Why Sunlight Beats Vitamin D | Dr. Roger Seheult

In this episode, my guest is Dr. Roger Seheult, MD, is a physician quadruple board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease, critical care medicine, and sleep medicine, an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine, an Assistant Clinical Professor at Loma Linda University, and the co-founder of MedCram.  Today, he explains why vitamin D levels strongly predicted COVID-19 outcomes while vitamin D supplementation largely failed to reproduce the benefit, and makes the case that vitamin D is a marker for sunlight exposure rather than the primary mechanism behind it. He describes the near-infrared portion of sunlight which penetrates through the human body, and the hypothesis that it stimulates melatonin produced inside mitochondria, where it acts as a local antioxidant. We discuss randomized trials of infrared light in hospitalized and ICU patients, why greenery reflects infrared while concrete absorbs it, the Green Heart Louisville tree-planting trial, evidence that bright light at night predicts higher mortality, the NEWSTART framework, the Adventist Health Study, and published research on faith, forgiveness, and health.  FULL SHOW NOTES: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uJxnUa3ifCtHbE11v3iQwgTD1-nQD90-PttuS5NN640/edit?usp=sharing Sponsor: Solius  https://shop.solius.com/JONATHANJ  Code: JONATHANJ    About this guest: **Med Cram:** https://www.medcram.com/ **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG-iSMVtWbbwDDXgXXypARQ  **X:** https://x.com/rogerseheult?lang=en  **Academic Profile:** https://llu.edu/academics/faculty/seheult-roger/education  Subscribe to the Newsletter: https://jonathanjarecki.substack.com/ Timestamps  00:00 Intro 02:29 Dr. Roger Seheult 02:59 Dr. Seheult's Love for Science and Medicine 10:41 Pillars of Health, "NEWSTART" 13:11 Sunlight, COVID, Vitamin-D Paradox, Dr. Seheult's Clinical Experience 17:08 Extra-pineal Melatonin, Antioxidant, COVID, ACE2 Receptor, Red Light 18:50 Bringing Patients Outside in Sunlight 20:05 Sponsor: Solius 25:14 Melatonin, Infrared Light 27:13 Heliotherapy, Sunlight in Modern Hospitals,  Dr. Rollier, John Harvey Kellogg 33:18 Mitochondria, Long-Wavelength Light, Metabolism, Light Penetration Depth 36:03 Greenery, Infrared Light Bath, Longevity, New Data, MiEye 42:29 Audience Questions 42:41 Sunlight on Psychological Health 43:47 Artificial Light at Night, Longevity, Mortality 47:32 Cloud Coverage, Light Exposure 49:40 New Paper Being Published with Dr. Seheult, Dr. Jeffery, Dr. Fosbury, & Zimmerman  50:37 Nutrition 53:28 Adventist Health Study, Plant-Based Nutrition, Mechanisms of Action, High Protein 01:01:15 Trust: The Science-Backed Health Benefits of Faith 01:19:28 Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow, Reviews & Feedback, Social Media, Substack Newsletter