Prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency in Dutch psychogeriatric nursing home residents by weekly half-body UVB exposure after showering: a pilot study.

Age Ageing. 2010 Dec 22.
Chel VG, Ooms ME, Pavel S, de Gruijl F, Brand A, Lips P.
Topaz location Overduin Katwijk, Katwijk, The Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: in older people, induction of cutaneous vitamin D production by ultraviolet B (UVB) exposure may be preferable to oral supplementation: it cannot cause toxic levels, it helps to prevent polypharmacy and, moreover, there are indications that UVB exposure has beneficial effects on health and well being by mechanisms other than the vitamin D pathway alone.

OBJECTIVE: the aim of this pilot study is to investigate whether weekly, half-body, UVB irradiation after showering can increase serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) to sufficient levels, in a Dutch psychogeriatric nursing home population.

Method: subjects were eight psychogeriatric nursing home patients, mean age: 79 ± 8. Exclusion criteria were going outdoors into the sun more than once a week, the presence of actinic or cancer skin lesions and known resistance to body contact. The intervention consisted of weekly half-body UVB irradiation, after showering, over 8 weeks, with 0.5 minimal erythemal dose (MED). Main outcome measures were change in fasting serum levels of 25(OH)D and parathyroid hormone (PTH) at 0, 2, 4 and 8 weeks.

RESULTS: at baseline, mean serum 25(OH)D was 28.5 nmol/l. Mean serum 25(OH)D levels increased to 46.5 nmol/l. Median serum PTH levels decreased by 20% after 8 weeks of treatment.

CONCLUSION: an 8 week course of weekly, frontal half-body irradiation with UVB, at 0.5 MED, leads to an significant increase in 25(OH)D serum levels, but this period is too short to reach vitamin D sufficiency. PMID: 21183468

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11 ng/ml + 8 week of UV ==> 18.6 ng/ml

A tanning bed provides 4MED in 20 minutes to a full body

It appears that a tanning bed would provide 0.5 MED (as above) to half body in less than 2 minutes.

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See also at Vitamin D Life

• Vitamin D from UVB lamps
• Overview of UV and Vitamin D
• Opinion: Sun better than UVB, which is better than vitamin D
• Vitamin D supplements are much lower cost than a UVB lamp and supplements come in many forms
• Cofactors may be as useful with UVB as with supplements
• UVB lamp produced 8X as much vitamin D as same intensity from the sun – July 2012
• All items in category UV and Vitamin D 334 items
• UVA from some tanning beds and most windows decrease vitamin D blood levels – March 2012
• Study of Vitamin D3 from UV lamps – Aug 2010.pdf file
• Vitamin D from phototherapy lamps, tanning beds, and the sun – Jan 2012
• Beneficial effects of UV radiation other than via vitamin D production – June 2012
• UV every two weeks maintains summer vitamin D level – RCT Oct 2011