Dr. Boz [Annette Bosworth, MD] - Illegal Vitamin D Advice

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Test your vitamin D level with a home finger-prick blood test, rather than assuming supplements are working, and aim for a level of at least 50. The speaker, Dr. Annette Bosworth, argues that the body may not absorb supplemental vitamin D well when health is declining, and she describes UVB light exposure from a tanning bed as a way to raise levels in her father's case.

Key Points

• Her father's vitamin D fell from the mid-50s to the teens as his health declined, and stayed in the 20s even on prescribed 50,000-unit supplements.
• She attributes the problem to poor absorption, describing "leaky gut" (increased gut permeability) that let absorbed vitamin D leak out.
• Her father's vitamin D rose to 83 after about 30 days of tanning-bed sessions, with no supplements given during that period.
• She cites cited comparisons in which higher vitamin D levels were associated with lower rates of various conditions, such as a 83% reduction in breast cancer at a level of 50 versus 25.
• She distinguishes UVA bulbs, which give a quick tan, from UVB bulbs, which she says drive the vitamin D conversion.

Details Worth Noting

• Concrete instructions:
  • Test your vitamin D with a home finger-prick kit: prick your finger, apply blood to the sponge, and send it to a lab.
  • Test every month until your level reaches a minimum of 50, rather than waiting six months between tests.
  • If you have a level in the 30s and take about 400 international units daily, increase to at least 5,000 international units daily, then retest monthly until you reach the target range.
  • If you are considering tanning, ask the salon whether its beds use UVB bulbs as well as UVA bulbs, since UVA-only beds mainly produce a tan.
  • Tanning protocol used with her father: start at 3 minutes, add a few minutes each week, and reach about 8 minutes by week four, a couple of times a week, stopping before sunburn.
• Her father's sessions were the only intervention between the two measurements, so the single case is not controlled evidence.
• She notes that tanning beds carry skin cancer risk, and that salons cannot legally advertise them as a way to raise vitamin D.
• Her practice uses supplements for most patients and tanning beds only for those with very low levels and declining health.

Bottom Line

Rather than assuming a vitamin D supplement is working, measure your level regularly, since absorption may be impaired. Discuss any supplement dose or tanning use with a qualified health professional, because the video's claims are the speaker's own and are not professional medical advice.