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If you’ve decided to avoid vitamin D supplements, especially after learning about their potential to disrupt calcium and mineral balance, you may be wondering: What should I use instead?
The answer begins with something our bodies were designed to use to make vitamin D: light.
1. Use a UVB Light Source During the Non-Sunny Months
During sunny months, sunlight provides the UVB rays our skin uses to produce vitamin D. But during winter, depending on where we live, adequate UVB exposure can become difficult.
Fortunately, there are several ways to provide UVB light during these months:
A) A tanning bed with UVB rays is one option. Used conservatively, this can mean only about five minutes once a week. (I share more about how to choose and use a tanning bed wisely here.) I personally used to go just eight minutes a week, and it gave me energy for the whole week! (I now own a Sperti, see below, so I no longer use this option, but it’s an excellent choice. Promotions often make this an inexpensive investment.)
Research confirms that tanning beds containing UVB can raise vitamin D levels. In one randomized trial, tanning beds emitting either 0.5% or 1.4% UVB significantly increased participants’ blood levels of vitamin D.
B) A Sperti Vitamin D lamp is another option, especially for those who prefer to get their UVB exposure at home. One study found that exposure to a Sperti UV lamp significantly increased participants’ vitamin D levels after four weeks. (You can find the lamp I recommend here. The Vitamin D model is the most popular and best for most people, but the Fiji model is also good and does allow the body to produce Vitamin D.)
While this option is expensive, it’s convenient and an excellent investment in one’s health. (Pro tip: Keep it by your shower or bath. Use it for just five minutes any morning of the week before bathing. [For more complete instructions, follow Sperti’s guidelines for use.])
C) UVB reptile lamps can provide a much less expensive home option. I share the lamps I use/recommend here.
The important feature is UVB light. In fact, a randomized clinical trial found that narrowband UVB exposure three times weekly raised vitamin D levels more than 1,600 IU of oral vitamin D3 per day during the six-week study.
2. Consider Vitamin K2 — Especially MK-4
Vitamin K works alongside vitamin D and calcium, so it is another nutrient to consider when supporting this system without taking oral vitamin D. (Vitamin K2 helps regulate calcium metabolism and supports the proper use of calcium in bones alongside vitamin D.)
My doctor recommends Vitamin K2 in the MK-4 form rather than MK-7 (which may slow detox).
MK-4 has some particularly interesting properties beyond Vitamin K’s familiar role in blood clotting and bone health. Research shows that vitamin K2 can activate the receptor involved in regulating enzymes and transporters that process foreign compounds.
More specifically, research on MK-4 found that it increased the activity of two genes involved in the body’s processing and removal of toxins.
Another study found that MK-4 affected genes involved in drug metabolism, bile-acid synthesis and other metabolic processes.
Easy bruising or gums that bleed readily can also be signs worth paying attention to when considering vitamin K status.
3. Don’t Forget Calcium — But Get It From Food
Calcium is another important cofactor. Vitamin D increases intestinal calcium absorption, and adequate calcium intake is important for bone mineralization.
But, don’t take calcium supplements.
One reason is the very different way supplemental calcium enters the bloodstream compared with calcium from food. In a randomized crossover study, researchers compared calcium citrate with calcium from a dairy meal. Although both raised serum calcium, the rise was smaller after the dairy meal than after the calcium supplement.
Another study gave participants a single 1,000 mg dose of calcium citrate. Within three hours, both total and ionized calcium in their blood had risen significantly.
There is also evidence associating calcium supplementation with cardiovascular risk. A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials found that calcium supplementation was associated with about a 15% increased risk of cardiovascular disease in healthy postmenopausal women.
Instead, calcium can come naturally from food. See my list of vegan calcium-rich foods here. If you eat dairy, a modest amount of a lower-fat cheese, such as organic mozzarella, is another simple food source of calcium.
Light Is the Most Important Piece
Most importantly, your body needs an appropriate source of UVB light to manufacture vitamin D naturally.
