamin D during infancy, when the immune system is developing most rapidly. For example, in Re-ordering Autoimmune Disorders, I described a longitudinal study of Finnish mothers and their children that revealed Vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy and the first year of infancy was associated with a significantly reduced rate of Type 1 diabetes up to two decades later in life (Hyppönen et al. 2001).

Studies relating Vitamin D status to autoimmune conditions can be confusing because they overlook the fact that aberrant development of the immune system in the first year of life can lead to increased risk factors that do not evidence until later. That is, studies that fail to show an conclusive association between serum Vitamin D deficiency and onset of autoimmune disorders cannot rule out that deficiency earlier in life resulted in immunological disorders that manifest years later, even after Vitamin D status is corrected.

In Can Ice Bath Prevent Illness? I wrote about the relationship between Vitamin D status and immune function. Medical doctors now understand that low levels of Vitamin D will leave the body more vulnerable to infection, which is why cold and flu season comes during the late winter months (Juzeniene et al. 2010).

What gets overlooked is that human infants are born without a mature immune system. Instead, they rely on immunoglobulins and other immunoregulatory markers from their Mother's breast milk to guard against infection (Rio-Aige et al. 2021). Moreover, the composition of Mother's breastmilk responds to changing infant needs. For example, compared to controls, researchers measured increased levels of white blood cells in breast milk sampled from Mothers of infants who were hospitalized for fever (Riskin et al. 2012).

During this first critical year of immune system development, Vitamin D plays an essential role in development of the innate and adaptive immune system that is still poorly understood. Insufficiency or deficiency in infancy is associated with a myriad of adverse health outcomes later in life, including irregularities of bone metabolism, cancers, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune conditions, and infections (Patel 2018). The most straightforward remedy for Vitamin D insufficiency is supplementation with Vitamin D + K2, followed by increased sun or artificial ultraviolet light exposure. However, in the case of autoimmune disease, neither supplements nor sunshine can correct disordered development of the immune system that dates back in insufficiencies in early childhood.

It is in these cases that cold exposure therapy may be critical.

Cold exposure compensates for lack of sunshine

Populations at extreme latitudes (e.g., northern Europe) live for several months out of the year without sufficient sun exposure to stimulate Vitamin D production in the skin. Although some compensation can be obtained from dietary sources, such as fatty fish (e.g., cod liver oil), Vitamin D insufficiency in these cold-weather populations is common and likely has been for tens of thousands of years.

When we consider the selection pressures placed upon populations at extreme latitudes, where Vitamin D insufficiency from lack of sunshine must be commonplace during the late winter, we might reason that the human immune system could not possibly support survival under such dire circumstances. The persistence of healthy human populations, even north of the Arctic Circle, suggest that some compensatory mechanism must be enabling immune function, even in the absence of sunshine and dietary sources of Vitamin D.

Given the coincident timing of long dark nights and cold temperatures, it makes sense to investigate whether cold exposure can compensate for Vitamin D insufficiency. Although the mechanisms remain mysterious, there are likely two:

1. Direct modulation of immune functions resulting from cold exposure, and

2. Indirect action of infrared and ultraviolet light (called biophotons -- Paolis et al. 2024) produced by activation of mitochondria internal to cells.

   
   

This indirect action via production of internal light by active mitochondria is the most mysterious of the two mechanisms. Although the wavelengths produced vary, what seems to be the case is that the greater the mitochondrial activity, the greater the biophoton production. For example, ten years ago Japanese researchers measured increased biophoton activity in response to heat shock proteins in bean plants (Kobayashi et al. 2014). Advances in biophoton detection since then have enabled more sophisticated experiments (Mould et al. 2024), but the role of biophotons in immune system function has yet to be investigated.

We might yet discover that stimulation of mitochondria by cold exposure produces sufficient ultraviolet light internal to the cells to convert cholesterol precursors to Vitamin D. The pathway is likely straightforward, given that Vitamin D synthesis is already well described. For example, when a cholesterol molecule called 7-dehydrocholesterol (2, 7-DHC) absorbs ultraviolet light, the short wavelengths (~315nm) effect an rupture of chemical bonds that convert cholesterol into a biological inactive form called previtamin D3, which eventually converts to an active D3. The reaction is understood to be entirely photochemical, without enzymatic modulation, such that any biophoton production in the correct wavelength that irradiates 2, 7-DHC will initiate eventual conversion to D3.

Moreover, this D3 need not ever enter the bloodstream, and may be undetectable in the blood, given that it is synthesized by internal light, rather than exclusively in the skin cells. That is, when D3 is synthesized in the skin, it must be transported through the blood to all other cells in the body that are receptive to it -- most importantly, in the bone marrow where immune system cells are synthesized. However, if the UV light that initiates Vitamin D production is emitted from mitochondria throughout the body, transport via the blood stream might be minimal.

Ultraviolet wavelength biophotons produced by mitochondria during cold exposure could initiate Vitamin D production throughout the body that is not detected in the bloodstream. Thus, populations at extreme latitudes previously thought to be deficient in Vitamin D might remain healthy by using biophoton Vitamin D, instead of that synthesized from sunshine.

