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Interview with Dr. Marc Sorenson,
Vitamin D Scholar 8/07
This kat found Dr. Marc Sorenson through a happenstance chat
with his wife, Vicki Sorenson, who raves about our Probiotics 16 (more on her
story a bit
later). The persistent good news on vitamin D in the
past few years and Dr. Rodier’s insistence that we needed a separate 1000 IU
vitamin D product made this kat’s ears perk up when Dr. Sorenson’s name came up.
You see, he wrote a book about his ongoing research on the
health benefits of vitamin D (Solar
Power: For Optimal Health!).
So we set up an interview and here’s how it went.
OHC: What led to your dedication to health and your
research on vitamin D?
MS: I was interested in health from the time I was a
child. I grew up on a ranch, which means I ate a lot of dairy and meat. Every
winter I became ill with colds and flu. I missed a lot of school, and my spirits
suffered, too. However, in spite of my atrocious eating habits, I was never ill
in the summer.
I began to realize that there was something healthful about
early spring through early autumn; it was my “healthy time.” November through
March was my “unhealthy time.”
For the longest time I couldn’t understand why the summer
season kept me well. On a trip through the mountains of Utah about 30 years ago,
I was trying to tune in some music on the car radio and serendipitously ran
across an interview with Dr. Zane Kime, who was touting the benefits of
sunlight.
The “light” began to come on in my head that it was sunlight
that had helped me to stay well in the sunnier, warmer months. Now I believe
that my “cold weather illnesses were caused by lack of sunlight, and thus
vitamin D, in the winter.
Professionally, I earned my Ph.D. in education and studied
exercise physiology and health. I decided to open a fitness center in Southern
Utah. In preparing our program, I realized my own meat-heavy diet was killing me
and had to evolve.
I began moving toward a whole-food, plant-based diet and began
to do a lot of sunbathing. I suffered fewer cold and flu cycles each year and
was encouraged. As I added more fruits and vegetables, I rarely got sick at all.
This was incredible to me.
OHC: How did your fitness center concept become the
National Institute of Fitness?
MS: Vicki and I started the National Institute of
Fitness or NIF, a health resort in Southern Utah, which was dedicated to helping
people create positive habits in support of health and weight loss. We went on
to become one of the nation’s top fitness resorts.
People needed to be taken out of their homes, away from bad
habits, so we took them out into the wilderness and starved them. Well, not
really, but for some it was a drastic change to move to a primarily vegetarian
diet with regular exercise.
We sought to educate them on all the foods they needed and how
to eat for hunger and not for taste. We would actually encourage people to come
to the kitchen and eat when they were hungry, but the foods we provided were all
nutritious and inherently filling.
Our clients collectively lost over one hundred ten tons of
fat!
Two thirds of our diabetic guests got off any form of
medication in less than two weeks, and many other guests had great results –
whether they came in with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lupus,
arthritis, migraines, allergies, or other health conditions.
OHC: How did your studies turn to Vitamin D?
MS: After I had cleaned up my diet, the thought still
plagued me: “How did sunlight seem to counter-act my terrible diet to keep me
well in the summer?”
When I learned more about the health benefits of vitamin D and sunlight, I knew
I wanted to go deeper.
I began to do extensive research into morbidity and mortality
rates in different parts of the world and correlated those rates to the
lifestyle habits. I found that people at northern latitudes are not nearly as
healthy as people living closer to the equator.
For example, Multiple Sclerosis is 100 times more common in
Finland than at the equator! A lot of people now know that the crucial variable
is sunlight, and thus, available vitamin D.
The more research I did, the more realized that vitamin D
played an integral part in all sorts of conditions. A study published this year
in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that contracting cancer was
60% less likely in patients taking Vitamin D supplements.
When researchers further refined their results, by excluding
patients diagnosed the first year of the study (thereby ruling out those
patients who would have already had cancer in their bodies) the results showed
an astounding 77% reduction in cancer incidence!
OHC: With so many people being wary of sun exposure, what
can you say about the risks and benefits of sunlight?
MS: It’s true; the sun can be dangerous if burning
occurs. Unfortunately, the solution for most people is to use sun block, which
does the body few favors.
Sun block may prevent superficial burning, but it also prevents your body from
producing vitamin D while still leaving you exposed to the ultraviolet A rays
that can cause deadly melanoma. Some studies have actually shown higher
incidences of melanoma in sun block users.
