Why are Europeans white

[Bold Seagull]

Bloody Blair.

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

UV light produces vitamin D, but also reduces folate when it hits the skin. Lack of folate of course effects reproduction (hence mothers take folic acid). As prehistoric groups migrated, they evolved according to their exposure to UV light (otherwise they would have died out).

However that doesn't explain why Europeans, on the same latitude as many other humans have much lighter skin tone. The big change came in agriculture and the consumption of grains (which contain no Vitamin D) which started in Europe approx. 10,000 years ago. Up until then man had been hunter gathers mainly eating meats and fish which contain Vitamin D.

So the short answer is still Vitamin D.

I have been eating cornflakes since I was a kid, and that is more than 10 yrs ago I see you have edited your post now.

 

[Triggaaar]

because during the ice age white skin was better for the extreme cold

Is it? Inuits and Eskimos aren't white.

UV light produces vitamin D, but also reduces folate when it hits the skin.

I didn't know about the reduction of folate which, as you say, would counter the argument for paler skin.

As prehistoric groups migrated, they evolved according to their exposure to UV light (otherwise they would have died out).
...
The big change came in agriculture and the consumption of grains (which contain no Vitamin D) which started in Europe approx. 10,000 years ago. Up until then man had been hunter gathers mainly eating meats and fish which contain Vitamin D.

The thing is, even the darkest of skin can get enough vitamin D with just 5 minutes of sunlight a day, and people with dark skin are better protected from the damage UV rays cause.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lack of Vitamin D, and therefore rickets, had some effect, but it wouldn't really cause everyone with darker skin to suffer, it just isn't that much of a problem until children are made to work in mines all day.

I think the main reason is probably sexual selection (obviously I don't know, just my thinking).

 

[Phat Baz 68]

You all white ?? Im all white !!!

 

[Triggaaar]

You all white ?? Im all white !!!

What a strike of luck.

 

[Boris Yeltsin]

Why are Red Indians Red?

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

UV light produces vitamin D, but also reduces folate when it hits the skin. Lack of folate of course effects reproduction (hence mothers take folic acid). As prehistoric groups migrated, they evolved according to their exposure to UV light (otherwise they would have died out).

However that doesn't explain why Europeans, on the same latitude as many other humans have much lighter skin tone. The big change came in agriculture and the consumption of grains (which contain no Vitamin D) which started in Europe approx. 10,000 years ago. Up until then man had been hunter gathers mainly eating meats and fish which contain Vitamin D.

So the short answer is still Vitamin D.

Sunlight doesn't reduce folate and has minimal effects on reproduction. Pregnant women take it to reduce the incidence of spina bifida.

Vitamin D is a possibility as lack of it has also been linked to poor immunity amongst other things.

UV damage is probably not a factor if you only live into yours 40s, at best.

 

[Nottseagull]

Inuits and Eskimos aren't white.

Inuits are Eskimos, aren't they? Isn't it just that eskimo is now as non-PC as negro? Either way, they don't look as white as the average Albion fan.
What about white Zimbabweans whose ancestors have lived there for hundreds of years; are they evolving melanin?

 

[Triggaaar]

Inuits are Eskimos, aren't they? Isn't it just that eskimo is now as non-PC as negro?

Yes Inuits are Eskimos, but not all Eskimos are Inuits (there's Yupiks too). I think the Yupiks refer to themselves as Eskimos, whereas the Inuits prefer to be called Inuits. But I've probably got that completely wrong.