Daily MOS: The Problems with Dr. Michael Holick

It’s not every day you find an asshole who suggests “know what would have saved the dinosaurs? Fortified milk.”

But Michael Holick is a special asshole.

Today’s Moment of Science… the D.

When you think of vitamins in your mind, you often think of vague promoters of wellness. They’re little baubles of health and light that rain down upon your cells from goji berries. Really though, they’re chemical compounds that we need in small amounts for a lot of complicated biological mechanisms. In the case of vitamin D, calling it a vitamin is technically a misnomer. It’s more accurate to call it a hormone that our body synthesizes photochemically, but we refer to it as a vitamin for convenience sake. That and really, calling milk “fortified with the D hormone” makes it sound, uh, saltier.

Vitamin D has many important roles in our body. It’s vital in regulating our levels of calcium and phosphate. A deficiency can cause bone deformities such as the rickets in children and, in adults, can lead to an illness marked by bone pain called osteomalacia. Some is good, too much isn’t necessarily better, and you probably shouldn’t forego the sunscreen for a bit more vitamin D at the expense of your skin health.

You’ve perhaps heard it could prevent covid or the flu.
Well.

Dr. Michael Holick identified the active form of vitamin D in the body and was on the team that was first to synthesize it. His work identified the compound’s biosynthetic pathway and all its metabolites. Building on that, he found the defective metabolism that caused several diseases of vitamin D deficiency. This allowed him to synthesize a form of the hormone that could be used in the treatment of these diseases.

He did some incredibly important work on how the human body uses vitamin D.

But look, I’ve done some of my finest work with a vibrator. I don’t try to find ways to stick it where it doesn’t belong, and that’s kinda what happened with Holick and vitamin D.

You don’t need much of the sunshine vitamin in a day. If you need supplementation, the NHS only recommends 400 IU. For the longest time, the agreed upon sufficient level in your blood was 20 ng/mL. At that level, the vast majority of people typically have enough vitamin D for good bone health.

Dr. Holick looked at the research and, based on the wibbliest wobbliest of criteria, proposed that the proper level in your blood be raised to 30ng/mL. He recommended widespread vitamin D testing. Holick consulted for several major labs that followed his lead with the newly recommended higher standard, all but manufacturing a “pandemic” of vitamin D deficiency.

He didn’t just recommend that you eat an extra serving of salmon or some fortified milk. He wanted you to get your vitamin D however you could get it, even suggesting skipping the sunscreen. He was, uh, coincidentally, given research money by the Indoor Tanning Association.

Look, I’m not saying the money influenced his endorsement of tanning booths.

I’m definitely not saying that.

In his final act, he’s become an expert witness for parents accused of child abuse. He was initially contacted for a case seeking his knowledge about bone disorders, and in looking for an explanation other than “shit parents,” he landed at Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. He testified and the parents were cleared of charges.

It’s impossible to know how many of the children Holick testified about truly had the connective tissue disorder, in large part because apparently Holick didn’t even examine all of them. “I already know on the phone they have EDS,” he said, suggesting he could tell from asking them about the symptoms. He’s testified or consulted in over 300 cases now, occasionally with a diagnosis of the rickets or another rare vitamin D related disorder. Virtually all of them are diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos to explain their broken bones.

Which is strange, because there’s almost no evidence to suggest that Ehlers Danlos causes a significant increase in bone fractures. Experts in Ehlers Danlos generally contest his diagnoses. Somehow, not once has this vitamin hawking sonofabitch looked at the evidence and concluded a child was harmed.

At least one parent who Holick defended has now been indicted for child abuse.

Is there reason to believe that a buttload of vitamin D can do much other than stop you from getting diseases of vitamin D deficiency? Evidence is mixed at best, but I’m not buying mega dose vitamins any time soon. Suggestions that vitamin D can help ward off a flu or covid tend to have Holick’s stamp on it.

Holick has made appearances with well known medical crank Mercola, and said he wondered if the dinosaurs could have lived if they only had vitamin D supplements. Still working at Boston University, he’s been banned from evaluating children. His website currently recommends up to 10,000 IU of vitamin D daily. As one vitamin obsessed crank deserves another, Holick has been awarded the Linus Pauling Prize in Human Nutrition.

This has been your daily Moment of Science, reminding you that nothing cures everything.

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