Interestingly, while a history of sunburns dramatically
increases melanoma risk, a history of consistent sunlight without burning
reduces the risk of melanoma. That’s because regular sunlight increases the
body’s vitamin D production and enhances the body’s immune system.
Contrary to what most people think, sunlight during the middle
of the day (when we are told to stay inside) actually holds the most vitamin D
potential. Three times a week at midday—for, twenty minutes—exposing most of the
body, is all you really need.
Lying in the sun for 20 minutes on each side of your body will
yield up to 20,000 IU. For lighter skin, much less time is ideal. Again, you
never want to burn. If you’re going to stay out in the sun longer, wear a
long-sleeved shirt, a hat, and other protective clothing.
OHC: How do you feel about Vitamin D supplementation?
MS: I think it would appear to be a healthcare miracle
if everyone were taking it. I think we’d cut down on 1/3 to 1/2 of
hospitalizations. In one double-blind study, people taking 2000 IU of vitamin D
daily showed a decreased influenza rate of about 95%. Not only that, but vitamin
D correlates with fewer falls and bone breaks in the elderly, fewer incidences
of age-related diseases, and decreased risk of auto-immune and inflammatory
diseases, too.
However, supplements must be vitamin D3, as vitamin D2 is only
25-40% effective. My research has shown the healthiest people have vitamin D
serum levels of 50-60ng/mL, and unfortunately, most people aren’t even near
those levels. I recommend that all people have their vitamin D levels checked.
OHC: Our members are always seeking weight loss tips. What
are your top recommendations?
MS: When it comes to diet, I have three tips that I
share with people.
First, you don’t have to be vegetarian, but you should be very
close. The average American gets only 1.5-2 servings daily of fruits and
vegetables, and this just isn’t enough. There are over 35,000 published studies
showing that fruits and vegetable consumption correlate closely to an increase
in lifespan or a decrease in major diseases. We are not programmed to eat large
quantities of meat and animal foods; we don’t have carnivorous teeth, we don’t
have claws, we have a long gut like horses and cows, and it is obvious that
we’re designed to get most of our nutrition from plants.
Second, before you do anything else in the morning, take a
brisk walk—30 minutes in one direction and then turn around and come back.
Studies show that 75% of people who start an exercise program
at any other time than in the morning end up quitting. In contrast, 75% of those
starting a morning exercise program succeed. If you do nothing else every day,
commit to a one-hour brisk walk. Third, don’t eat
anything after 6:30 p.m.—most people gain weight from eating too much, and
eating too late. I know many people who have lost weight by employing this
strategy alone. My philosophy is this: if you fall down
one day, then pick yourself up the next day. One of our clients came back three
times over the course of a couple years. The first time back, he had lost 40
pounds. The second time back, he had lost a total of 70 pounds, which was just
fantastic.
As I was completing my interview with Dr. Sorenson, Vicki
wanted to say hello and let me know about her own story with our Probiotics 16.
OHC: So tell us about your experience with Probiotics 16.
VS: I wouldn’t go a day without taking this product,
which I take three times a day. My cupboards are full of failed products that
were supposed to help me with chronic yeast infections, intestinal problems, and
a general sense of feeling lousy, which was so unlike me!
Last year after many struggles with systemic yeast and
constipation and all the wonderful challenges that come with Candida, Dr. Rodier
told me I had a bad gut -- meaning an over growth of yeast and not enough good
bacteria.
Around the same time, my husband was in the middle of writing
Solar Power for Optimal Health, and suggested I get my vitamin D levels checked.
We were surprised that mine was dangerously low. We eat right,
exercise, but with my olive skin, I was not absorbing enough D from the sun.
Dr. Rodier prescribed 50,000 IU of vitamin D per week along
with your Probiotics 16 three times daily. After 8 weeks my vitamin D blood
levels were in the "excellent" category, and thanks to your Probiotics that
yeast is a thing of the past, and years of constipation are GONE!
I have tried other probiotics but none were as effective. I am
really hooked on this product and hope you always keep it in stock.
I now take a smaller amount of vitamin D daily and feel like a
new person. This book has not only helped the thousands all over the world, but
the author's own wife!
OHC: So, how do you feel being interviewed by a kat?
VS: I love the Kat, purrr's and meows. So clever and
makes us feel like family!
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Please remember, Marc only relays the research. Please contact
your health care professional to determine what may be appropriate for you.
To contact Dr. Marc Sorenson, write to:
Megamarc1@aol.com
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