Published June 15, 2005 in the North Island MidWeek

I have just returned from a Functional Medicine Symposium in Palm Springs where I managed to get some Vitamin D in between lectures. My skin turned a slight pink in a matter of a few minutes (at high noon) and this corresponds to a dose of 10,000 to 25,000IU’s of Vitamin D. I was very happy to meet the very humorous  Dr. Holick Ph.D., the author of The UV Advantage, speaking about the merits of Vitamin D. It was hard to keep up to him as he talked rapidly through his presentation, keeping us laughing for an hour! I love meeting the authors of the books I recommend.

Louise, a 55 year old Caucasian woman, wanted to have a complete medical check up. One of the tests that I am now able to do is a 25-hydroxyvitamin D serum blood test. This is the circulating form of vitamin D, not the activated form. Most doctors are familiar with measuring the active 1,25 (OH) vitamin D but the body keeps this level very consistent so the levels rarely vary. The circulating form is the one that varies widely depending on body’s intake. Louise had a low level of around 30nmol/L well below the optimal level of 105-163nmol/L. Many people think there is a toxicity with vitamin D but there just isn’t any research to back this up. The body has a huge capacity to make vitamin D and store it.

I explained to Louise that when she puts on sunscreen SPF8 every day that she is blocking the production of vitamin D in her body by 97.5%! This not only has a huge impact on bone health but on immune health. There are vitamin D receptors not only in the bone, but the colon, prostate, breast, skin and ovaries. People at higher latitudes are at a much greater risk of dying from colon, breast, prostate and ovarian cancer (25% of breast cancers are related to decreased vitamin D status). Other factors that alter the amount of ultraviolet B radiation (sunlight) that penetrates the skin are: an increase in the Zenith angle of the sun due to seasonal changes, increase skin pigmentation, and aging.

She feels so much better once April rolls around and when she travels to Hawaii she feels great and her nails grow better. It is hard to go against the status quo that sunlight is bad for us, however in the next few years we will see a growing body of research showing that wearing too much sunscreen will be bad for our health and getting sunshine is medicinal!

Dr. Holick in his lecture explained to us that the best source of Vitamin D is the sun. Sure, some milk is fortified with vitamin D but the levels are inconsistent. Breast milk has no vitamin D unless the mother is supplementing with cod liver oil, the best dietary source. Even so 1500IU’s per tablespoon of cod liver oil is a far cry from the 10,000 IU’s obtained from a 5-15 minute dose of sunlight! The RDA of 400-600IU’s per day prevents rickets but is far lower than what is required to help prevent multiple sclerosis, depression, high blood pressure and cancer. Vitamin D reduces the risk of prostate and colon cancer by a whopping 50%.

I recommended that Louise take 1 tablespoon per day of Carlson’s cod liver oil (purified of PCB’s, mercury and dioxins) and I suggested that we repeat the test in October when Vitamin D levels peak for the year and then again in March when they are at their lowest. This would give us the best picture of her requirement for supplementation year round.

Vitamin D deficiency can cause symptoms such as generalized or isolated bone pain as well as muscle aches so every fibromyalgia patient should be evaluated and given good doses of vitamin D.

In Finland, children who receive vitamin D supplementation have a 80% decreased risk of developing type 1 diabetes. Vitamin D is also important for lowering blood pressure, treating schizophrenia and heart failure, regulation of immune function and preventing Type 1 diabetes and other auto-immune diseases such as MS and inflammatory bowel disease. (MS severity was lowest at serum levels of 75nmol/L or greater). Some diseases are aggravated with vitamin D including sarcoidosis and a subset of Crohn’s disease patients so they need to have their serum checked before they are supplemented.

Louise was happy to finally understand why she felt so much better in the sun. With supplementation year round we were able to keep her 25(OH) levels to around 100nmol/L.