Vitamin D3…Is the USDA recommended amount right?…How much is?

Video discusses vitamin d3 and the government recommended amounts (USDA)…Is that enough or not?

Vitamin D, U.S. needs how much? Why?

Video talks about the need for proper amounts of vitamin D. How and why?

Sarah Palin’s tanning bed, part 3. Will the tanning bed kill her, or will the vitamin D save her life?

Sunlight exposure and tanning have been vilified by many (but not all) dermatologists some of who call them “cancer machines.”

There are movements afoot to make it illegal for those under the age of 18 to even use them.

Perhaps we will soon see the “sunlight police” patrolling the beaches and arresting those who do not wear sunscreens.

Don’t laugh, it could happen. As I have already indicated in previous blogs, melanoma is the excuse for this madness, but melanoma is more common in those who stay out of the sunlight.

This is all woefully ill-advised.

Hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved by maintaining high levels of vitamin D, which tanning beds produce in abundance.

Every beneficial effect of vitamin D that is produced by sunlight (ultraviolet light or UVB) exposure is also produced by the use of high-quality tanning beds. And is it really UV light that causes melanoma?

In my last “Sarah-Palin” blog, I presented evidence that as we have moved out of the sunlight by opting for indoor jobs, there has been an incredible 25-fold increase in melanoma.

I also pointed out that 78% of melanomas occur on areas of the body that are seldom exposed to sunlight. What’s more, the risks associated with UV overexposure do not appear to be related to regular, non-burning exposure.

Remember that the key to safe tanning of any kind is NEVER BURN. The following is a list of tanning-bed benefits:

1. Tanning-bed use dramatically increases serum-vitamin D levels and bone mass.[1]
2. Whereas a daily 400 IU vitamin D supplement does not maintain healthful levels, tanning bed use increases vitamin D levels by 150% in only seven weeks.[2]
3. Tanning-bed use reduces chronic pain.[3]
4. Sun lamps are now being recommended by at least one British physician for use by pregnant women who will give birth in a winter month. The recommendation is being made to protect the unborn child from osteoporosis during adulthood.[4]
5. High quality tanning beds, because they provide UVB to both sides of the body simultaneously, stimulate the production of up to 15,000 IU of vitamin D in less than ten minutes.[5] Ten minutes of tanning-bed exposure can be done on a lunch break. That means they are more efficient than summer sunlight. Of course, those with darker skin will require a longer time to produce the same amount of vitamin D.
6. Tanning beds may be used regardless of outside weather, time of day or time of year.
It appears that Sarah is on the right track. We will shortly present specific research regarding tanning beds and melanoma. You may be surprised. Stay tuned!

[1] Tangpricha, V. et al. Tanning is associated with optimal vitamin D status (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration) and higher bone mineral density. Am J Clin Nutr 2004;80:1645-49.
[2] Holick, M. et al. Boston University. “Effects Of Vitamin D And Skin’s Physiology Examined.” Science Daily 21 February 2008 .
[3] Kaur, M. et al. Indoor tanning relieves pain. Photodermatol Photoimmunol Photomed 2005;21:278.
[4] Bukhari, M. et al. 108. Sun Lamps help Unborn Babies Beat Osteoporosis. Quoted in London Times April 27, 2008.
[5] Grant, W. Personal communication with the author, June, 2006

Great news! An inexpensive vitamin D test is now available.

When I first started advising people to have their blood levels of vitamin D tested [25(OH)D or calcidiol], the cost for the test at our local LabCorp was about $150, which was prohibitively expensive. Though the prices have come down rapidly, most labs still charge as much as $60-$100. The great news is that Carol Baggerly, through her non-profit organization, Grassroots Health, has arranged for tests for only $30. The following is an excerpt from an email I received from Carol today:

1. Sign up to participate in an international effort to solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic now.
2. Get your vitamin D tested for only $30 with a blood spot test from ZRT
logon to www.ordervitamindtest.org
3. Fill in the health questionnaire
4. Order your test kit–choose your subscription option; it’s a 5 year project and we need to have vitamin D measurements each 6 months for that period
Spread the word: get at least two more people to do the same.

The importance of this test cannot be overemphasized; it is the most critical of all blood tests, even surpassing tests for cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.

