Getting dirty is beautiful!...

On a cold but sunny day, while traveling from Yatağan towards Milas-Bodrum, a massive, dirty-white plume of smoke was rising from the chimneys of the Yatağan Thermal Power Plant over the city. For a moment, I drifted back to the past. I struggled with this so much during my time as a Member of Parliament. Whenever I would frequently call the Governors and administrators of that era, they would immediately start running the filters. 

Since 1982, the power plant has been burning lignite coal day and night without stopping, polluting the air and nature. It feels as if I can hear them whispering, "What else are we supposed to do in this cold if we don't burn it..."  

It was included in the investment program in 1975 to utilize the coal in the Yatağan lignite basin and meet the needs of the national energy system. Even though its operations were occasionally halted on the grounds that it increased air pollution, it has been contributing to air and nature pollution—or, to use a trendy phrase, air contamination—to varying degrees for exactly 45 years. What fault does the power plant have? They give it the coal, and it burns it as best it can... 

It is not just the Yatağan Thermal Power Plant; one must not forget the Yeniköy and Kemerköy thermal power plants between Milas and Ören. The Yatağan Thermal Power Plant (TPP) is the 2nd in Muğla after the Kemerköy TPP, the 5th in Turkey, and the 33rd in the world. It is said that there are around 10 thousand power plants in the world that are retired, operating, or planned. Just think about the amount of carbon monoxide released into the atmosphere! 

In fact, those fueled by oil are the ones that pollute the air the most. They are in first place. Oh, the traffic, the cars, the airplanes... Air pollutants are not just carbon-based. When we consider those originating from solid, liquid, or gas sources, we continue to pollute our ecosystem 24 hours a day without pause. The mixing of these harmful foreign substances into the air leads to significant pollution day by day. It causes the air that living beings breathe to become polluted and threatens life. Air pollution ranks 5th among the causes of disease and death. It is also possible to define air pollution as the sum of all conditions that disrupt the ecological balance. 

While writing this article, an advertisement for a detergent brand came to my mind. "Getting dirty is beautiful." It was trying to describe how children's street lives are restricted in the face of sky-piercing apartment buildings and the increasing population. The "getting dirty" in the advertisement was describing a different kind of beautiful longing. Isn't that right? 

The Yatağan Thermal Power Plant chimneys took me to many places. Let's not even get into the pollution in politics. As economic troubles increase, pollution in politics also grows day by day. It is not just us; pollution is rapidly increasing in every field all over the world. 

What did we say? We mentioned that air pollution is the fifth leading factor that impairs human health. In 2021, 8.1 million people worldwide lost their lives due to diseases linked to air pollution. According to statistical data from previous years in Turkey, 70 thousand of our people have lost their lives due to air pollution. 

When we look at it in terms of fatigue, weakness, stress, and diseases—that is, risks affecting daily life—we see that air pollution rises to much higher ranks. When viewed from the perspective of human life, air pollution rises to the second place among risks leading to job loss, disease, and death globally. Approximately one-third of diseases and deaths caused by hypertension, stroke, paralysis, lung cancer, heart attack, and COPD stem from air pollution. 

In a country like Turkey, which has plenty of sun?, problems and diseases related to Vitamin D deficiency have been increasing rapidly in recent years. Physicians and scientists dealing with health have begun to examine and focus on Vitamin D and its cofactors much more. You could say it has become a trend. 

As a physician, I also see that Vitamin D deficiency and related health problems are increasing in a large part of the society. Precautions related to diseases caused by Vitamin D3 and Vitamin K2 deficiency have begun to attract the attention of not only healthcare professionals but also the public, becoming a focal point. We went through a COVID-19, or epidemic, period. While some people died from the pandemic, others returned to life. In the research conducted by scientists, it was observed that while the number of deaths was low in the group with high blood Vitamin D levels, most of those with low Vitamin D3 levels died or were left disabled. Even though they tried to attribute sequelae like heart diseases to the vaccines administered, it was determined that Vitamin D deficiency, one of the fundamental factors of the immune system, was responsible. 

So, what should we do now? 

First of all, we will take an interest in our health. We will go to our doctor and have our blood Vitamin D3 levels checked. First and foremost, we will focus on ourselves and monitor our health. We will not let our Vitamin D3 levels in blood tests drop below 40 ng/mL. If it is below this figure (even though laboratories accept the 20 to 50 ng/mL reference range as normal), we must take vitamin supplements. That is, we must support it for the first 3 months until the Vitamin D3 level rises above 40 ng/mL. 

The increase in pollution surrounding the atmosphere prevents the sun's beneficial ultraviolet rays, which enable our body to receive Vitamin D, leading to deficiency. 

Scientific research also shows that in a country like Turkey, Vitamin D deficiency has been detected in more than two-thirds of the population. There is sun, yet Vitamin D deficiency is at its peak!  

Vitamin D, which is one of the cornerstones of the immune system, is an important vitamin that protects us against anti-diabetic, anti-carcinogenic, anti-rheumatic conditions, and all kinds of infections. It is recommended to be taken especially with Vitamin K2. 

Does Vitamin D supplementation also help against the pollution in politics? That is debatable. But especially for politicians to keep their nerves in check, they also need to keep their Vitamin D levels above 40 ng/mL. 

In next week's article, I would like to provide more extensive information about Vitamin D. Hoping to meet next week, I wish you healthy days. 

Prof. Dr. Nurettin DEMİR