By Perry Holman, Executive Director, Vitamin D Society

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a terrible genetic disease that attacks the respiratory system. CF patients typically have a reduced life expectancy. They cannot properly absorb fat soluble vitamins through digestion which can lead to low/deficient vitamin D levels. This can bring about poor skeletal health and exasperate their existing respiratory issues.

I recently received a letter from a tanning studio outlining how a cystic fibrosis patient began using a sunbed and in just 10 months had fully optimized her vitamin D level to 120 nmol/L. An expert panel of 48 top vitamin D scientists, researchers and doctors in their Call to D*action have determined the optimal blood level or 25(OH)D level for people is between 100-150 nmol/L.

This remarkable case highlights how effective some sunbeds can be for generating vitamin D through your skin. Part of this is due to the fact that sunbeds are very efficient and can expose up to 100% of your skin area to UVB rays during a typical session.

People with a malabsorption syndrome disease who just can’t get enough vitamin D through the digestive system, like CF patients, now have another option. They can expose themselves to sunshine in the summer and use a sunbed in the winter months when UVB is not available from the sun to maintain optimal vitamin D levels (100-150 nmol/L).

A Canadian study published in 2017 found that people using sunbeds with UVB similar to outdoor summer sunshine could increase their vitamin D to optimal blood levels in just 12 weeks. There were no adverse events or sunburns reported throughout the duration of the trial. Using a sunbed from a professional salon, the exposure to UV light can be controlled more precisely for your skin type through a trained operator compared to casual outdoor sun exposure.

Previous CF studies have supported UV lamp use as well. A study led by the Emory University School of Medicine found: “A UV lamp that emits ultraviolet radiation similar to sunlight and thus produces vitamin D3 in the skin is an excellent alternative for Cystic Fibrosis and short bowel syndrome patients who suffer from vitamin D deficiency due to fat malabsorption, especially during the winter months when natural sunlight is unavailable to produce vitamin D3 in the skin.”

There is currently a clinical trial going on right now to evaluate if giving a large oral bolus dose of vitamin D at the time of pulmonary exacerbation of CF results in improved 1 year survival, decreased inflammatory cytokines, and a trend towards improvement of repeat pulmonary exacerbations. We’ll have to see how this turns out, but it looks like CF patients need a lot of vitamin D and the most natural way to make vitamin D is sunlight and one of the surrogates is a sunbed. We’ll update everyone on the research once it’s been completed.