Pop Quiz
What do most skin cancer patients have in common?
Answer: Low Vitamin D.
Sounds strange, right? Since Vitamin D is associated with sun exposure, shouldn’t high levels of Vitamin D be associated with skin cancer patients? If the sun is so bad, more sun should equal more skin cancer, right?
Wrong. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to just about every sickness you can think of. Diseases associated with low Vitamin D levels (below 30 ng/ml on a Vitamin D 25 (OH) test) include: osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer (of all types, including skin), Alzheimer’s, obesity, diabetes and MS. Should we go on?
Let’s take a Squint.
The Sun Powers Up Everything
At sunrise, we know that the wavelengths present move our body into action. You might recall learning about our blue light “wake up call” from our explainer on blue light. Light builds our pituitary hormones by first creating dopamine using our amino acids that absorb light. Light does this to cortisol, too. Sunlight is designed to literally help our body rise and shine.
Research shows that all surface light on our skin – from sunrise to sunset – is essential for wellness. And, one wavelength in particular – UVB – is critical to making Vitamin D. The same Vitamin D, when deficient, has been linked to nearly every cancer and disease on the planet. So, yes, you should always include Vitamin D in your blood workups. Vitamin D3 plasma levels are a great marker for the light in your environment. High levels mean we are absorbing the sunlight in our environment, while low levels indicate that we aren’t getting enough sun, or that we have some environmental stress like artificial light or non-native EMFs, that prevent our Vitamin D levels from increasing (that’s me, by the way)
Not Just Any Light Makes Vitamin D.
UVB light is the wavelength range of light that needs to strike the skin in order to make Vitamin D. Vitamin D3 is synthesized from cholesterol in the skin, upon exposure to UVB rays from the sun. The sun helps cholesterol become sulfated (yes, we need cholesterol!) and this allows it to change photo-electrically to Vitamin D. Further modifications are made in the kidney and liver to make the active form of Vitamin D3.
To find UVB light to make Vitamin D, you need to get outside. That’s step one. You also need to consider the time of year and latitude where you live. If it’s the middle of winter (north of the 37th latitude) you will not be making Vitamin D on your skin. As you will learn in later blogs, this is not a death sentence, it just means you need to take advantage of the darkness of winter to allow for more melatonin production. And, you should start making a plan for summer to get as much Vitamin D as possible when it is readily available. Build Vitamin D all summer long! Get your tank full so that you can keep running at levels to protect your immune system throughout the winter.
How to soak in the Vitamin D making UVB during summer? Get outside all day long. Prepare your skin with early morning sun for the stronger UVB wavelengths that make your Vitamin D. UVB appears when the sun is 30 degrees above the horizon. But, don’t wait for the 30 degree sun. Get your sun from sunrise to 30 degrees so that your skin is ready and waiting for the UVB light that comes to build your Vitamin D. Remember, the sun offers us perfect health if we can just let our genes that need sun, get sun.
Sun and Supplement: Not the Same
You’re probably asking, can I just supplement? No. UVB on the skin synthesizes Vitamin D from 7-dehydrocholesterol. This pathway generates dozens of Vitamin D metabolites (think of it as extra bonus immunity benefits) which our body needs. These metabolites cannot be made from the Vitamin D we get at CVS. Our body can tell the difference by the way (remember, our perfect design?)
When a photon (light) is captured by a semiconductor in your body (a protein), it can no longer act like a wave of light. It must act like a particle. This particle is key in making ATP from ADP (yes, you need light to make ATP!). It is also key in making Vitamin D from cholesterol. When you take a Vitamin D supplement, the photon (sunlight) to particle part never happens. When you take exogenous Vitamin D in pill form, none of these photoelectric effects happen naturally. When we introduce a chemical signal, like oral Vitamin D3 – it contains no frequency information, kind of like a dead signal. There is no light information to process, no photonic power from the sun.
Pills, made in a factory, have never seen the light (literally and metaphorically) which means they are only chemical signals. These signals actually lower dopamine, melatonin and melanin levels in anyone that relies on them long-term. Yikes.
Go Out and Get the Real Thing
When you have access to UVB light at your latitude, soak it up! Make sure you get outside mid-day in a tank top and shorts (or better yet, a bikini or swim trunks) Not available to you right now? Check out our explainer of the fall equinox and how to maximize your light here.
Thank you for taking a Squint with us! Don’t forget to print out our Morning Light checklist to stay on top of your light routine.
