Since this past fall, there has been an orchestrated campaign against the findings of health from vitamin D. The latest such attack has come from Dr. Mark Bolland, lead researcher in a recent finding. This in today’s Daily Mail: “He and his colleagues in the department of medicine at Auckland University, New Zealand, analysed the results of nearly 50 trials involving more than 200,000 people. They found that vitamin D supplements had little or no impact on the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer or even bone fractures.”

From the same article, Professor Philippe Autier of France is even more blatant: “The vitamin D fad, he says, is just ‘a commercial promotion campaign’ in which sellers of supplements, UV lamps, fortified foods and blood tests are ‘taking advantage of disease-mongering around so-called vitamin D deficiency’”

Then there is this news release from Columbia University: “Study Finds No Evidence That Vitamin D Supplements Reduce Depression”

Given that they believe their own work, I think the solution is simple; keep them out of the sun for a year with no vitamin D supplements. If they survive this experience, then, we can see what type of diseases they have developed during this test. It all seems very reasonable to me. If they survive and develop no disease then we can say that they are correct. If they developed significant disease states, then this could be documented and their contribution to science and health would have been achieved.

We should also add the journalist to this cohort as well for just passing along information that is based on lack of logic and science. The number of people that have jumped on this band wagon should give us a very large cohort. I say lack of science because most of the studies reviewed are based on supplementation with very small amounts of vitamin D and second the studies are based on supplementation and not serum levels of vitamin D. Serum levels do not respond equally to supplementation or sunshine exposure.

Small amounts in supplementation in many studies are just ridiculous. Consider that we have long told the population of the world that all they needed was 400 IU of vitamin D daily. Studies have been based on this amount that is used to keep a ten pound (4.5kg) baby from getting rickets. So just how much vitamin D is this? 400 IU is equal to 0.01 milligrams or 10 micrograms. This is the amount that people with light skin color would make in about thirty seconds in the midday summer sun with sixty percent of their skin exposed. Okay, so let’s rewrite Dr. Bolland’s statement with this understanding: “They found that thirty seconds in the midday summer sun had little or no impact on the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer or even bone fractures.” Hunh? I guess that I could have just figured that out without a study. What about thirty minutes in the midday summer sun Dr. Bolland? Isn’t that how we used to cure tuberculosis?

How easy it is to just jump on the ‘band wagon’ for a joy ride because everyone else says that it will be fun. Journalist, are you prepared to spend a year without sunshine to prove the scientist correct? I am glad I am not the person paying for these studies – wait, maybe I have through one of the divisions of Health and Human Services. Anyway, this type of logic almost killed me from severe sleep apnea to say nothing of three decades of pain. – “Disease mongering around vitamin D deficiency” – Pandemic Survivor