JULY 7, 2009 — More than 4 in 5 tanning salon owners still have not had their vitamin D blood levels checked, according to a SmartTan.com survey conducted in late June and early July.

According to the survey, just 19 percent of tanning salon owners say they have had their vitamin D blood levels checked by a physician in the past two years, while 81 percent say they have skipped the test. The results are not scientific, but are highly directional.

“There are two ways to read these results,” Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. “While it is discouraging that more tanning facility owners have not yet had their vitamin D levels checked, the 19 percent who have had the test — called a calcidiol blood test — is at least twice as high as the general population. And that’s encouraging.”

Surveys suggest less than 9 percent of adults have had vitamin D blood tests, despite the fact that up to 75 percent of Americans and 97 percent of Canadians experience vitamin D deficiency at some point during the year.

“We know that research has shown that indoor tanners have 90 percent higher vitamin D blood levels as compared to the non-tanning population, so it behooves tanning facility owners to have their vitamin D levels checked simply to make that point clear,” Levy said.

Smart Tan will discuss simple ways to get your vitamin D blood levels checked at Smart Tan Downtown: Smart Tan’s 14th Annual Convention and Trade Show Oct. 9-11 in Downtown Nashville. We’ll also discuss what you can do with those test results.

For more information on Smart Tan Downtown call 800-652-3269 or 866-795-3755 in Canada, or click here.