Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute

Last week, my wife, Vicki and I hosted Dr. William Grant and Dr. Adiel Tel-Oren and his fiancée, Ossy, at our ranch in Nevada’s high country. We had many interesting conversations, most of them focusing on human health, sunlight and vitamin D. As we discussed some of the beneficial effects of sunlight, including those that did not require vitamin D, Dr. Grant informed me of a consensus paper, of which he was a co-author, by a group of vitamin D scientists. The paper is entitled, Sunlight and Vitamin D: Necessary for Public Health. It is an exceptionally important paper, since it refutes much of the false dogma being perpetrated by the large anti-sun organizations.[1] Here are the some of the salient points made in the paper regarding the mantras of said organizations:

1. The WHO recommends avoiding outdoor activities at midday and wearing clothing that covers the whole body.
2. The ACS advocates Slip! Slop! Slap! Wrap!, to make sure skin is covered in clothing or sunscreen and to avoid sun exposure between 10 AM and 4 PM.
3. The Surgeon General has issued a Call to Action focused on reducing ultraviolet (UV) exposure, whether from indoor UV or from the sun.

You and I know that this advice leads to vitamin D deficiency and poor health. The paper goes on to champion the protective effects of sunlight on various cancers, type-one diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. An important statement in the introduction to the paper is the following: “Though adherence to the current sun-protective recommendations would likely result in the reduction of non-melanoma skin cancer, that reduction would likely be overshadowed by the potential reduction in deaths from other cancers and from cardiovascular disease, which could be achieved by doubling average blood concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) to 40 ng/mL through a combination of sun exposure and supplements.”

Those deaths were also analyzed in a cost benefit analysis, predicting a potential reduction of as many as 336,000 deaths each year, including 180,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease, 20,000 from colorectal cancer, 12,000 from breast cancer, 70,000 from other cancers and 15,000 from Alzheimer’s disease. The authors also estimated a cost savings for health care of $130 billion yearly.

The production of nitric oxide and beta-endorphins, and the regulation of circadian rhythms were also mentioned as other positive physiological responses to sunlight.

Kudos to lead author Carole Baggerly, one of the most dynamic advocates that I have met. She works tirelessly to promote the truth about sunlight and vitamin D, and she provided the impetus for this exceptionally important paper. She was quoted as follows regarding the materials presented in the paper: “Humans have adapted to sun exposure over many thousands of years and derive numerous physiological benefits from UV exposure in addition to vitamin D. These benefits far outweigh those derived from vitamin D intake by supplements, and therefore sun avoidance being recommended by the US Surgeon General and others is unnecessarily putting Americans at risk.”

Carole and the rest of these scientists are correct. Reasonable sunlight exposure can save the lives of millions who are being led down the path to destruction by those who would rob us of our sunlight. For the full paper, click here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07315724.2015.1039866

[1] Carole A. Baggerly, BA, Raphael E. Cuomo, MPH, Christine B. French, MS, Cedric F. Garland, DrPH, FACE, Edward D. Gorham, PhD, William B. Grant, PhD, Robert P. Heaney, MD, Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD, Bruce W. Hollis, PhD, Sharon L. McDonnell, MPH, Mary Pittaway, MA, RD, Paul Seaton, MS, Carol L. Wagner, MD, Alexander Wunsch, MD. Sunlight and Vitamin D: Necessary for Public Health. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, DOI: 10.1080/07315724.2015.1039866.

Marc Sorenson, EdD

An excellent scientific paper regarding the incidence of vitamin D deficiency in breastfeeding women was recently published in the journal Nutrients.[1] The research was particularly interesting in that the investigators measured the serum vitamin D levels in breastfeeding mothers from three different geographic areas: Shanghai, China: Cincinnati, Ohio; Mexico City, Mexico. Their infants were also measured for vitamin D. Although there was considerable variance in D deficiency among the three areas, a large number of mothers and their offspring were deficient. The factors that closely related to deficiency were obesity, season and site. Among the infants, predictors of higher vitamin D status were formula feeding [probably with added vitamin D] and higher sunlight index.

The authors concluded “vD deficiency appears to be a global problem in mothers and infants, though the prevalence in diverse populations may depend upon sun exposure behaviors and vD supplementation. Greater attention to maternal and infant vD status starting during pregnancy is warranted worldwide.”

It is critically important that pregnant mothers be vitamin D replete during their entire pregnancies, because the fetus depends on the mother as the only source of nutrients, including vitamin D. For example, if infants are born to vitamin D deficient mothers, they may have such maladies as craniotabes,[2] a softening of the skull that is a predictor of full-blown rickets. Heart failure is also possible among infants who are born severely deficient in vitamin D.[3] As an example, in a study conducted in southeast England, sixteen infants were identified that had suffered heart failure and hypocalcaemia between 2000 and 2006. Six were of Indian and ten of African ethnicity. Six of them suffered cardiac arrest, three died, eight were placed on lung machines, and two were referred for heart transplants. The average serum vitamin D level of these children was only 7.4 ng/ml, and some of the infants had undetectable levels. Hypocalcaemia is usually caused by insufficient vitamin D in the blood and often results in convulsions and death, but the care givers had not even tried to assure that vitamin D levels were adequate. The researchers concluded with this statement: “Vitamin D deficiency and consequent hypocalcaemia are seen in association with severe and life-threatening infant heart failure. That no infant or mother was receiving the recommended vitamin supplementation highlights the need for adequate provision of vitamin D to ethnic minority populations.”

