Tag: Cold climate

In Western Siberia, a population study confirmed widespread vitamin D insufficiency, with over 50% of adults experiencing reduced levels, especially during winter. This stark reality prompts a crucial question: how do people in Siberia get vitamin D when sunlight is scarce for much of the year?

According to the World Population Review, Finland leads the world in per capita coffee consumption, followed closely by other Scandinavian countries like Norway and Iceland. But why do Scandinavian countries consume so much coffee, making it an integral part of their daily lives and social fabric? The answer lies in a rich tapestry of history, climate, and deep-seated social traditions.

In regions near the North and South Poles, where temperatures plummet well below freezing, traditional diets are often very high in fat. People of the cold region eat too much fat primarily to generate the intense metabolic heat and insulation needed to survive and thrive in freezing temperatures. This practice is rooted in a combination of evolutionary adaptation, physiology, and cultural history.

According to scientific principles of thermoregulation, larger body mass with a lower surface area-to-volume ratio is an advantage for heat retention. This has historically led to the idea that people in colder regions might carry more body fat as a protective measure, but does this hold true today and do people in colder climates have more body fat?