Sunshine/Vit. D

The optimal levels of Vit. D ARE 50-65 ng/L.

For those in the winter with no or very limited exposure to sunshine, 4,000-5,000 units per day would seem appropriate for most adults. If you are very heavy you may need to double that dose, and for children the dose can be half that.

However, your dosage may need to be even higher still.

According to vitamin D expert Dr. Heaney, your body requires about 4,000 IU’s daily just to maintain its current vitamin D level. So in order to raise your levels, you’d have to increase either your exposure to sunshine, or supplement with oral vitamin D3 (which I do not recommend without having your levels tested first).

"Both UVA and UVB can cause tanning and burning, although UVB does so far more rapidly. UVA, however, penetrates your skin more deeply than UVB, and may be a much more important factor in photoaging, wrinkles and skin cancers."

"It is important to realize that the sun can increase genetic damage in your skin and cause skin cancer, especially if you get regularly sunburned.

But what the media and many health “experts” fail to appreciate and explain to the public is that regular and safe exposure to sunlight or safe tanning beds allows vitamin D to be formed in your skin. The vitamin D then directly moddulates genes in your skin that actually help prevent the types of abnormalities that ultraviolet light causes. "

"for many years sunscreens only protected you from the beneficial UVB rays, while letting through skin-damaging UVA light. Even today, while most sunscreens do a good job blocking UVB, fewer filter out all of the UVA."

Lesson 1: Make sure you get enough vitamin D. Vitamin D is not “just a vitamin” that’s necessary for strong bones. Rather, vitamin D is the only known substrate for a potent, pleiotropic (meaning it produces multiple effects), repair and maintenance seco-steroid hormone that serves multiple gene-regulatory functions in your body. Each cell in your body has its own DNA library that contains information needed to deal with virtually every kind of stimulus it may encounter, and the master key to enter this library is activated vitamin D.  This is why vitamin D functions in so many different tissues, and affects such a large number of different diseases and health conditions. So far, scientists have found about 3,000 genes that are upregulated by vitamin D. Receptors that respond to the vitamin have been found in almost every type of human cell, from your brain to your bones. And researchers keep finding health benefits from vitamin D in virtually every area they look. Optimizing your vitamin D levels can help you to prevent as many as 16 different types of cancer as well as reduce your risk of numerous illnesses including: Heart disease Diabetes Rheumatoid arthritis Obesity Cold & flu High blood pressure It's found in food like milk, eggs, fish and fortified orange juice, but you only get an average of 250 to 300 international units (IU) of vitamin D per day from dietary factors alone, which is rarely enough to maintain optimal levels. Based on the most recent research, the current recommendation for healthy vitamin D levels is 35 IU’s of vitamin D per pound of body weight. So for a child weighing 40 pounds, the recommended average dose would be 1,400 IU’s daily, and for a 170-pound adult, the dose would be nearly 6,000 IU’s. Vitamin D Dose Recommendations Age Dosage Below 5 35 units per pound per day Age 5 - 10 2500 units Age 18 - 30 5000 units Pregnant Women 5000 units WARNING: There is no way to know if the above recommendations are correct. The ONLY way to know is to test your blood. You might need 4-5 times the amount recommended above. Ideally your blood level of 25 OH D should be 60ng/ml. However, it’s important to realize that vitamin D requirements are highly individual, as your vitamin D status is dependent on numerous factors, such as the color of your skin, your location, and how much sunshine you’re exposed to on a regular basis. So, although these recommendations may put you closer to the ballpark of what most people likely need, it is simply impossible to make a blanket recommendation that will cover everyone’s needs.   Fortunately, vitamin D is also made in your body after exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun, and this is the ideal way to get vitamin D. During the summer months, you can get enough vitamin D from just spending some time outside every day. Your body can produce about 20,000 IU of vitamin D per day with full body exposure, about 5,000 IU with 50 percent of your body exposed, and as much as 1,000 IU with just 10 percent of your body exposed. In the winter months, though, and even during the summer months if you don’t spend much time outside (or use sunscreen, which blocks the production of vitamin D), you will most likely not get enough vitamin D, especially if you live in a place that has low or infrequent amounts of sunshine (such as the Midwest U.S.). In that case, I strongly recommend a healthy tanning bed like the Sun Splash. You can also supplement with vitamin D, but be sure to choose the right form of vitamin D supplement. The one you want is the natural vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), which is the same vitamin D your body makes when exposed to sunshine. I strongly recommend you monitor your blood vitamin D levels regularly when taking oral vitamin D supplements to make sure you’re staying within the optimal range. This is best done by a nutritionally oriented physician. It is very important that they order the correct test as there are two that closely resemble each other: 1,25(OH)D and 25(OH)D. 25(OH)D, also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D, is the better marker of overall D status. It is this marker that is most strongly associated with overall health. However, please realize that the “normal” 25-hydroxyvitamin D lab range is between 20-56 ng/ml. As you can see in the chart below, this conventional range is really a sign of deficiency, and is too broad to be ideal. In fact, your vitamin D level should never be below 32 ng/ml, and any levels below 20 ng/ml are considered serious deficiency states, increasing your risk of as many as 16 different cancers and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, just to name a few. The OPTIMAL value that you’re looking for is 50-65 ng/ml. This range applies for everyone; children, adolescents, adults and seniors, and are based on healthy people in tropical or subtropical parts of the world, where they are receiving healthy sun exposures. It seems more than reasonable to assume that these values are in fact reflective of an optimal human requirement. For more information about vitamin D, please listen to the my one-hour lecture on this important topic. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/12/16/my-one-hour- vitamin-d-lecture-to-clear-up-all-your-confusion-on-this-vital-nutrient.aspx

