Without the sun, none of us would be here. After all, we evolved to live under the sun.
But many of us are trained to believe the sun is your deadly enemy.
Every day doctors warn you to stay out of the sun. And if you do go out, they want you to slather your skin with toxic sunscreen.
Their 30-year-old campaign has been very successful. So successful, that people today are extremely deficient in vitamin D. In fact, a new clinical review shows that nearly a billion people across the globe are vitamin D deficient.1
And low vitamin D is a surefire path to chronic disease, early death — and low testosterone.
Almost every week I hear the same complaints from my male patients… No energy, trouble sleeping, a sagging sex drive, weight gain and the dreaded “man boobs.”
Many have tried the little blue pill or testosterone injections — without success.
Others say these help in the bedroom, but don’t do anything for their energy or weight gain.
Most men will do just about anything to get back in the saddle. So no surprise that the testosterone drug market is a near-$4 billion a year cash cow for Big Pharma.2
But these drugs come with some serious problems. Shrinking testicles, weight gain, swollen ankles and blood clots, to name a few.
And not only are these treatments risky and unnatural — they just mask your real problem.
I don’t prescribe these drugs. I help my patients increase their testosterone naturally.
But before I start them on an herbal regimen that includes bangalala, bulbine natalensis and guarana, I always begin with a test for vitamin D deficiency.
Most doctors don’t know about the crucial connection between testosterone and vitamin D. But scientific research confirms that vitamin D directly boosts testosterone levels.
In a large analysis of 16 animal studies, researchers found that vitamin D deprivation in rodents caused profound testicular shrinkage and reduced testosterone castration levels.
And a recent study found that men with higher vitamin D levels also had significantly higher testosterone levels than men whose vitamin D was low.3
In another study, researchers looked at the connection between vitamin D and testosterone in 652 men with an average age of 57. They found that those with higher levels had higher vitamin D levels than those with lower levels of testosterone.
The problem is, these days almost everyone has a vitamin D deficiency — so it’s not surprising that testosterone problems are common among modern American men. One large study concluded that 64% of all Americans are vitamin D deficient.4 Another study looked at 1,600 people and found 89% of them had low vitamin D.5
Here are three ways to dramatically increase your vitamin D levels.
- Practice “gentle tanning.” If you haven’t spent a lot of time in the sun, start out gradually. If you’re fair-skinned, go outside for about 10 to 20 minutes a day.
Just 10 minutes in the midday sun can give you 10,000 IUs of vitamin D.
But be sure you have skin in the game. This means actually peeling down and getting a good area of your skin exposed. For testosterone issues, I recommend getting naked in the sun. You’ll have to step out of your comfort zone, but the benefits are worth it.You see, there’s a bigger testosterone boost when sunlight strikes male genitals. One study found that when sunlight hits your chest and back, testosterone levels rise by 120%. But when the genitals are exposed, levels spike by 200%.6
- Eat vitamin D-rich foods. Next to sunlight, cod liver oil the most concentrated natural source of this disease-preventing vitamin. Just one tablespoon of cod liver oil contains nearly 1,400 IUs of vitamin D3.
Other good food sources are wild-caught fish, like salmon and tuna, and small fish like herring, sardines and anchovies. Also include organic eggs and cheese in your diet.
- Take a good D3 supplement. Make sure your vitamin D supplement is vitamin D3. It’s the same vitamin D3 your body produces. Avoid the synthetic form of vitamin D2 found in most multivitamins because it is less potent and less absorbable.
I recommend getting at least 5,000 IUs a day to maintain health and 10,000 IUs if you’re recovering from a deficiency-related disease or disorder like low testosterone and ED.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
1. “Widespread vitamin D deficiency likely due to sunscreen use, increase of chronic diseases, review finds.” American Osteopathic Association. May 1, 2017.
2. Statistica. “Annual testosterone drug revenue in the U.S. in 2013 and 2018 (in billion U.S. dollars).”
3. Asprey, D. “The Benefits of Vitamin D – Why It’s the Sexiest Vitamin Around.” Retrieved October 31, 2017.
4. Mitchell DM, Henao MP, et al. “Prevalence and predictors of vitamin D deficiency in healthy adults.” Endocr Pract. 2012 Nov-Dec.
5. Schilling S. “Epidemic vitamin d deficiency among patients in an elderly care rehabilitation facility..” Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2012 Jan.
6. Moritz A. “Heal Yourself With Sunlight. Times Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation.” Ene-rchi Wellness Press. 2007. Page 38.