The Sunshine Vitamin – why our body makes D and D3

note: posting this to support those who practice eating solar chi daily – this is the material level. I agree with all he has written except his choice to wear sunglasses, which cuts out direct soul contact with the sun
michael

The Sunshine Vitamin
by David Efrig, MD.

A big cold front has moved into Baltimore – arctic air and everything. There was even a dusting of snow on my car this morning. The weather folk here are talking about single digits tonight. This qualifies as cold even compared to Minnesota, where I grew up. I’m thinking a trip to my home in Augusta, Georgia, is warranted. Heck, down there the crocuses will be coming up soon, followed in a couple weeks by daffodils.

In the last Health Report, I sent a top-12 health list for 2009. I hope you enjoyed reading the list as much as I did writing it. People are calling and writing to tell me how great the list is this year. But I digress… please look on the list and note No. 3:

SUN. I make sure to get sun on my body all year long, but especially during the winter. Sunlight lowers the risks of several cancers. The vitamin D produced by the body from sunlight may be critical in preventing diseases such as multiple sclerosis and depression. Don’t getting burned BUT be sure and avoid the poisons in sunscreen!

Just days after I sent that to readers, a headline appeared in the New York Times. The country’s largest testing laboratory has provided thousands of faulty lab results to doctors and patients. The headline was: Quest Acknowledges Errors in Vitamin D Tests. People who were actually deficient in vitamin D were being told everything was fine. So doctors did nothing when treatment was probably warranted. Sun and vitamin D also appeared on my top-12 health list for 2008.

Had these patients read it, they could have avoided the problem just by taking a couple of simple steps…

The most important thing to do is get sun on your body, especially in the winter if you live in northern latitudes. Our bodies use sunlight to make chemicals critical to our body’s function and our mental well-being. Here’s how it works:

Sunlight comes to us in a spectrum of both visible colors and shades we can’t see. These different shades, called wavelengths, bring energy and stimulate life. Plants use certain wavelengths to produce food and energy. Animals use other wavelengths to remain healthy.

The wavelengths humans need are called UV rays (UV is short for “ultraviolet”). And one specific form, called UV-B, is critical for our health. When sunlight hits our skin, UV-B rays trigger the production of vitamin D.

One of vitamin D’s most important roles is regulating calcium and phosphorous. These chemicals themselves help regulate bone formation and resorption (bone is made and destroyed all day long, 365 days a year). The connection between bone health and sunlight is obvious. Some researchers think the reason bone fractures are so common in the elderly is due to decreased sunlight inside nursing homes and hospitals. I agree.

Besides bone formation, vitamin D also plays a critical role in:

Kidney function
Calcium blood levels
Phosphorous blood levels
Blood-pressure regulation
Immune system function
Vitamin D is technically not a “vitamin,” since we can make it in our skin and thus don’t need it in our diet. Almost every cell in our body has a receptor for vitamin D. Read that again, every cell has a receptor. This chemical is critical to our existence.

The fact that our skin needs sun to make vitamin D is further proof of how stupid the idea is, perpetuated by many in the medical establishment, that sunlight is unhealthy for us.

It’s true, the wavelengths associated with producing vitamin D can also burn our skin. But during a northern wintertime, when the sun is at about 45 degrees at noon, you can spend at least 15 minutes in the sun and not get burned. That’s plenty of time to get your vitamin D dose. (It’s also possible that too much sun exposure leads to cataracts and other eye diseases. But again, the benefits of brief exposure outweigh the small risks.)

If you live in a northern latitude, and you don’t make a special effort to get sunlight, you probably spend the winter low on vitamin D. In the absence of a test from your doctor, here are a few symptoms to look for:

Tiredness
Chronic pain
Muscle weakness
Depression
Moodiness
High blood pressure
If you take vitamin D supplements, be careful. Because the chemical is fat-soluble, your body can store it in excessive amounts. Too much vitamin D can cause kidney failure, kidney stones, and painful muscle spasms. Amazingly, you can’t get vitamin D toxicity from too much sunlight. Your body knows how much it needs and makes the right amount when it gets sun.

So if you suspect you may be low on vitamin D, get some sunlight immediately. If it’s cold, like it is here in Baltimore, take a brisk walk. You can even generate vitamin D by sitting in a sunny window.

I also I encourage you to eat foods that have vitamin D in them naturally. Unfortunately, not many foods qualify. Here are a few that do:

Salmon
Tuna
Mackerel
Sardines
Herring
Whole eggs
Cod Liver Oil (can this really be considered a food?)
I love fatty fish in the middle of the winter, and my body is probably telling me I’m low on vitamin D.

But there’s a catch with vitamin D you might not know: The vitamin D we get in our food REQUIRES SUNLIGHT to chemically activate and become useful. The skin converts the vitamin D we eat into a steroid called cholecalciferol, also known as vitamin D3. Once the skin produces D3, it circulates in the blood and gets converted to a long-lived molecule in the liver. Eventually, the body converts that into a short-lived active molecule called 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol. That’s the form of vitamin D your cells can ultimately use.

What do I do to keep up my vitamin D during the winter months?

1.

I try to get sun every day (my face is the most convenient during working hours).
2.

I eat herring at least once a week. Three ounces of the stuff provides about two days worth of vitamin D.
3.

I eat tuna once a week. The fish oils are healthy, and it provides a little vitamin D, too.
4.

I try to wear sunglasses to reduce the amount of direct light to my eyes. But since the eyes are connected to a bunch of brain structures related to sleep, happiness, body rhythms, etc., I do make sure my eyes get some of that healthy daytime light.
5.
If it is the middle of winter and I’m feeling a little blue, I try to find a nice warm brick wall, out of the wind, and just sit and get as much sunlight on my skin as possible.
It’s such a simple thing that it doesn’t seem very important. But… I look for simple, cheap, and safe things to improve the long-term quality of my life. Sunlight is one of those powerful healing sources. Don’t feel guilty about the sun.

Here’s to your health, wealth, and a long life of quality.

Happy New Year,

Dr. David Eifrig Jr.

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