I have no financial interest in this testing and post this information simply to do my part in enhancing human health through vitamin D awareness. I also attest that at that price, Carole and her organization are making nothing; hers is a labor of love.

The test is available in every state but New York.

Stop chronic aches and pains with vitamin D

As the winter approaches, aches and pains increase as vitamin D levels, already too low in most people, begin to plummet. Bringing vitamin D levels up can often alleviate or eliminate the pain.

For instance, Dr. Stewart Leavitt recently posted the results of a review of 22 scientific studies on the relationship of vitamin D deficiency to chronic pain. (http://Pain-Topics.org/VitaminD). This 2008 analysis is just the latest of many studies on vitamin D and pain, most of which have been ignored by the physicians that treat the disorder. In total, there were 3,670 patients with chronic pain, and 48% of them showed significant vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D supplementation was very helpful in alleviating the pain. Dr. Leavitt states: “When supplementation was provided for improving vitamin D status, pain and/or muscle weakness were resolved or at least subsided in most cases, and there were associated improvements in physical functioning.”

This has actually been known for about 25 years, but because it sells no drugs, it has been virtually ignored. Vitamin D sufficient to keep optimal levels in the blood can be purchased at Bio-Tech Pharmacal for about $10.00 per year, and sunlight—the most natural way to increase vitamin D, is free. Unfortunately, sunlight produces vitamin D only during the late spring through early fall in high latitudes.

The Powers of Darkness (the pharmaceutical/medical complex that has succeeded in frightening most people out of the sunlight) have created a shocking and widespread vitamin D deficiency that is manifesting itself in increased rates of cancer, heart disease, autism, diabetes and myriad other maladies, not the least of which is chronic pain.

Other research has shown similarly impressive results. In one interesting study, conducted on chronic pain patients in Minneapolis, Minnesota (45 degrees north latitude), it was found that 100% of African Americans, American Indians, East Africans and Hispanics were vitamin D deficient, as were most Caucasians.[1] In summer sunlight, dark-skinned people take up to 6 times as long to produce the same amount of vitamin D as light skinned people, making dark skinned people much more susceptible to vitamin D deficiency. Indoor lifestyles and the advice to slather with sunscreen, which can reduce vitamin D production during sunlight exposure by 99.5%[2] puts dark-skinned people at a considerable vitamin D deficiency disadvantage. In addition, during the winter at high latitudes in areas such as Minneapolis, there are several months where little or no vitamin D is produced by the skin due to the sun’s position in the southern sky; the UVB portion of sunlight that stimulates vitamin D production is filtered out by the atmosphere during those months. This is known as “vitamin D winter” and is especially important in the northern US, northern Europe and all of Canada. It is absolutely essential for dark-skinned adults to take vitamin D supplementation of 4,000 to 5,000 IU per day year around or regularly use a tanning bed to stave off pain and to reduce the excessive risk of cancer, hypertension, diabetes, etc., that plague them. It is also critical for most Caucasians during winter.

Another impressive result comes from a clinical observation of five vitamin D-deficient patients who suffered from myopathy, a disease of bone and muscle tissue. They were confined to wheelchairs and experienced severe fatigue, weakness, and chronic pain. After receiving 50,000 IU per week of vitamin D, all regained enough strength and energy within four to six weeks to be mobile and functional, and their aches and pains disappeared.[3] Other research reported that five chronic-pain patients at John Hopkins University Medical School were treated with vitamin D, and their pain resolved within a week![4]

Vitamin D is a potent anti-inflammatory and also helps to strengthen bone, joint and muscle tissue. Be sure to maintain optimal levels (50 ng/ml or 125 nmol/L) in order to avoid the aches and pains of winter.

[1] Plotnikoff G. et al. Prevalence of severe hypovitaminosis D in patients with persistent, nonspecific musculoskeletal pain. Mayo Clin Proc. 2003;78:1463-70.
[2] Matsuoka, L. et al. sunscreens suppress cutaneous vitamin D3 synthesis. J Clin Endocrinology & Metab 1987; 64:1165-68.
[3] Prabhala, A. et al. Severe myopathy associated with vitamin D deficiency in western New York. Arch Intern Med 2000;160:1199-1203.
[4] Gloth, F. et al. Can vitamin D deficiency produce an unusual pain syndrome? Arch Intern Med 1991;152:1662-4.