Its possible that the medical profession, in trying to be good, have led the us to overreact again when it comes to getting the right amount of sunlight.
We have been told that sunlight is bad… it will give us melanoma, squamous and basal cell skin cancers… we need to cover up at all times, we need to block out the nasty UV rays from the sun with a sun block cream.
Well guess what happened… we were wrong. So says a growing number of doctors and research scientists from around the world that now acknowledge the benefits of sunlight and its ability to reverse vitamin d deficiency. Who has vitamin d deficiency? Most of us have it to some degree claims Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD who is a professor of surgery, and teaches cardiac surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Seattle VA Medical Center.
I have a lot of respect for Dr Miller because he is a bit of a maverick of the medical profession in the way he questions current medical practices and advice. Everything I have read by him is full of common sense and he shares my enthusiasm for looking at nutritional and lifestyle causes and treatments of diseases rather than drug based treatment of symptoms.
So Do You Have Vitamin D Deficiency Or Not?
Dr Miller says you probably do.
His article Vitamin D in a New Light says that the majority of Americans have insufficient or deficient vitamin D blood levels. Rickets is the most notable related disease but is the tip of a vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency iceberg. A lack of Vitamin D can also trigger infections (influenza and tuberculosis), autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease), cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
He goes on to say: ‘The U.S. government and its citizens currently spend $2,000 billion dollars ($2 trillion) on “health care,” i.e., sickness care, each year. The cost of taking a 5,000 IU supplement of vitamin D every day for a year is $22.00. The cost for 300 million Americans taking this supplement would be $6.6 billion dollars. The number and variety of diseases that vitamin D at this dose could prevent, starting with a 50 percent reduction in cancer, is mind-boggling. If everyone took 5,000 IU/day of vitamin D, the U.S. “health care” industry would shrink.’
‘Sensible sun exposure should be encouraged, not maligned. If one avoids sunburn, the sun’s health-giving benefits far outweigh its detrimental effects. A large body of evidence indicates that sunlight does not cause the most lethal form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma.’
So What Can You Do?
You can find vitamin D in foods such as wild salmon, mackerel, sardines, cod liver oil and sun-dried mushrooms but you probably won’t get enough to reach levels recommended by Dr Miller for optimal health. His recommendation is for daily doses of 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 which you can take as inexpensive pills.
So What Am I Going To Do?
Well I go to the beach a lot in the warmer months so I think I am OK because he says that ‘a light-skinned person will synthesize 20,000 IU (international units) of vitamin D in 20 minutes sunbathing on a Caribbean beach’. And for the winter months… I will add 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily. Done!
Cheers,
Lewis
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Good article Lewis,
This is a subject I have just started to investigate myself.
Nice blog!
GreenerMe
Thanks for your kind words!
Lewis
In the spring of this year my pcp checked my 1,25-hydroxyvitaimin level. It was less than 10. She treated me with 40,000 units of vitamin D3/wk for 3 months and all my pain and fatigue disappeared. I now take 2000 units of vitamin d3/day.
I had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and bipolar depression. I had to quit work b/c I could no longer sit nor stand for more than 2-3 hours at a time. I was ashamed b/c waddled like a duck. I developed every symptom listed for vitamin d deficiency yet my pcp did not recognize them. Since she practices in a university hospital clinic I thought she would have been more informed.
The joint/bone pain was very painful. My pcp looked at me 3 years ago and told me I had to accept this bone and muscle pain b/c it was due to a chronic pain condition called “fibromyalgia”. I cried and just gave up on ever being well. I saw a psychiatritis b/c I thought I was mentally ill even though I did not think I was mentally ill. When your pcp keeps saying “nothing is wrong wkith you” you tend to believe them.
I am a registered nurse. I worked for 2 24 years before developing these symptoms. I’m actually disappointed with myself for not being knowledgeable concerning this deficiency.
My daughter’s pcp checked her level after she developed fatigue and her level was 23. Her pcp told her that was not low and she believes this. I have convinced her to take 1000 units of vitamin d3/d.
This needs to be an integral part of a medical students education if it has not been and needs to be part of a healthcare providers continuing education.
Thanks Debbie for sharing that experience.
It makes you think about what proportion of diagnosed physical and mental diseases are simply caused by vitamin/mineral/nutritional deficiencies. My guess is that it is more than half and probably the vast majority.
In Australia we have been told to stay out of the sun at all costs… what a ticking time bomb this is from the lack of vitamin D. So much suffering is coming from this… not just from the health implications… but from missing the great feeling of having the sun on your face and body.
Most medical workers are extremely well meaning individuals who have to work within the legal and administrative framework they find themselves in. On the other hand the drug companies have corrupted the industry for so long now that main stream medicine just accept that any solution that is not drug based cannot and should not be taken seriously.
The system is corrupt from the top down. The only solution is a kind of people power awareness to reverse the drug domination and stories like yours help spread the message.
Many thanks, Lewis