"For years, I believed medicine would make us healthy" video, Dr. Spitz
YouTube 87 minutes in German with English voice-overs
Summary — Jörg Spitz on Mindseed by Claude AI
(02:39–08:03) Core thesis: chronic disease isn't a thinking error but a "system error" dating to the shift from hunter-gatherers ~15,000 years ago. Humans are holobionts whose needs nature no longer meets, compounded by the exposome. German healthcare now spends ~€1.3 billion per day (up from €1B pre-pandemic) while ~90% of deaths are chronic disease and 12-year-olds present with type 2 diabetes.
(08:32–10:15) On being "brainwashed" as a young doctor: not coercion, but selective information. Cites Weizsäcker — science is right about what it says and wrong about what it stays silent on.
(12:47–16:03) Dementia and depression are metabolic disorders of brain cells, not fated illnesses. Cites Felice Jacka's diet trial: Mediterranean diet vs. control, ~40% symptom-free after a year with diet change alone — and notes they got no vitamin D, omega-3, or exercise on top.
(16:22–21:33) Microbiome as the second pillar: gut bacteria outnumber human cells, ferment fiber we can't digest, and have a vested interest in host survival. Antibiotic disruption clears the field for pathogens.
(21:33–27:38) Personal disclosure: colon carcinoma removed 4 years ago after a period of severe stress — he frames chronic stress as removing the cellular oversight that normally suppresses rogue cells. Argues conventional medicine treats symptoms (cholesterol, blood sugar) like knocking out a warning light.
(27:38–32:57) Genetics accounts for ~5%; epigenetics does the rest. Recounts a large cardiology study finding zero genetic signal for heart attack but 9 lifestyle factors that multiply rather than add — 4 factors → ~40×, all 9 → ~300×.
(37:06–48:44) Vitamin D core segment: DKFZ breast cancer data (≥40 ng/mL ≈ 10% of the risk of the deficient group); vitamin D maintaining intercellular anchors and immune cytokine production; Alzheimer's reversal study whose fine print revealed 10 supplements alongside lifestyle. Defends supplementation — cholecalciferol from UV-irradiated lanolin is nature-identical and unpatentable, and pharma's attempt at a patentable active-form analog failed on toxicity.
(48:44–53:18, 1:03:34–1:07:15) Sun and skin: UVB only ~11am–3pm, none at northern latitudes Sept–March; 2 m² exposed skin → 15–20,000 IU in 15–20 min. Depigmentation as selection pressure in northern Europe; Inuit compensating via fish liver. Cites the 20,000-woman, 30-year Swedish cohort where sun avoidance carried double the mortality — comparable in magnitude to smoking.
(54:26–1:00:43) Practical dosing: supplement year-round at ~1,000 IU per 10 kg body weight. Argues from rickets eradication (400–600 IU for a 4–6 kg infant) that scaling by mass is obvious.
Quotes gene-activation counts:- 400–600 IU → ~160 genes;
- 4,000 IU → ~400 genes and level ~35 ng/mL;
- 10,000 IU → ~1,200 genes and level ~80.
(1:18:36–1:23:55) Fertility and pregnancy: myokines from movement mobilize brain stem cells; low vitamin D slows sperm motility; sperm counts down ~60%. Maternal resource depletion (vitamin D, omega-3, iodine) can set the in-utero groundwork for later diabetes or dementia — hence the ancient custom of pre-conception preparation.
(1:09:06–1:17:44, 1:24:35–1:28:33) Grab-bag of secondary claims: transdermal absorption of anything applied to skin, skin microbiome disruption from washing, tanning beds with a UVB component as a winter substitute, UVA→nitric oxide→lower blood pressure, and EMF/radio-frequency harms.
Accuracy Concerns:
- The Jacka SMILES trial had 67 participants with ~32% remission, not 300 and 40%; and
- the ~300× figure tracks INTERHEART, where the combined odds ratio was closer to 129×.
- His COVID "designed virus" and vaccine-harm remarks (00:00, 1:01:05), and
- the claim that electric-car EMF kills drivers via collapsed HRV (1:27:16), are asserted without supporting citation
Chapters on YouTube
- 00:00:00 Intro
- 00:02:36 Why our healthcare system fails to prevent chronic diseases
- 00:08:26 “I was brainwashed as a doctor” – Jörg Spitz on his medical training
- 00:12:06 What we are not being told about health
- 00:12:43 Dementia & depression: What role does metabolism play?
- 00:16:12 Body cells & the brain: How health begins at the cellular level
- 00:16:36 Humans as holobionts: Why we never live alone
- 00:17:45 Gut & microbiome: How bacteria influence our health
- 00:22:42 What modern medicine can do – and where its limits lie
- 00:23:40 Chronic stress: How the mind and body are connected
- 00:28:53 Genes & epigenetics: How much does heredity determine our health?
- 00:34:13 Can we change inherited risks through our lifestyle?
