ETS Tanning Bed Blog

The recent swine flu scare had everyone worried about their health, but there’s good news for those “ounce of prevention” types and it’s called Vitamin D. Having enough is important because recent studies have shown when levels of vitamin D are low, we’re more susceptible to colds and flus. So while not exactly a cure, it is effective in staving off those rampant viruses floating around at the office.

Vitamin D is actually a hormone which encourages and empowers your immune system through the production of cathelicidin (a protein that fights bacteria). Its two biggest sources are the sun and fortified milk – but you can also take supplements or visit your local tanning salon for some full spectrum UV light therapy. The latter is also a recognized treatment for seasonal affective disorder (winter blues) and much cheaper than a Mediterranean cruise.

Dr. Jan Gurley — Doc Gurley — a medical blogger for the San Francisco Gate, speculates that increased vitamin D intake in the summer is one the reasons the flu tends to disappear in the summer . She also says ultraviolet lights can help kill the influenza virus on surfaces .

Most people can take up to 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day, but if you're not sure, just get a blood test and let your doctor help you find your optimal level.

Vitamin D is quickly turning into the wonder vitamin of this decade. It's easy to get (sunlight in the summer, tanning salons in colder weather), inexpensive (sunlight is free, most tanning salons have membership programs, and vitamin D milk is $3 per gallon), and it can help fight a number of different ailments, including certain cancers, seasonal affective disorder, and even the basic flu.

There just may be a reason multiple sclerosis (MS) is less common in countries that have more year ’round sunshine. At least, there is new research which indicates Vitamin D (acquired orally or through the skin via sunshine or UV-B rays from indoor tanning beds) helps in the treatment of the disease.

MS is a medical disorder in which the body doesn’t recognize itself. As a result, the body’s own immune system attacks and eventually destroys the sheath (covering) that protects the nerve fibers, reacting as if it were a foreign substance or an infection.

Vitamin D is well known as an immune system booster . Now, however, medical research from Louisiana State University School of Medicine and the Oregon Health and Science University indicate Vitamin D may also help regulate the immune system.

In fact, other researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston have stated vitamin D deficiencies have been linked to MS, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and certain types of cancer .

Clinical trials are now in phase II to gauge the effectiveness and necessary amount for MS treatment. In an official statement, researchers say they believe Vitamin D therapy research will provide “more therapeutic options,” and hope their findings are “a major advance in the global effort to alter the natural history of this chronic disease.”

There is also the mood-enhancing benefit of UV-B rays. And if you have a tight day schedule or live in a country (or region) that does not get year ’round sun, you can easily add indoor tanning to your UV-B regimen. Contact your local tanning salon for information on pricing and membership.

Even Forbes, a business magazine, is getting on the vitamin D bandwagon with an article about the importance of vitamin D that covers a new study promoting the connection between sunshine, UV-B rays and your overall health .

What I like about this latest study from the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine is that the author, Dr. Adit Ginde, stresses that fortified food typically isn't sufficient enough when it comes to vitamin D. Too often, I think most people assume that because a food is fortified with vitamin D that they're fine, but the truth is there's just no substitute for sunshine and UV-B rays when it comes to your health.

In fact, according to Dr. Ginde and his co-authors, more than 75% of the U.S. population suffer from some form of vitamin D deficiency. The cause? According to the study, it's our society's hyper-awareness of sun exposure and subsequent overuse of sun block along with a trend towards spending less and less time outside. (Look, when people are telling you to put on a high-SPF sunscreen and big floppy hat just to get your mail, it's getting a little silly.)

The answer? Get some sunshine, it's good for your health.

But what if you can't get outside or, like me, you live in Indianapolis during the winter? Well, you can get those same UV-B rays through indoor tanning. Indoor tanning machines provide the same UV-B rays that the body uses to synthesize vitamin-D, meaning 10 minutes in a bed one to two times a week may be all you need.

When I was a kid, we played outside every day from about April to November and if it wasn't too cold in the winter, our mothers sent us out in the snow. Today, kids are inside playing video games, watching movies, surfing the Internet and simply not getting the sunlight and vitamin D they need to maintain their personal health.

While I don't want to turn this into a story about how I had to walk ten miles to school (it was actually only eight), I think this downturn in sun exposure could translate into a downturn for our children's health.

For instance, did you know that rickets is actually making a comeback ? Rickets?! Yes, the same disease that plagued mine-working children during the Industrial Revolution in sun-starved Britain . That rickets.

In the early 1920s, it was Johns Hopkins researcher Elmer McCollum who discovered the connetion between rickets and vitamin D. In fact, it was McCollum who "discovered" vitamin D by curing rickets after heating cod-liver oil (a commonly-believed cure at the time), which destroyed its vitamin A properties, but left an unknown nutrient. McCollumn named it D, since vitamins B and C had recently been discovered.

Although most of our milk products, and even eggs, are fortified with vitamin D, it doesn't seem to be enough to stop this previously eradicated disease. Another alarming statistic cited in the article linked above (Vitamin D Levels in Kids are So Low that Rickets is Back with a Vengeance) is that kids' bones are developing normally, but are significantly softer.

