The sunny-country paradox.
Why so many people here test low, how much sun does the job, and what the supplement is for.
Foundations
Energy
the protocol it funnels to
Before you start.
- This page is about the Philippine paradox: a country in the sun where a great many people test low in vitamin D, and what to do about it.
- Vitamin D is made in the skin from sunlight, and a life spent indoors, in a car and under a roof makes less of it than the latitude suggests.
- You leave knowing how much sun does the job, when to test, and what the supplement is for.
The paradox.
The sun is overhead in Manila all year, and the working day is spent under a roof, in a car with the windows up, in an office with the blinds down, and out again after dark. Skin makes vitamin D from the ultraviolet in direct sunlight; glass stops it, shade stops most of it, and a life that never puts skin in the midday sun makes little. Add sunscreen worn for good reasons, and the result is that low vitamin D is common in this country, which surprises everyone who tests.
This page does not say what a level means or what yours should be; the test measures a vitamin in the blood and your doctor reads it. It says how the vitamin is made and how it is replaced.
How much sun does the job.
Ten to twenty minutes of direct sun on arms and legs a few times a week, around the middle of the day when the ultraviolet is strongest, is enough for most people with skin in the medium tones common here; darker skin needs longer. That is a walk to lunch with sleeves rolled, or the balcony at noon, not a beach. The same sun at seven in the morning, useful for the sleep clock, makes far less vitamin D because the ultraviolet is weaker.
The trade-off with skin ageing and skin cancer is real and it is why this page says minutes, not hours. A person with a history of skin cancer, or on a compound or medication that makes skin sensitive to light, talks to their doctor and uses the supplement instead.
Testing it.
The test is 25-hydroxyvitamin D, a blood draw at any of the laboratories on the bloodwork page. It is often added to a baseline panel because the result changes what you do: a low number means the supplement, a fine number means the sun is doing its job. Retest at week twelve if you changed something. What the number means, and the target, is your doctor's.
The bloodwork log has a row for it, in the units the laboratory printed.
Ask for the test by its full name, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and draw it with the baseline panel so the two travel together to the retest. It is not on every package menu, and where it is not, the laboratory adds it as a single test. Nothing on this site says what the number should be; the doctor who reads it says that, and the doctor page gives that doctor the context.
The supplement, plainly.
Vitamin D3 is the form the skin makes and the one sold over the counter; it is on the supplements page with retailers whose pages were fetched and prices as printed. It is taken with a meal that has some fat, because it dissolves in fat. How much is a conversation with the doctor who saw the number. It is one of the four supplements on this site with evidence behind it, and it is the one most people in this country turn out to need.
Magnesium and vitamin K are often mentioned beside it; the supplements page says what the evidence supports and stops there.
Take it with the meal that has fat in it, because it is absorbed with fat, and take it at the same time every day so it becomes a habit rather than a decision. Skip the sprays, the gummies and the blends that pair it with things you did not ask for. A plain capsule from a pharmacy chain or a supplement retailer with its own store is the whole purchase, and the retest, not the label, says whether it did anything.
How it fits your protocol.
The energy protocol on NAD+ and MOTS-c is built for the afternoon, and low vitamin D is one of the ordinary reasons an afternoon is flat before any compound is considered. Test it at the baseline; if it is low, fixing it is cheap and the protocol has less to do. The Planner puts the baseline on the calendar and the bloodwork log keeps the number beside the day-90 retest.
Morning sun serves the sleep protocol too, for the clock rather than the vitamin.
Energy protocols here are built on NAD+ and MOTS-c. Yours starts with three minutes.
Get startedQuestions
Can I really be low in vitamin D in the Philippines?
Yes, and many people are, because a working life here is indoors, behind glass and under sunscreen. The latitude does not help skin that never sees the midday sun.
How long in the sun?
Ten to twenty minutes on arms and legs a few times a week around midday for medium skin; longer for darker skin. Minutes, not hours.
Which test?
25-hydroxyvitamin D, a blood draw at any laboratory on the bloodwork page. Your doctor reads it.
Which supplement?
Vitamin D3, with a meal that has fat. The amount is your doctor's call from the number. The supplements page has retailers and prices.
Does sunscreen block it?
Largely, yes, which is why the answer is short unprotected exposures and the supplement, not skipping sunscreen for the day.
Related
Longevity Manila builds your protocol from your answers. We are not a clinic. Fulfilment is by Primara Labs, our partner and supplier. Take it to a doctor who knows you before you begin.