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
While contemplating my youth, growing up on our farm and ranch on the Utah/Nevada border, I mused on the amount of sunlight exposure that the hard summer work required. I was in the fields much of the time and spent a lot of time moving irrigation water, bucking hay bales and building and repairing fences. When the work allowed it, I shed my shirt until the sun became uncomfortable and then donned my cowboy hat and a long-sleeved shirt to protect against getting too much of that wonderful UV light. Some work, such as throwing hay bales on wagons, did not allow a bare body, because alfalfa hay is very scratchy. Much of the time, however, I was able to soak up the sun, going shirtless whether driving a tractor or chasing down recalcitrant cattle and sheep on my horse. My hands were often in the earth as I planted gardens and barley and alfalfa fields. Occasionally, I overdid the sun exposure and paid the price with a sunburn, but that was an infrequent occurrence. My friends called me “the brown man” although I am a blue-eyed, light skinned Caucasian. My tan was very deep; hence the moniker.
Those halcyon days of my youth were summer days, and I was never ill in that season; all of that sunlight kept me well, and it also helped to keep my mood elevated. Melanoma was never a worry for me or for the other farm boys and girls who lived in that area, and I have heard of no one who grew up there who ever contracted the disease, although they had the same ethnicity as I. Of course, lack of melanoma was to be expected, because people who spend much of their life in the sun are far less likely to contract melanoma than those whose stay indoors. For example, Diane Godar and her colleagues have presented evidence that outdoor workers, while receiving 3-9 times the sunlight exposure as indoor workers, have had no increase in melanoma since before 1940, whereas melanoma incidence in indoor workers has increased steadily and exponentially.[1] [2] [3]
This cogitating on my youth was triggered by reading an article entitled A senior moment: Get ‘down and dirty’ — Gardening is good for you![4] It discussed all the benefits of gardening and related some research regarding its therapeutic use:
-
Exercise that strengthens both the upper-and lower-body muscles, and especially hand strength
-
Reduces arthritis
-
Promotes circulation
-
Reduces heart rate
-
Lowers blood pressure
-
Burns calories
-
Improves sleep
-
Exposes the body to sunlight (hooray) to reset the circadian rhythms and combat depression
-
Promotes better nutrition
-
Increases self-esteem
-
Gives a better sense of time
-
Provides aromatherapy
Of course, some of these benefits of gardening are really benefits of sunlight, as mentioned in the article. However, there may be another factor at play; when we connect with the earth, it improves our health,[5] including heart health[6] and mood[7] through a transfer of electrons from the earth to our bodies.
What have we lost as we have adopted our sedentary, indoor lifestyles? Among other things, we have lost our good nutrition, our sunlight exposure and our contact with the earth. It is no wonder that working in a garden has such beneficial effects on our health! It gives us back at least some of our basic human health needs. So if you don’t have a garden, find one and get out in the sunlight!
Having been reminded of some of those vital needs, I am anticipating with alacrity my upcoming week at my Nevada ranch, where I will rusticate with my wife Vicki and my friends, Drs. Bill Grant and Adiel Tel-Oren. We will be soaking up the sunshine, feeling the dark mountain soil, eating nutritious foods and exulting in the beauty of the aspens and pines. We will also be renewing friendships with the birds, the ducks, the deer, the Elk, the wild turkeys and other wildlife that have no worries about us, because we don’t kill and eat them.
Sunlight, peace and friendships—it doesn’t get any better than this!
[1] Godar D, Landry, R, Lucas, A. Increased UVA exposures and decreased cutaneous Vitamin D3 levels may be responsible for the increasing incidence of melanoma. Med Hypotheses 2009;72(4):434-43
[2] Godar D. UV doses worldwide. Photochem Photobiol 2005;81:736–49.
[3] Thieden E, Philipsen PA, Sandby-Møller J, Wulf HC. UV radiation exposure related to age, sex, occupation, and sun behavior based on time-stamped personal dosimeter readings. Arch Dermatol 2004;140:197–203.
[4] http://www.chicoer.com/opinion/20150417/a-senior-moment-get-down-and-dirty-x2014-gardening-is-good-for-you.
[5] Oschman JL, Chevalier G, Brown R. The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. J Inflamm Res. 2015 Mar 24;8:83-96.