"Over the years, several studies have already confirmed that appropriate sun exposure actually helps prevent skin cancer. In fact, melanoma occurrence has been found to decrease with greater sun exposure, and can be increased by sunscreens."

Melanoma is actually more common in indoor workers than in outdoor workers to begin with. It is also more common on regions of your body that are not exposed to the sun at all. Additionally, UVB radiation has been found to delay the appearance of melanoma if you are genetically predisposed or prone to skin cancer.

How can this be? Melanoma occurrence is rising, and experts are still warning you to avoid sun exposure to cut your risk. Are they really that wrong?
 

What is the Real Cause Behind Rising Melanoma Rates?

Well, what they’re not telling you is that melanoma rates are rising as sun exposure and vitamin D status is decreasing dramatically. Statistics alone will tell you there is a serious flaw in the current recommendations to stay out of the sun to avoid skin cancer.

More recent research into vitamin D and skin damage shows that although the sun does increase genetic damage in your skin, and can cause skin cancer, your body has a cleverly designed system to avert this risk.

When you stay out of the sun entirely, you effectively avoid the system nature created to help prevent skin cancer naturally, because the key to unlock this mechanism is vitamin D.

As you probably know by now, vitamin D is formed in your skin from exposure to sunlight. The vitamin D then goes directly to the genes in your skin where it helps prevent the types of abnormalities that ultraviolet light causes.

Hence, when you avoid the sun entirely, or slather on sun block whenever you go out, your skin is not making any vitamin D, and you’re left without this built-in cancer protection. This is one of the primary reasons for the rise in melanoma. This in spite of the fact that most folks are following the widely publicized recommendations to avoid sun exposure and use sunscreen.
 

SUNBURNS ARE NOT GOOD FOR ANYONE!  They are also believed by many to greatly increase odds of skin cancer.  1 bad sunburn will do more damage than years of healthy daily sun exposure. (insert reference to sunny climates with reduced occurrence of skin cancer )

So if you do decide to use sunscreen, make sure you choose one that is non-toxic and blocks both UVA and UVB rays. Two non-toxic ingredients that scatter both UVB and the more damaging UVA rays are titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. They’ve been used all over the world for over 75 years as safe sunscreens.

Despite the persistent myth, healthy UVB exposure is not the cause of melanoma.

This is why an epidemic of melanoma has broken out among indoor workers. In fact, indoor workers get three to nine times LESS solar UV exposure than outdoor workers get, yet only indoor workers have increasing rates of melanoma -- and the rates have been increasing since before 1940.

In fact, UVB light, which causes your skin to produce vitamin D, is protective against cancer.

Caveat:

"Vitamin D in multivitamins is very poorly absorbed, if at all. Likewise, about 90% of the D in most calcium preparations is not absorbed. The vast majority of tablet or powder preparations, such as those in calcium tablets, are not absorbed to any significant extent. Take all you want and you remain vit D-deficient with osteoporosis, growing coronary plaque, low HDL, and exposed to risk for prostate and colon cancer.

If you take vitamin D in supplement form, it must--MUST--be in an oil-based capsule. The tablets are simply much too poorly and erratically absorbed to be reliable. There's nothing more frustrating to take, for instance, 4000 units of vitamin D in tablet form, only to have a blood level of 12 ng/ml--severe deficiency. Take the same 4000 unit dose in capsule form and blood level skyrockets to 58 ng/ml. And it's no more expensive.

One other thing: If you want to waste time and money, take the prescription vitamin D prescribed by many doctors. This is vitamin D2, also known as "ergocalciferol". Why use the synthetic vitamin D2 when D3 is the form your body needs? Because the D2 is patent-protectable and profitable to the drug manufacturer, similar to using Premarin (horse estrogens) when human preparations would suffice--or be superior. I saw a woman today taking 50,000 of prescription D2 once per week. Her blood level of 25-OH-vitamin D3? 17 ng/ml--severe deficiency. Don't waste your time with this garbage."
 

Mercola 1 hour lecture on Vit. D Vitamin D -- The Master Key to Optimal Health