I know people in the Eating Paleo NYC group do this and I'm thinking of taking the plunge myself. The ones who do it look great and have reported many positive effects. I have a skin condition that would probably respond well to it and it's simply not realistic for me to expose my entire legs to the very cold NYC sun right now. Besides, I want to be paleo...not PALEo.

Traditionally living populations in East Africa have a mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration of 115 nmol/l. = 46ng/ml close enough to the Vitamin D Council's recommendations. Vitamin D status indicators in indigenous populations in East Africa. If we look at what happens naturally we see Vitamin D status RISING with age and while pregnant.

When Vitamin D3 levels rise the active hormonal form of vitamin D increases photoprotection from UV exposure. The role of the vitamin D receptor and ERp57 in photoprotection by 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3.

Healthyfellow at Natural Sunscreen Options offers some evidence based strategies for improving natural sunscreen protection. See also Wholehealthsource Skin Texture, Cancer and Dietary Fat Regular short non-burning UV exposure through the winter will keep skin hardened to UV and promote faster tanning in summer sun.

I understand that you may be able to stimulate a significant production of vitamin D with a small, sub-tanning dose on the tanning bed. Try low-dosage sessions on a regular schedule for a few weeks. Then get your 25-OH vitamin D level checked to see if it's working. If you have seasonal affective disorder (SAD), you can buy or rent a light box for treatment (it may or may not be covered by medical insurance). However, this will not help you synthesize vitamin D.

Vieth's data on D, the dose response is significant.

Quote: "Two studies showed that in response to a given set of ultraviolet light treatment sessions, the absolute rise in serum 25(OH)D concentration was inversely related to the basal 25(OH)D concentration. In the study by Mawer et al (34), the increase in 25(OH)D in subjects with initial 25(OH)D concentrations <25 nmol/L was double the increase seen in subjects with initial concentrations >50 nmol/L. Snell et al (27) showed that in subjects with initial 25(OH)D concentrations <10 nmol/L, ultraviolet treatments increased 25(OH)D by 30 nmol/L, but in those with initial 25(OH)D concentrations approaching 50 nmol/L, the increase was negligible."(Vieth 99)

'Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D and prostate cancer risk: The Multiethnic Cohort'.

. "When clinically defined cutpoints were used, there was no increased risk for the lowest 25(OH)D concentration (OR for <20 versus 30-<50ng/ml=1.10, 95% CI=0.68-1.78), while there was a suggestive increased risk for higher concentrations (OR for 50ng/ml=1.52, 95% CI=0.92-2.51).

The clueless Vitamin D council recommends a minimum of 50 ng/ml (125 nmol/L), ie 2 .5 times the level that produces a negligible vitamin d increase in response to ultraviolet treatments.

So, you are not probably going to be unable to attain the minimum recommended level of the Vitamin D council by a sunbed, a very good thing too in my opinion.

If you want to achieve a certain outdoorsy look, a sunbed tan has an orange hue that is a dead givaway to how you got it.

A thread on this subject HERE

Tanning bed != Sun. What I remember from reading Holick's book is there are 2 types of bulbs, and most salons use the wrong one that does not mimic the sun. He recommends minor use of the better one. Too lazy at the moment to look this up.

I think the risk of skin burning is not worth it, especially when you can just supplement with Vitamin D pills. In my opinion, the benefit is purely cosmetic.

I have never used a tanning bed and I don't like pills. Since our home is in a snow belt in northern BC, my way of supplementing Vitamin D is to spend the winter in Mexico.

I don't sit out in the sun, but just move around in it from time to time. I also don't use sunscreen. In the past few winters I have never had a bad sunburn even though I have lots of freckles due to genes from a red-headed mother.

Natural source vitamin D is best in my opinion.

VDC recommends a 50 ng/mL (125 nmol/L) minimum. http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/what-is-vitamin-d/

D skin production is tightly regulated by the body. However, older individual (over 50) make less D and obese individuals typically have less serum D (stored in body fat).

D uptake/utilization is affected by co-factors, genes, diet, various drugs, and various diseases.

Individual dose response varies 6 fold (Heaney) and dose response blunts at higher doses.

Generally speaking, a UVB lamp would be more cost effective and safer than a tanning parlor.