For example, in Ice Baths for Mitochondrial Therapy I wrote about the relationship between cold exposure and mitochondrial activity in brown fat (or brown adipose tissue). Because Vitamin D is fat soluble, it may be that the Vitamin D synthesized by mitochondrial function in brown fat cells is stored there until it is called for in the bone marrow, or elsewhere in the body. Without the need to transport Vitamin D from the skin to fat cells for storage, it's possible that the Vitamin D synthesized in brown fat is not detected by conventional blood serum analysis. Thus, populations living at extreme latitudes during winter that measure as insufficient or deficient in blood serum concentration of Vitamin D might nevertheless have plenty of Vitamin D stored outside the bloodstream, and available when and where the immune system needs it most.

Treating Autoimmune With Cold

Multiple Sclerosis

In Multiple Sclerosis Relief, I pointed out that cold plunge therapy is more effective than any of the more than a dozen FDA-approved medications for treating the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Moreover, in Cold Plunge Therapy for MS I documented the amazing recovery of former Navy SEAL Justin Hoagland, who went from his wheelchair to running in road races after adopting a program of regular ice baths.

At the time I wrote those articles, I hypothesized that the principal mechanism by which cold plunge relieves the symptoms of MS relates to the prevention or reversal of plaque formation (i.e., sclerosis) that causes the nerve demyelination that leads to MS. I still think that's an important factor. However, I now also believe that biophotons produced during cold thermogenesis in brown fat are responsible for synthesizing Vitamin D that modifies immune system function to help correct the autoimmune irregularities that are at the origins of MS.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Similarly, in Reordering Autoimmune Disorders I've previously written that ice baths are effective for managing rheumatoid arthritis because they reduce the inflammation from which arthritis pain originates. I still think that's the case. However, I now also believe that biophoton Vitamin D must be modulating immune function to partially correct the underlying origins of the disease.

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

Again, in the Cold Connection to Hashimoto's I wrote that brown fat regulates thyroid function such that activation of brown fat via ice bath will correct thyroid disorders. I still agree with that. Nonetheless, I now believe that biophoton Vitamin D likely plays a role in correction of immune system disorders of all types, including Hashimoto's.

Parkinson's

Similarly, I've previously written that the principal mechanism by which cold plunge therapy can ameliorate symptoms of Parkinson's is the massive, endogenous dopamine boost that results. That still makes sense to me. But what if biophoton Vitamin D production also modifies progression of Parkinson's by delivering Vitamin D to the immune system in ways that correct autoimmune disorders?

Cold Exposure for Biophoton Vitamin D

As I've learned more about the immunomodulatory effects of cold exposure, the pattern by which each of these seemingly unique autoimmune disorders all respond to cold plunge therapy suggest to me that some common underlying mechanism must exist that accounts for these successes. Given that it's likely each of these immune function disorders originates in Vitamin D deficiencies experienced during the critical development of the immune system that takes place during the first year of life, then it stands to reason that biophoton-stimulated synthesis of Vitamin D may be a contributing, common underlying mechanism that modifies each of these diseases.

References

• Juzeniene A, Ma LW, Kwitniewski M, Polev GA, Lagunova Z, Dahlback A, Moan J. The seasonality of pandemic and non-pandemic influenzas: the roles of solar radiation and vitamin D. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2010 Dec 1;14(12):e1099-105.

• Kam JH, Billeres M, Herault L, Cali C, Sarmiento B, Cassano P, Magistretti P, Mitrofanis J. Exploring current and future technologies to make sense of the biophoton phenomenon: a narrative review. Advanced Technology in Neuroscience. 2024 Dec 1;1(2):201-10.

• Kobayashi K, Okabe H, Kawano S, Hidaka Y, Hara K. Biophoton emission induced by heat shock. PLoS One. 2014 Aug 25;9(8):e105700.

• Mailhot G, White JH. Vitamin D and immunity in infants and children. Nutrients. 2020 Apr 27;12(5):1233.

• Mould RR, Mackenzie AM, Kalampouka I, Nunn AV, Thomas EL, Bell JD, Botchway SW. Ultra weak photon emission—a brief review. Frontiers in Physiology. 2024 Feb 14;15:1348915.

• Paolis LD, Francini R, Davoli I, De Matteis F, Scordo A, Clozza A, Grandi M, Pace E, Curceanu C, Grigolini P, Benfatto M. Biophotons: A hard problem. Applied Sciences. 2024 Jun 25;14(13):5496.

• Riskin A, Almog M, Peri R, Halasz K, Srugo I, Kessel A. Changes in immunomodulatory constituents of human milk in response to active infection in the nursing infant. Pediatric research. 2012 Feb;71(2):220-5.

• Rio-Aige K, Azagra-Boronat I, Castell M, Selma-Royo M, Collado MC, Rodríguez-Lagunas MJ, Pérez-Cano FJ. The breast milk immunoglobulinome. Nutrients. 2021 May 26;13(6):1810.

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