I read somewhere that white skin may have evolved to help supplement the vitamin D required in Europe because the prevailing crops (cereal, grains) lacked vitamin D.
EDIT yeah here is the reference [1]:
> In the food-production theory, the cereal-rich diet of Neolithic farmers lacked vitamin D, so Europeans rapidly lost their dark-skin pigmentation only once they switched to agriculture, because it was only at that point that they had to synthesize vitamin D from the sun more readily.
EDIT yeah here is the reference [1]:
> In the food-production theory, the cereal-rich diet of Neolithic farmers lacked vitamin D, so Europeans rapidly lost their dark-skin pigmentation only once they switched to agriculture, because it was only at that point that they had to synthesize vitamin D from the sun more readily.
[1] https://www.livescience.com/42838-european-hunter-gatherer-g...