The sun provides more health benefit than vitamin D – Dr. Lucas podcast

Vitamin D Podcast 07: Dr. Robyn Lucas Vitamin D Council

• "In this episode, Dr. John Cannell talks to Dr. Robyn Lucas, a medically trained epidemiologist and public health physician. She is a professor at ANU medical school and supervises an ever growing number of doctoral students, not to mention she has contributed to over 100 published studies."

• "Dr. Lucas discuss the benefits of sunlight, beyond vitamin D production. Dr. Cannell and Dr. Lucas also talk about vitamin D pathway genes associated with multiple sclerosis, as well as her upcoming studies that independently measure vitamin D and sun exposure in patients with multiple sclerosis in order to reveal which exposure attributes to MS outcomes."

Notes by Henry Lahore at VitaminDWiki

Nitric Oxide is an example of known material generated in the skin by sun.

Have identified very few materials and mechanisms.

Vitamin D is by far the best known

Dr. Lucas looking at MS and sun (not just vitamin D)

Not see MS benefit until vitamin D level of 100 (nmol or ng?)

Dr. DeLuca also looking at non-Vitamin D benefits – around 311 nanometers

She is starting a UVB and MS study– just trying 311 nanometers (narrowband UV)

Recruiting participants for the study during 2015

Results in perhaps 3 years

Surgeon General US (a dermatologist) recently said – do not let a single photon hit your skin

See also VitaminDWiki

• Health benefit of Sunlight is more than Vitamin D in the blood - many studies

• Nitric oxide (from Sun, UVA, Vitamin D) reduces cardiovascular problems

• Hypothesis: Sun provides more than vitamin D – June 2012

• UV decreases Multiple Sclerosis via cis-urocanic acid (and via vitamin D) – June 2013

• UVB produced 8X more vitamin D as solar UV – July 2012

• Light (especially UV) and Health conference – Germany June 2015

• UV (perhaps Nitric Oxide) better than vitamin D at preventing obesity in rats on a high-fat diet – Nov 2014

• Many other anti-cancer photoproducts generated on the skin in addition to vitamin D – Jan 2014

• Search VitaminDWiki for ("R LUCAS" OR "ROBYN LUCAS") 31 items as of Sept 2016

• An attempt at inferring health risks from vitamin D levels – May 2015 Lucas is a co-author

• Australia - low vitamin D winter and summer - 2014

• Vitamin D and multiple sclerosis (technical, outline only) – April 2013

• Vitamin D, immunity and microbiome – Dec 2014

• UV – adverse and beneficial effects – review Nov 2014

• There is more in UV than vitamin D which suppresses MS in mice – April 2010

• Multiple sclerosis associated with sun, not low vitamin D – Feb 2013

• Multiple Sclerosis helped by UV – possibly via cytokines, etc. – Oct 2015 Lucas

• Many wavelengths of light provide health benefits, not just UV – March 2016

See also PubMed

• 78 items as of Sept 2016