News reports this week have been flooded with dermatology leaders suggesting that sun exposure isn\u2019t necessary to maintain recommended vitamin D blood levels. But can dermatology\u2019s lobbying groups really be trusted on this topic?<\/p>\n
\u201cDermatology groups generally consider 20 ng\/ml an acceptable vitamin D blood level,\u201d Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. \u201cThe entire vitamin D research community recommends vitamin D levels between 40-60 ng\/ml \u2014 levels researchers now call \u2018natural\u2019 or \u2018physiological\u2019 because that\u2019s what you make and maintain naturally in your skin if you work outdoors.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even if you consider 20 ng\/ml as acceptable, some reports suggest that dermatologists themselves might be woefully short of that.<\/p>\n
A 2009 study in the British Journal of Dermatology reported that Australian dermatologists at the end of Australian summer \u2014 when vitamin D levels should be their highest \u2014 had vitamin D blood levels averaging just 13.8 ng\/ml. Such levels are so low as to be borderline for osteomalacia in adults and rickets in children.<\/p>\n
In the United States in 2010, NBC News reported that a Washington, D.C., dermatologist was unable to identify her 14-year-old son\u2019s severe vitamin D deficiency even after he complained of constant pain, headaches, exhaustion, body aches and stomach pain \u2014 classic signs of severe vitamin D deficiency.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Benjamin\u2019s an active tennis player she (his mother) thought he\u2019d just pulled a muscle or strained something,\u201d NBC-Washington reported after talking with Dr. Marilyn Berzin, Benjamin\u2019s mother. She is a Washington, D.C., dermatologist whose web site states she is considered \u201cto be one of Washington, D.C.\u2019s leading cosmetic dermatologists.\u201d The web site encourages people to always apply sunscreen with at least an SPF15 rating.<\/p>\n
Based on video images of Berzin and her son \u2014 who both appear pale in the story — it is likely they don\u2019t get a lot of sun.<\/p>\n
It was the stomach pain that got Dr. Berzin to take her son to a pediatrician, NBC reported. \u201cDoctors tested him for everything from arthritis to muscular dystrophy to Lyme disease,\u201d the story reported. The tests ultimately showed he was severely deficient in vitamin D and was put on 50,000-international-unit-weekly supplements for an eight-week period.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin about two to three weeks he started feeling a lot better \u2014 he grew immediately about two inches,\u201d Dr. Berzin said in the NBC-Washington report.<\/p>\n
The story did correctly report that 70 percent of children are believed to be vitamin D deficient, and that kids not getting outdoor sunlight like they used to is most likely the cause. But doctors in the report only recommended 400 IU of vitamin D daily.<\/p>\n
While the story did not mention Benjamin\u2019s vitamin D level, it is likely that it was below 10 ng\/ml, based on the symptoms he reported and the level of vitamin D prescribed to him. The number of children below 10 ng\/ml has increased significantly in the past generation, according to government data \u2014 levels so low that childhood rickets, virtually eradicated in the mid-20th century, is making a resurgence. Overzealous sun avoidance is believed to be the cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the dermatology lobby has been advising people they don\u2019t need to get sun exposure to make vitamin D \u2014 even though sun is the natural and intended way to make vitamin D and getting full-body summer sun makes more than 100 times the vitamin D supplemented into a glass of milk \u2014 here\u2019s an example of a dermatologist who obviously didn\u2019t know enough about vitamin D deficiency and it was hurting her own family,\u201d Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. \u201cWe are glad that Dr. Berzin and her family are in better health. Hopefully dermatology can learn something from this story.\u201d<\/p>\n