[6] Chevalier G, Sinatra ST, Oschman JL, Delany RM. Earthing (grounding) the human body reduces blood viscosity-a major factor in cardiovascular disease. J Altern Complement Med. 2013 Feb;19(2):102-10
[7] Chevalier G. The effect of grounding the human body on mood. Psychol Rep. 2015 Apr;116(2):534-43
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:
-
There are major benefits to exposure to the sun,
-
Sunlight exposure can reduce heart attacks.
-
Sunlight exposure can also reduce blood pressure and the risk of stroke.
-
The wider benefits of sunlight should no longer be ignored.
-
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:
-
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]
-
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.
-
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.
By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute
Nearly all research shows a positive association between sunlight and bone strength. One of the most interesting of these studies measured heel-bone stiffness (a measurement of bone strength) and various lifestyle factors among Okinawan men with and without type-two diabetes.[i]
The research demonstrated that among the group with type-two diabetes, there were a significant negative correlation between cigarette smoking heel bone stiffness. That negative correlation also was evident with age. Other factors did not produce a significant correlation in the diabetic group; however, in the non-diabetic (control) group, a significant positive correlation was shown between heel-bone stiffness and two other factors: (1) sunlight exposure and (2) consumption of small fish. Of the two, sunlight exposure predicted greater bone strength.
It is probable that the vitamin D produced by sunlight exposure led to increased heel bone strength in the control group. It is also possible that lack of sunlight in the diabetic group may have been one of the predisposing factors that initially led to diabetes in the diabetic group, as it has been shown that vitamin D supplementation in pre-diabetic subjects predict a dramatically reduced risk of developing the full-blown disease.[ii] Sunlight exposure, of course, is the most natural way to produce vitamin D.
Keep your heels—and the rest or your bones—strong by obtaining plenty of non-burning sunlight!
[i] Michiko Gushiken, Ichiro Komiya, Shinichiro Ueda, Jun Kobayashi. Heel bone strength is related to lifestyle factors in Okinawan men with type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Diabetes Invest 2015; 6: 150–157
[ii] Pittas, A. et al. The effects of calcium and vitamin D supplementation on blood glucose and markers of inflammation in nondiabetic adults. Diabetes Care 2007;30:980-86.
By Marc Sorenson, EdD. Sunlight Institute
In the medical journal Pediatrics, an interesting report discussed the plight of two young girls who suffered from severe tooth decay related to Rickets,[i] a horrific disease caused by vitamin D deficiency. This illness is characterized by defective bone growth and horribly deformed bodies, and, as we will see, it may also be characterized by teeth without enamel.
By Marc Sorenson, EdD
Periodontal disease (PD) is an insidious malady that has become a pandemic. It attacks the gums and the bones that hold the teeth, and it causes tooth loss; PD, not cavities, is the number-one cause of tooth loss,[1] with approximately 46% of all US adults suffering from the disease.[2]
A recent study showed that bone mass is an independent risk factor in tooth loss secondary to PD in women with intellectual disability,[3] meaning that there could be a common thread running through these three discrete conditions: PD, intellectual disability and low bone mass. Could that common thread be lack of sunlight? It is well-known that bone-mass loss can be mitigated or even reversed by sunlight exposure, as I have often mentioned in my writings on the subject.[4] Treatment with sunlight, then, could reduce one of the major causes of tooth loss. Low vitamin D due to lack of sunlight exposure, has also been shown to correlate closely to PD.[5] PD is also related to other degenerative diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and stroke. Read the discussion in my book (see footnote 5).
By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute
In an online Newspaper, Irish Examiner, there is a provocative headline: Why a sunscreen can put your health in the shade. Helen O’Callaghan, the author, starts out well by talking about how sunscreens block vitamin D production from sun exposure. She then progresses through a series of diseases that are related to vitamin D deficiency: bone weakness, compromised immune system, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, inflammatory diseases, adverse pregnancy problems and allergies.[1]
By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute
It is good to see the world waking up to the benefits of sunlight, and it is especially encouraging to see major newspapers reporting on it.
By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute
SUNLIGHT EXPOSURE CORRELATES TO A LOWER RISK OF MELANOMA.
I’ve been writing on this FACT for some time, and an impressive 2015 paper corroborates it.[1] Published in the scientific journal Dermato-Endocrinology, the paper makes some very interesting comments, all based on excellent research: