JULY 23, 2009 — “Children probably need a thousand units of vitamin D a day. Teenagers and adults need two thousand units of vitamin D a day to satisfy their requirement. You cannot get an adequate amount of vitamin D to satisfy your body’s requirement from your diet.”

— Boston University Vitamin D pioneer Dr. Michael Holick, who has continued to promote regular moderate sun exposure as the best way to make “The Sunshine Vitamin.” In July the dermatology community has ramped up its efforts to suggest that people turn to diet and supplements to get their vitamin D in lieu of what nature intended: for humans to make vitamin D from sun exposure.

A full body tan in a standard indoor tanning unit makes more vitamin D than you get from drinking 100 8-ounce glasses of vitamin D fortified whole milk.