Video Interview with Dr. John Cannell of the Vitamin D Council Feb 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUVb8ko6PiE&feature=player_embedded

Summary:

Dr. John Cannell was interviewed on Charter Local Edition.  The video was posted on Youtube in February 2012.  Dr. Cannell states that vitamin D is not a vitamin but instead a secosteroid hormone.  He states that steroid hormones operate in a very specific way, i.e., they turn genes on and off.  He states that there are a known 2,000 genes that are just waiting for vitamin D to turn them on or off and to imagine what can happen in the body if there is not enough vitamin D.  Not mentioned by Dr. Cannell is that one of the genes that vitamin D turns on and off is the gene that produces insulin.  We all know that, without enough insulin, a person will end up with diabetes.  Again, imagine what happens in the body without enough vitamin D.  Dr. Cannell states that vitamin D is in certain foods but only in very small quantities, where cold water fish and reindeer meat contain the highest quantities.  He states that, for most people, sun and supplements are the only way to get sufficient vitamin D.  He states that people try to avoid non-melanoma skin cancers by avoiding the sun and that non-melanoma skin cancers kill about 1500 people a year.  He states that going in the sun reduces the risk of internal cancers, where these cancers kill 550,000 people per year (1500/day).  He said that as with anything in life, there is a balance.  He said that even water can kill a person, where 80 glasses of water in a day will result in death.  He states that vitamin D toxicity can occur but that there are no cases of anyone dying of vitamin D toxicity.