Many other diseases of the bones, brain and intellect in infants are related to deficiency of sunlight and vitamin D deficiency in their mother’s pregnancy. Sunlight exposure, of course, is the most natural method to obtain vast quantities of vitamin D. And with sunlight, we also obtain nitric oxide, endorphins and serotonin in addition to other photoproducts. Vitamin D is only one important product of sunlight exposure, and if we use only supplementation, we miss out on other important health benefits that supplementation does not provide.

[1]  Jessica G. Woo, Yong-Mei Peng, Guillermo M. Ruiz-Palacios, Maria de Lourdes Guerrero and Ardythe L. Morrow. Sun Exposure and Vitamin D Supplementation in Relation to Vitamin D Status of Breastfeeding Mothers and Infants in the Global Exploration of Human Milk Study.

[2] Yorifuji J. et al. Craniotabes in normal newborns: the earliest sign of subclinical vitamin D deficiency. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2008 [Epub].

[3] Maiya, S. et al. Hypocalcaemia and vitamin D deficiency: an important, but preventable cause of life-threatening heart failure. Heart 2008;94:581-84.

By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute

The Daily Mail, a UK online newspaper, today published a superb article called: Bring me sunshine for a long life: Leading dermatologist says regular exposure is good for us.  The article quotes Dr. Richard Weller, a fearless dermatologist who speaks the truth, and whom I’ve cited previously in these Sunlight Institute blogs.

Dr. Weller makes several points in the article:

1. There are major benefits to exposure to the sun,

2. Sunlight exposure can reduce heart attacks.

3. Sunlight exposure can also reduce blood pressure and the risk of stroke.

4. The wider benefits of sunlight should no longer be ignored.

5. Although the benefits of sunlight are often attributed to vitamin D, a gas called nitric oxide is also important because it lowers blood pressure. “High blood pressure is the world’s leading cause of premature death and disease because it leads to stroke and heart disease. Even a small reduction in blood pressure across the whole population will reduce overall rates of stroke and heart attack.”

Dr. Weller also mentions the research from Sweden showing that women who did the most sunbathing for 20 years had half the death rate of women who had avoided the sun. (See my previous blogs on that study.)

I sincerely hope that there will be more “hero” dermatologists stepping forward in the U.S. to tout the many exceptional health benefits of non-burning sun exposure. Kudos to Dr. Weller!

Here is the link to the article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3119175/Dermatologist-Richard-Weller-Edinburgh-University-claims-sunbathing-good-us.html

By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute

Type-1 diabetes results when the pancreas ceases to produce insulin. Type-1 is a disease that afflicts many babies and young people and is sometimes known as “juvenile diabetes.” It is an autoimmune disease such as multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis, and is totally different in its cause than type-2, which is caused by atrocious eating habits and obesity.

There was a 30.5% increase in the disease between 2001 and 2009,[i] and there are many theories as to the cause, including increasing dairy consumption, improper hygiene, viruses, and vitamin D deficiency.[ii] As with type-2 diabetes, type-one results in dramatically increased risk of heart disease, stroke, blindness, neuropathy, amputation, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and erectile dysfunction. With either type of diabetes, it is not usually the disease that kills; it is the other diseases that result from it.

Here are some facts about the relationship between sunlight and type-one:

1. Children born in northern climes where there is a short time where vitamin D is available from sunlight, due to low levels of UVB for six months of the year, have the highest risk of type-one. And in Finland, where the risk of type-1 is the highest in the world, it has been shown that children who were not supplemented with at least 2,000 IU vitamin D daily had five times the risk of type-one diabetes compared to children who were given 2,000 IU per day or more.[iii] 

2. The above statement is impressive, but consider this: a child in Finland is about 400 times more likely than a child in Venezuela to acquire type-1, and across the globe, there is a marked geographic variation in incidence of the disease, with high latitude countries having the highest incidence and equatorial countries having the lowest incidence.[iv] Obviously, the difference in risk of type-one between Finland and Venezuela is due to amount of sunlight between the two countries. Sunlight stimulates the skin to produce vitamin D, so it might be surmised that high vitamin D levels in Venezuela are responsible for the exponentially lower risk. I agree that high vitamin D is an important part of prevention of type-one diabetes. Nonetheless, I don’t believe vitamin D to be the only factor. A 400:1 ratio of disease risk (400 cases in Finland for each one in Venezuela) is far beyond what was accomplished in the supplement research in Finland. 

3. Consider this: high sunlight exposure has a far more beneficial effect on MS than vitamin D per se. Since both MS and type-1 diabetes are autoimmune diseases, it is likely that sunlight has its own independent effects in preventing type-one diabetes, as it does with MS. Some of these effects may be due to the nitric oxide, endorphins and serotonin, all of which are produced by the body when it is exposed to sunlight.

The bottom line is this: to prevent type-1 diabetes in yourself and your children, get plenty of non-burning sunlight exposure, which will not only produce marvelous effects due to vitamin D, but likely will go far beyond vitamin D in exerting its own independent health effects.

Enjoy a sunny day!

[i] Dabelea D, Mayer-Davis EJ, Saydah S, Imperatore G, Linder B, Divers J et al. Prevalence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents from 2001 to 2009. JAMA. 2014 May 7;311(17):1778-86.

[ii] Egro FM. Why is type 1 diabetes increasing? J Mol Endocrinol 2013 12;51(1):R1-13.

[iii] Hypponen, E. et al. Intake of vitamin D and risk of type 1 diabetes: a birth-cohort study. Lancet 2001;358:1500-03.

[iv] Dimitrios Papandreou, Pavlos Malindretos, Zacharoula Karabouta, and Israel Rousso. Possible Health Implications and Low Vitamin D Status during Childhood and Adolescence: An Updated Mini Review.