Regarding Vitamin D, Sunshine, and Health Establishment

[Guest guest]

The Vitamin D Newsletter

April 17, 2004

The Vitamin D Council

9100 San Gregorio Road

Atascadero, CA 93422

805 462-8129

www.cholecalciferol-council.com

We apologize for not sending any newsletters over the last several months but

technical problems arose. We hope they are settled. This newsletter is

intentionally short, as I don't know if all the problems are solved. More

importantly, I want to concentrate on one disturbing development.

Dr. Holick lost his professorship in dermatology at Boston University

because of his belief that a little sunshine is good for humans.

The woman who fired Holick, Dr. Barbara Gilchrest, chairwoman of dermatology

at Boston University, said: " Vitamin D deficiency is hardly an epidemic. What

I see every single week is people with skin cancer, " she said. Moreover, she

said, " people can get all the vitamin D they need from eating fish or drinking

more milk. " For the full story: http://www.miami.com/

mld/miamiherald/business/national/8423270.htm?1c

No epidemic of vitamin D deficiency? More than half the patients in the

hospitals in Dr. Gilchrest’s hometown of Boston are vitamin D deficient, if

Massachusetts General Hospital is any guideline. And that is using the

ridiculously

low 25(OH) vitamin-D cutoff of <15 ng/ml to define vitamin D deficiency.

More than 80 % are deficient if a reasonable definition of vitamin D deficiency

is used such as a 25(OH)D < 30 ng/ml. Dr. Gilchrest should at least read the

abstract (especially the last sentence) but then perhaps she doesn’t read the

New England Journal of Medicine.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed &

;list_uids=9504937 & dopt=Abstract

Drink more milk? Dr. Gilchrest may be in violation of the American Medical

Association’s Principles of Medical Ethics (E-9.011 Continuing Medical

Education) which says, “Physicians should strive to further their medical

education

throughout their careers.â€

Recent research shows that in the completely dark world of Dr. Gilchrest

where no ray of sunlight ever strikes your unsunblocked skin, it would take at

least 40 glasses (100 IU per glass) to maintain healthy vitamin D blood levels.

Remember Professor Heaney’s remarkable research, published just last

year, that shows healthy humans utilize about 4,000 IU of cholecalciferol a day,

and they get almost all of it from summer sun. Is Professor Gilchrest

keeping up with her professional reading?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=pubmed & am

p;dopt=Abstract & list_uids=12499343

Professor Gilchrest apparently believes any sun exposure (not just sunburns)

causes malignant melanoma. Why then, Professor, is melanoma more common in

indoor workers than outdoor workers? Why is melanoma more common in body areas

usually covered by clothes (the back and the upper legs)?

More and more Americans have been avoiding the sun for almost 30 years now,

due to the dermatologists’ warnings, but the incidence of malignant melanoma

continues to skyrocket. It seems more likely that malignant melanoma is just

one of the dozens of cancers that proliferate rapidly in vitamin D deficient

patients, vitamin D being one of the most powerful anticarcinogens known. Does

that mean that Dr. Gilchrest and her fellow dermatologists are actually

contributing to the melanoma epidemic by telling patients to avoid the sun and

then

not testing for or treating the iatrogenically induced vitamin D deficiency?

Some dermatologists appear to suspect just that.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=pubmed & am

p;dopt=Abstract & list_uids=12174089

Just think, a dermatologist tells a patient to totally avoid the sun, does

not warn their patient about the risks of vitamin D deficiency and does not

periodically check 25(OH)D levels (just tells them to drink some milk). Over

the

years, the patient subsequently develops osteoporosis, a fractured hip,

rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, heart disease, and 13

different varieties of internal cancers. You check her 25(OH)D level and it is

10

ng/ml (drinking four glasses of milk a day). I can tell you the names of 20

members of the American Trial Lawyers Association who would love to talk with

that patient.

Do Dr. Holick a favor. Write to Dr. Gilchrest and let her know what you

think.

Barbara Gilchrest, MD

Chairwoman

Dermatology

Boston University School of Medicine

715 Albany St.

Boston, MA 02118

bgilchre@...

Better yet, write to the Dean of Boston University Medical School and tell

him what you think.

F. McCahan, MD

Acting Dean

Boston University School of Medicine

715 Albany Street, L-103

Boston, MA 02118

jmccahan@...

4/17/04

Cannell, MD

The Vitamin D Council

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