- 00:37:45 Prevention: How nutrition and lifestyle influence our genes
- 00:44:59 Supplements: Natural or artificial – what makes sense?
- 00:49:58 Vitamin D & sunlight: Why Spitz considers both so important
- 00:55:01 Supplementing vitamin D: D3, K2 & getting the right amount
- 01:02:30 Sun protection: How much sunlight do humans need?
- 01:09:57 Skin, cosmetics & the microbiome: What affects our protective barrier
- 01:15:32 Tanning beds: A sensible substitute for natural sunlight?
- 01:18:55 Exercise, muscles & the brain: Why our bodies need movement
- 01:20:53 “Back to nature” – what a healthier lifestyle could look like
- 01:25:11 Progress, technology & health: What should we question more critically?
- 01:34:56 Aging healthily and the fear of dying
- 01:36:15 The final question for Jörg
Summary of Dr. Spitz
Background. Spitz (b. 1943), of Schlangenbad near Wiesbaden, is a specialist in nuclear medicine, nutritional medicine, and preventive medicine. He was head physician for nuclear medicine at the Städtisches Klinikum (HSK) Wiesbaden from 1979–2004, with an adjunct professorship at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz from 1997. Since 2009 he has worked exclusively on prevention concepts and their practical implementation.
Organizations. He founded the non-profit German Foundation for Health Information and Prevention (DSGiP), whose core topics are dementia, multiple sclerosis, micronutrients, and the health effects of sunlight and vitamin D; in 2014 he founded the Akademie für menschliche Medizin (AMM). He also built MS patient information portals (lsms.info, lifesms). In 2015 he was named president of the Gesellschaft für biologische Krebsabwehr in Heidelberg.
Vitamin D work. Starting in 2011/13 he organized Germany's first nationwide vitamin D congresses, and since 2014 has run the annual Congress for Human Medicine at the University of Frankfurt. These were "Vitamin D Update 2011" and "Vitamin D Update 2013." He is widely called Germany's "Vitamin-D-Papst." He treats vitamin D as an essential hormone and cites roughly 4,000 IU/day for a 70 kg adult as appropriate. Books include Superhormon Vitamin D and Krebszellen mögen keine Sonne.
Related in VitaminDWiki
Genes Activated
- Vitamin D regulates 175 genes (in 8 categories)
- 430 genes changed when 3,800 IU Vitamin D added in late second trimester – RCT
- 1289 genes changed with higher doses of Vitamin D - RCT
Epigenetics
- Why Vitamin D works differently for different people: genetics and epigenetics
- Epigenetics and Vitamin D – many studies
- Health problems can persist through many generations – Epigenetics and Vitamin D
- Epigenetics identified Cervical Cancer 100 percent of time – 2019
Depression
- Depression substantially reduced by Vitamin D, Omega-3, Magnesium, etc – many studies
- Depression is especially reduced by large intermittent doses of vitamin D – meta-analysis
- Depression decreased the most with 7,000 IU daily Vitamin D - meta-analysis
Dementia
- 12.6 more years of life without dementia if zero midlife vascular risk factors (helped by Vitamin D etc. )
- Dementia 4.1 X high risk in those with low Vitamin D, Omega-3, etc.2 decades before (behind paywall)
- Dementia is associated with low vitamin D - many studies
Microbiome
- Microbiome
- Gut, microbiome, and Vitamin D - Narrative book chapter
- Autism is strongly associated with 31 gut microbiota (bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses)
- Microplastics change the gut microbiome
- Poor absorption of Vitamin D is strongly related to type of gut bacteria
Topical Vitamin D
- Topical Vitamin D
- Topical Vitamin D provides more benefits than oral sometimes - many studies
- Novel ways to get Vitamin D into the brain (topical, inhale, etc.)
- Wounds and pregnancy masks treated by topical Vitamin D
- Psoriasis is treated by topical Vitamin D, etc.
Gut
- Gut
- Overview Gut and vitamin D
- Gut-Friendly Vitamin D
- Gut health is improved by Vitamin D Receptor activators such as Butyrate
- Vitamin D helped by helping gut - German interview, English voiceover
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Vitamin D - many studies
- Gallbladder removal and vitamin D deficiency
- Gut health is improved by Vitamin D Receptor activators such as Butyrate
- Diarrhea and Vitamin D - many studies
Prevention
- Hippocratic Oaths: 400 BC (prevention), 1964 (prevention), 2026 (nope)
- Medicine started moving from prevention to treatment in 1979
- Cancer prevention starts with 30 ng of Vitamin D
Vitamin D Videos
- Health can be greatly improved by weekly 50,000 IU of Vitamin D - video and charts Lahore
- Some health problems are treated by very high dose vitamin D - video and summary
- A drug that could reduce all these health problems is worth a Trillion dollars - video Holick
Vitamin D fights many health symptoms, including COVID-19: Dr. Mahtani video and transcript