During sunny months, that source can be the sun. During months when adequate sunlight isn’t available, consider a tanning bed that provides UVB, a Sperti Vitamin D lamp, or a more affordable UVB lamp setup.
Choose the option that works best for your budget and lifestyle. Instead of swallowing vitamin D, the goal is to give the body the light it needs to make vitamin D itself, while providing supportive nutrients such as vitamin K2 and calcium through thoughtful supplementation and food choices.
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Justine says
Hi Megan, thanks for this follow up article. I wonder how we can be sure that the rise in serum vitamin D after lamp exposure doesn’t give rise to similar side effects as vitamin D supplementation such as decreased bone density like you described in last week’s article. Lamp light is not the same as sunlight (different light spectrum, and maybe there are also differences that we are not aware of or that we are not able to measure yet), so I can imagine the effects on the body are also different. Do you know if this has been studied? Thanks in advance 🙏
Megan says
Hi Justine, happy to help. It makes sense that an oral vitamin D supplement would affect the body differently from light. It’s taken into the GI tract (or directly into the body, if by injection). It’s much different for the body to literally make vitamin D in the skin itself after exposure to UVB rays. This process remains the same whether the UVB rays come from sunlight or a UVB-producing lamp: Both stimulate the body to make its own vitamin D in the skin.
By contrast, oral vitamin D supplements bypass this natural process, enter the bloodstream through the GI tract and raise serum vitamin D levels. Excessive supplementation can throw off the body’s calcium balance, disrupt mineral regulation and contribute to calcium being pulled from the bones. Two very different processes. One is not natural, happens in the blood and has negative consequences. The others both use UVB rays and produce vitamin D in the skin, which doesn’t throw off any of the balance in the body. 🙂
Justine says
Hi Megan, thanks for your reply. I still think that the light coming from a lamp (even from a UVB lamp) is not identical to sunlight, and so the effect of the body also can’t be identical. we can’t fool our bodies. Not with vitamin D pills,, injections or lamps.
Admitting that we don’t know something is a strength, not a weakness.
Megan says
Hi Justine, I don’t think anyone is saying that light from a lamp is identical to sunlight, or that they know everything. The point is simply that we need vitamin D production in the darker months, and that various lamps do cause the skin to create vitamin D.
a says
You’ve contradicted yourself re: the Sperti, At one place you say to get the Vit D model, at the other you linked you, you say not to get the Vit D model but the Fiji instead… ??
Megan says
Hi a, I’m sorry it sounded like a contradiction. It is not; it’s just a matter of the nature of each article and who the audience is. For this article, which will reach a lot of people, the more common preference and the simplest purchase is indeed the Vitamin D Lamp.
I personally have both, and they are both wonderful, just different. The Fiji is great because it mimics the sun’s rays, providing a broad spectrum. We know the sun and its combination of rays cause the body to create Vitamin D. The Vitamin D Lamp is designed for just that purpose, so it focuses on the UVB rays specifically.
Some will prefer the Fiji model because it’s modeled after nature, and there are different benefits, perhaps even some unknown ones, from the full spectrum. However, the majority of people prefer the reassurance of the Vitamin D model when the goal is simply Vitamin D production.
The Vitamin D model is also simpler in that it will not cause sunburn (it’s gentler). As long as you follow the directions with each machine, they are both wonderful, and both will cause the body to produce Vitamin D.
a says
I appreciate the clarification. I am considering this… have you had your Vit D levels checked, before and after beginning its use to confirm it does indeed raise Vit D levels?
Megan says
Hi a, I haven’t, but Dr. Garrett Smith has. It’s the model he has for himself, and I liked his logic about it mimicking the sun’s rays, which is why it was the first machine I bought. (Then I inherited the Vitamin D Lamp from my mom, because it’s the one she used.) I would love to have mine checked, just for the fun of seeing, but I feel so good these days that I don’t get labs done very often, only about once every two years. I can actually feel the difference when I use the Fiji model vs if I don’t use any lamp. Lots more cheerful energy and general wellness, same effect that the tanning bed had on me when I used to use that approach (8 minutes once a week).