can you get vitamin d from sunbeds?

[ianessex]

im having a terrible time digesting my vitamin d supplements, get awful gut problems and was wondering if sunbeds were a safe and viable option and how much vitamin d would i get from each session. im not interested in tanning and would want to keep sessions to a minimum. thanks !!

[Hidden]

I actually think you can because I used them for years and it was about a year after stopping that I went hypoT and also got a Vit D deficiency.

I think the sun is good for you and in winter we don't get enough on our skin. Sunbeds are good for boosting mood, vitD and I reckon it does a lot more than that too, some good some bad.

When I went on sunbeds I didn't get half the colds or coughs than when I didn't use them. I loved being tanned too.

I stopped because I got weird brown patches on my face. They've gone and my skin is fine, but I haven't returned to sunbeds since then, which is a few years now.

I think the % UVB and UVA matters for Vit D, you'd need a sunbed with UVB.

Read this:

greenhealthwatch.com/newsst...

QUOTE:

Sun bed boosted vitamin D levels

Exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation from a sun bed for ten minutes three times a week for six months tripled vitamin D levels after only four weeks.

After six months of treatment, her levels had been restored to within the normal, healthy range and she was free of the muscle weakness and bone and muscle pain that had made her life such a misery before.

The 57-year-old woman, who had had a long history of Crohn’s disease and short-bowel syndrome. Three bowel operations had left her with only two feet of small intestineand she had found it impossible to increase her blood vitamin D3 levels through dietary supplements.

View Vitamin Research Products' vitamin D3 1,000iu supplement

(12271) Koutkia,P et al. Gastroenterology 2001;121(6):1485-88

QUOTE

Sun beds increase vitamin D levels

Sun beds had increased blood serum vitamin D levels by around 40% after six weeks. The ten 20-35 year old Nowegian volunteers were exposed to the bed twice a week for four weeks. The exposures started at one MED (minimal erythema dose) and rose to 2 MEDs across the period.

When the exposures stopped half of the volunteers were given a daily D3 supplement of 200 international units (iu) in cod liver oil, half no supplement. The supplement was too low a level to prolong significantly the benefit gained from the bed. Within eight weeks of stopping the sun bed exposures the D3 levels of both the 'supplement group' and the 'no supplement grop' had returned to their starting points.

View Vitamin Research Products' vitamin D3 1,000iu supplement

(14154) Porojnicu,AC et al.

Jnl. of Photochem. and Photobiol. Biology 2008;91(2-3):125-31

koala

[helvella Administrator]

Standard sunbeds have very little of the required wavelength of light to produce vitamin D.

There are a few special sunbeds that do produce the right sort of light. Salons with these are very few and far between.

However, now I look again, this link is rather more positive:

vitamindcouncil.org/about-v...

Rod

[RedApple Administrator]

You need to find a tanning salon that has UVB tubes in their sunbeds. They are quite common in the US, but when I investigated this avenue for myself a couple of years ago I discovered that the majority of UK salons do not have these.

No UVB rays = no vitamin D

Alternatively, if you can afford it and have the space in your home to accommodate one, you can buy your own UVB sunbed. They tend to be sold for use by people with skin conditions such as psoriasis.

[RedApple Administrator]

Are your vitamin D supplements the oil filled capsule type? If so, you could try bypassing the digestive system and use transdermal absorption instead. Simply prick the capsule with a pin, squeeze the contents onto your skin and rub in.

[ianessex in reply to RedApple]

wow !! never heard of this,,,, would that really work ?? does the body assimulate that ??

[RedApple Administrator in reply to ianessex]

It definitely works. I don't know how much better or worse the effect is on your measurable blood D level compared to the usual route through the digestive tract though.

[Hidden]

Creams do work, for example after using progesterone cream for 3 months my level went right up. There are also magnesium oils and various other products where you apply it to your skin and it improves your levels of whatever it is.

The skin absorbs a spooky amount of stuff!

I wonder why the people in the sunbed articles didn't try the transdermal method for Vit D?

koala

[ianessex in reply to Hidden]

suppose it makes sense,,, just didnt think about it.

[RedApple Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Given a choice, I would far rather go the sunbed route than supplements. The sunbed route means that your body is making it's own vitamin D. Whereas the supplements are 'ready made' vitamin D. I can't recall where i saw it now, but there is some question as to whether supplements are as effective as the 'make your own' version... if you get what I mean

I can't tolerate any form of vitamin D supplement at all (not even transdermally). But I'm just fine at making my own from sunshine, so for me, there is a definite difference.

[ianessex in reply to RedApple]

when i told my gp i couldnt tolerate the supplements i got a wierd look . can i ask why you cant tolerate it,,,, i get bad gut pains and headaches.

[RedApple Administrator in reply to ianessex]

My GP looked at me like that too and simply told me to go on holiday to a sunny destination. Fat chance! For me, vit D supplements cause crippling weakness, fatigue, brain fog and other symptoms not dissimilar to some hypo symptoms.