The consequence of lower vitamin D is more breaks. Forty-six percent more girls are breaking their arms than compared to 40 years ago and 32 percent more boys. Scientists and doctors believe this may be the result of widespread vitamin D deficiency, which has been brought about because of reduced sun exposure.

With kids either staying inside or being constantly lathered with sunscreen, they're simply not getting the sun exposure they need. And truthfully, it's not that much - just 10-15 minutes of direct sunlight 2-3 days per week to get those all-important UV-B rays. By increasing a kid's vitamin D levels, we can reduce rickets, and even prevent future diseases from occurring when they're adults.

Last month, USA Today published an interesting article covering the relationship between skin types and vitamin D absorption .

While dark-skinned or darker-skinned individuals always thought themselves to be safe when it came to sun exposure, it seems they may now have to worry about being too safe. You see, darker-skinned people tend to absorb sunlight and synthesize vitamin D at a much slower rate than light-skinned individuals.

According to Boston University professor Michael Holick, it's why African-Americans have higher rates of prostate cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer than the general population.

What about tanning?

While the article suggests increasing vitamin D intake, they promote supplements rather than sunlight or indoor tanning exposure. According to the article, a dark-skinned individual may need as much as 2 hours of sunlight every few days in order to get enough vitamin D, but they don't acknowledge UV-B exposure attainable through regular indoor tanning.

So, while the mainstream media continues to tout the benefits of vitamin D, they're still not acknowledging indoor tanning as an acceptable source of the critical vitamin. If you see an article like this in your paper, please send it in to this blog and remember to write a letter to the editor, reminding them of the UV-B benefits of indoor tanning.

Vitamin D is essential to our health and luckily, it's one of the few vitamins that our body can create on its own, simply by synthesizing sunlight. It's responsible for maintaining calcium and phosphorous levels, improving bone growth and boosting the immune system.

Osteoperosis, Rickets, Osteomalacia and arthritis have all been linked to vitamin D deficiency. A recent 2006 study published in the American Journal of Public Health even determined that healthy vitamin D levels could reduce cancer incidence .

Recommended Vitamin D Levels

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Daily Value (DV) for vitamin D is 400 IU for anyone over the age of 4.

How to Get Vitamin D

One of the easiest ways to get vitamin D is through UV-B ray exposure. In other words, via sunlight or artificial methods such as tanning lamps. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) , "Most people meet their vitamin D needs through exposure to sunlight."

The NIH goes on to say, "It has been suggested by some vitamin D researchers, for example, that approximately 5-30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually lead to sufficient vitamin D synthesis and that the moderate use of commercial tanning beds that emit 2-6% UVB radiation is also effective. "

Vitamin D can also be obtained through dietary sources, with wild-caught fish having some of the highest levels in the food chain:

Cod liver oil, 1 tbsp: 1,360 IU
Wild mollusks or oysters, raw, 8.7 ounces: 794 IU
Salmon, cooked, 3.5 oz: 360 IU
Mackerel, cooked, 3.5 oz: 34I U
Sardines, canned in oil, 3.5 oz: 270 IU
Beef Liver, cooked, 3.5 oz: 30 IU
Whole Egg: 25 U

Many foods are also fortified with vitamin D. For example, most of the U.S. milk supply is fortified to the tune of 100 IU/cup since fortification became standard practice in the 1930s as a way of combating rickets.

The FDA does not endorse indoor tanning, nor does the National Institutes of Health. However, both organizations agree that vitamin D is critical to our health and UV-B ray exposure is a primary source of the crucial vitamin.

Cancer Monthly , a cancer patient advocacy magazine, has published yet another article linking sun exposure (including UV-B exposure which can be derived from indoor tanning in tanning salons) to a reduced cancer risk.

The article, published in March 2009, cites a recent study published in the Annals of Epidemiology (Grant WB, Mohr SB. Ecological studies of ultraviolet B, vitamin D and cancer since 2000. Annals of Epidemiology, 2009) that found strong associations between vitamin D deficiencies (we get vitamin D from the sun and UV-B sources like indoor tanning) and various cancers, particularly colon, and breast cancer.

Dr. William B. Grant, Director of the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center (SUNARC) and a prominent researcher on vitamin D, says there are 14 different types of cancer that can be linked to UV-B exposure deficiencies. And since vitamin D is rare in the food supply, often added as a fortified supplement, most people can only obtain about 200-300 IU of the vitamin on a daily basis through diet (a fraction of what’s needed). Meanwhile, even just a small amount of UV-B exposure (5-10 minutes) can produce 1,500 to 4,000 IU of the crucial vitamin.

According to the article, there are also strong links between vitamin D deficiencies and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, ovarian cancer, and kidney cancer. As we have also detailed in our blog, researchers have also found connections between vitamin D and "a reduced incidence of other diseases," such as colds and flu, coronary heart disease, stroke, and congestive heart failure.

Though Dr. Grant recommends taking a vitamin D supplement during the winter months, indoor tanning in tanning salons can actually replicate those same vitamin-D providing UV-B rays as the natural sun.

You can read the full article Cancer Monthly article here.