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Unprecedented:
Research Team Generates Vitamin D With Narrow-Band UVB Device

Researchers at SUNARC (Sunlight Nutrition and Health Research Center) in Berkeley, CA have published an in-vivo human study outlining their success in artificially generating high levels of Calcidiol (Vitamin D expressed by its chemical moniker, “25 Hydroxyvitamin D”, or 25(OH)D) in serum. Slated for release in July or August by numerous U.S. and overseas medical journals, the groundbreaking work was the first of its kind employing healthy, living subjects in a real world setting. The outcome is so encouraging that it is being hailed as an answer to the problem of alleviating seasonal Vitamin D deficiency in people who cannot do so through dietary supplementation, such as the elderly, lactose intolerant, or the millions of Crohn’s disease sufferers.

Led by former NASA biophysicist Dr. William B. Grant PhD, SUNARC adapted FDA-approved phototherapy equipment employing a full-body exposure array of forty Philips TL-01 nUVB (Narrow-Band UVB) lamps emitting a “spike” of energy between 310 and 312 nanometers, with absolutely no UVA emissions (315-400nm). Such systems have been used with great effect by dermatologists for nearly a decade to mitigate plaque psoriasis and other skin disorders. When investigators overseeing trials to measure the advantages of using narrow-band versus the more carcinogenic broadband UVB noticed elevated serum Vitamin D levels, the interest of a group of immunologists in Germany and Norway was piqued. After a few biochemical and mouse-model papers were published in 2005 showing promise that 25(OH)D could indeed be generated with nUVB, the SUNARC team contacted the Food and Drug Administration in November of last year and submitted a study design draft for approval.

Once the regulatory green light had been given by FDA’s Office of Device Evaluation, the quest was on for participants near the research facility in Knoxville, TN. Advertising in the school newspapers of nearby University of Tennessee and Maryville College yielded a cadre of wide-eyed post-grad and med school students; word-of-mouth attracted the remainder from local businesses. Interestingly, only women applied, as it was thought the study centered on osteoporosis and breast cancer. After four months, the “Exposure Cohort” – those chosen for skin type and Vitamin D deficiency – was ready for treatment. Blood sampling was conducted just before the first irradiation. Four consecutive days of 35-55-second sessions in undergarments and faces fully shielded was deemed the upper limit in the extremely potent nUVB. Only two subjects reported minor reddening that went away after a few hours, and all sessions were completed between 11 AM and 1 PM.

Two blood samples were taken after the final exposure; one on the day of, and the second eight days later to evaluate delayed reaction generation in recognition of a recent Norwegian study that reported an unexpected rise in Vitamin D during that period in mice. The results amazed Dr. Grant and his associates. Each subject displayed marked increases in 25(OH)D – on average 52 percent – and in one, an astounding 80 percent increase was seen. The success of the SUNARC effort marks a turning point in preventative medicine, as physicians now have a proven, alternative method of boosting the immune systems of individuals who, until now, were forced to suffer through winter periods with life-threatening illnesses, including various cancers. This technology makes it possible to enhance human health by selectively applying the most beneficial components of what was once derided as a known carcinogen by medical science… sunlight.

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