Changes of 25-OH-Vitamin D during overwintering at the German Antarctic stations Neumayer II and III

• Published in: PLOS ONE
• Main Authors: M. Steinach, E. Kohlberg, S. Mendt, O. Opatz, A. Stahn, J. Tiedemann, H. Gunga, M.A. Maggioni
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public library of science 2015
• Subjects: Antarctica; vitamin D; overwintering; extreme environment; high latitude; Settore BIO/09 - Fisiologia; Antarc*; Antarctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2434/344272; https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144130

Humans in Antarctica face different environmental challenges, such as low ultra-violet radiation, which is crucial for vitamin D production in humans. Therefore we assessed changes in 25-OH-vitamin D serum concentration during 13 months of overwintering at the German Stations Neumayer II and III (2007-2012). We hypothesized that (i) 25-OH-vitamin D serum concentration would significantly decrease, (ii) changes would be affected by age, gender, baseline (i.e. pre-overwintering) fat mass, baseline 25-OH-vitamin D serum concentration, and station residence, and (iii) our results would not differ from similar previous studies in comparable high latitudes.