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Factors that influence the cutaneous synthesis and dietary sources of vitamin D. Chen TC, Chimeh F, Lu Z, Mathieu J, Person KS, Zhang A, Kohn N, Martinello S, Berkowitz R, Holick MF. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2007 Apr 15;460(2):213-7. Epub 2007 Jan 8. PMID: 17254541 doi: 10.1016/j.abb.2006.12.017 Vitamin D is rare in food. Among the vitamin D-rich food, oily fish are considered to be one of the best sources. Therefore, we analyzed the vitamin D content in several commonly consumed oily and non-oily fish. The data showed that farmed salmon had a mean content of vitamin D that was ~25% of the mean content found in wild caught salmon from Alaska, and that vitamin D2 was found in farmed salmon, but not in wild caught salmon. The results provide useful global guidelines for obtaining sufficient vitamin D3 by cutaneous synthesis and from dietary intake to prevent vitamin D deficiency and its health consequences.ensuing illness, especially, bone fractures in the elderly.

Vitamin D and skin physiology: a D-lightful story. Holick MF, Chen TC, Lu Z, Sauter E. J Bone Miner Res. 2007 Dec;22 Suppl 2:V28-33. PMID: 18290718 doi: 10.1359/jbmr.07s211 Very few foods naturally contain vitamin D, and those that do have a very variable vitamin D content. Recently it was observed that wild caught salmon had between 75% and 90% more vitamin D(3) compared with farmed salmon. The associations regarding increased risk of common deadly cancers, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, and cardiovascular disease with living at higher latitudes and being prone to vitamin D deficiency should alert all health care professionals about the importance of vitamin D for overall health and well being. Humans have depended on sunlight for their vitamin D requirement. The impact of season, time of day, and latitude on vitamin D synthesis is well documented.(2,3) We now report that altitude also has a dramatic influence on vitamin D3 production and that living at altitudes above 3500 m permits previtamin D3 production at a time when very little is produced at latitudes below 3400 m. It was surprising that, at 27° N in Agra (169 M), little previtamin D3 production was observed. However, there was significant air pollution that caused a haze over the city. It is likely the ozone and other UVB-absorbing pollutants in the air prevented the solar UVB photons from reaching the earth's surface to produce previtamin D3.

Food chain as origin of vitamin D in fish D. Sunita Rao and N. Raghuramulu. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology Volume 114, Issue 1, May 1996, Pages 15-19 doi:10.1016/0300-9629(95)02024-1 Plankton, the chief food source of fish, was assessed as the possible dietary origin of vitamin D in fish. The presence of vitamin D compounds were examined in fresh water phytoplankton and zooplankton employing a series of chromatographic procedures. Abundant amounts of provitamins D and vitamins D (D2 and D3) were found in the fresh water plankton. The high amount of vitamin D observed may be due to exposure of plankton to sunlight because the plankton were caught during the summer month. Thus, plankton may be an important contributor to vitamin D in fish.

True to form, Dr. John Cannell has published yet another wonderfully insightful Vitamin D Newsletter. One item caught my eye, a response to a question about the Marshall Protocol. I, like Dr. Cannell, was inundated with questions about this so-called protocol, which amounts to little more than the unfounded speculations of a non-physician, actually someone not even involved in health care. In all honesty, I blew the whole issue off after I read Dr. Marshall's rants. They smack of pure quackery, though from somebody who clearly has a command of scientific lingo. To Dr. Cannell's credit, he took the time and effort to construct a rational response in the latest issue of the newsletter. I reproduce his response here:

In April of 2000 a clinical observation published in Archives of Internal Medicine caught my attention. Dr. Anu Prabhala and his colleagues reported on the treatment of five patients confined to wheelchairs with severe weakness and fatigue. Blood tests revealed that all suffered from severe vitamin D deficiency. The patients received 50,000 IU vitamin D per week and all became mobile within six weeks.1\n\nDr. Prabhala's research sparked my interest and led to a search for current information on vitamin D, how it works, how much we really need and how we get it. The following is a small part of the important information that I found.

Factors that influence the cutaneous synthesis and dietary sources of vitamin D.\nChen TC, Chimeh F, Lu Z, Mathieu J, Person KS, Zhang A, Kohn N, Martinello S, Berkowitz R, Holick MF.\nArch Biochem Biophys. 2007 Apr 15;460(2):213-7. Epub 2007 Jan 8.\nPMID: 17254541\ndoi:10.1016/j.abb.2006.12.017\n

An evaluation of the vitamin D3 content in fish: Is the vitamin D content adequate to satisfy the dietary requirement for vitamin D?\nLu Z, Chen TC, Zhang A, Persons KS, Kohn N, Berkowitz R, Martinello S, Holick MF.\nJ Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2007 Mar;103(3-5):642-4. Epub 2007 Jan 30.\nPMID: 17267210 \ndoi:10.1016/j.jsbmb.2006.12.010 \n

Vitamin D and skin physiology: a D-lightful story.\nHolick MF, Chen TC, Lu Z, Sauter E.\nJ Bone Miner Res. 2007 Dec;22 Suppl 2:V28-33.\nPMID: 18290718 \ndoi: 10.1359/jbmr.07s211\n

Chen TC, Chimeh F, Lu Z, Mathieu J, Person KS, Zhang A, Kohn N, Martinello S, Berkowitz R, Holick MF. Factors that influence the cutaneous synthesis and dietary sources of vitamin D. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2007 Apr 15;460(2):213-7. Epub 2007 Jan 8. PMI

Lu Z, Chen TC, Zhang A, Persons KS, Kohn N, Berkowitz R, Martinello S, Holick MF. An evaluation of the vitamin D3 content in fish: Is the vitamin D content adequate to satisfy the dietary requirement for vitamin D? J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2007 Mar;