[Hidden in reply to RedApple]

I wonder why? Is it a calcium thing too? If only we could go somewhere sunny - however Egypt did nothing for my levels.

but 1000iu drops(in milk - yuk) works well for me - I suppose putting capsules on your skin may work for some too as the skin is the biggest organ of the body? I have no wish to be a Morlock, so will try anything! J

[RedApple Administrator in reply to Hidden]

I researched things that cause vit D intolerance and got GP to do various tests... including parathyroid / calcium issues and Lyme disease. GP was impressed with my research as he had no clue. Less impressed when everything came back normal, so I'm fine apparently.

I have an intolerance to many common supplements (e.g. vit C, selenium) though, not just vit D. No idea why, but I'll keep looking for answers.

[Hidden]

Red Apple

Do you go on sunbeds for Vit D? If so, how long for and how often?

I agree it's more natural than supplements and I also think the body can then regulate it better.

It's a pity how sunbeds have been made out to be so evil. I always felt a massive boost when I went on them. I am considering starting again.

koala

[RedApple Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Unfortunately no, I haven't found one near me that has the required UVB lamps I would be there in a heartbeat if I could. You may have more luck where you are perhaps... would be interested to hear if you do.

[StoneSpring in reply to RedApple]

Have you looked into this? sperti.com/The-Vitamin-D-La...

[RedApple Administrator in reply to StoneSpring]

StoneSpring, Thanks for the suggestion. However I'm in the UK and the item to which you have linked appears to be for sale in the US.

A couple of things to bear in mind when posting on this forum:

1) Most members here are not in the US. Although we are an international forum, we are based in the UK and linked to the charity Thyroid UK thyroiduk.org Hence the majority of our members are also UK based.

2) We try to keep this forum clean from spam and advertising, so please don't post links without at least briefly explaining what is 'at the end of the link'. Members need to have some idea of what they can expect to see if they click a link posted by another member.

(This is in our forum posting guidelines

13. If you post a link, please at least explain briefly what people can expect to find if they follow the link. Links without such an introduction/explanation may be deleted.

Full posting guidelines can be found here healthunlocked.com/thyroidu... )

[Hidden]

There's a sun spa here 'in the sticks' Shrewsbury (he was on dragon's den and got the thumbs down) it's a full spectrum light, 3 actually, with sand, sunbeds. music inc parrots, smoothie bar & massage - lol!

but once a month still doesn't cut it. I am considering my own uvb lamp (not the cheap SAD ones) costs £300+ or could join my brother in Spain - ha! if I had been given a farm to rent out too - oops another story. C'est la vie! J

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

not a sunbed - just full spectrum or UVB for half an hour. 20 mins in actual sun would be fine if we had some! (without the added nasties in sunscreen that is - try buying a face cream without p-whatever factor). how come folks who work outside or in Spain are less prone to skin cancer? how come jaundiced babies need light therapy? why did they used to leave babies naked in the sunshine for a while? even in the 1920's they found out we weren't getting enough from diet & had cod liver oil?

how come that's all forgotten? meanwhile health scares & suntan cream invented! J x

[BillieSt]

unfortunately, there's a major flaw in the sunbed idea for Vitamin D ... it's called skin cancer

[PinkNinja in reply to BillieSt]

Yes this is an unfortunate consequence of regular use, however vitamin D protects against skin cancer so I wonder if there is some way of designing a sunbed with less of the cancer-causing wavelengths but enough of the wavelengths that cause the skin to produce the protective vitamin D.

They are now saying that safe tanning (I'm presuming this means in sunlight rather than with sunbeds, but I'm not 100% sure) without sunscreen actually helps prevent skin cancer. The move to staying out of the sun and using so much sunblock has actually resulted in an increase of the rate of melanoma due to vitamin D deficiency. It is all too complicated for my brain this evening

[BillieSt in reply to PinkNinja]

I think it's pretty universally accepted that sunbeds, in their present form, cause skin cancer and there's a major drive to stop people going on them.

If I had to choose between being vitamin D deficient and having cancer, there's no contest really.

[ellarose1234 in reply to BillieSt]

That idea is what has been putting off people from sitting in the sun. If you splash on oil and sit there all day and look like a boiled lobster then yes it is dangerous. But 10-15 minutes at a sensible time of the day works wonders. Children nowadays are getting rickets because mother is plastering them with 50 strength sun cream. 10 minutes a day with none at all would be so much healthier for them....then plaster them with sun cream.

[BillieSt]

Sitting in the sun for a reasonable time whilst wearing a good level of sunscreen to protect your skin from burning = sensible and good for your health. To suggest a young child's delicate skin can be subjected to sun without protection is, to be honest, quite a breathtakingly dangerous notion. Rickets is more prevalent in some children because they aren't getting a good diet, being fed a balanced diet will do them more good than sticking them under the sun without sunscreen.

lying under a sunbed which is proven to cause skin cancer = not sensible and not good for your health.

[Jen0209]

We are told many things that aren't necessarily true. NDT is bad for us being just one. There have been a fair few studies showing that people exposed to UVB have less chance of getting cancer. I firmly believe that safe tanning on a sunbed does NOT cause cancer and further more some of the top oncologists agree.