The Vitamin D Council Press

Press Information

Members of the press may get on our press release mailing list by emailing us at [email protected]. In the future, all press releases will be via email, at least until we get some funding.

Before writing a story, Dr. Cannell advises the press to take several hours to learn about vitamin D. Obtain copies of the best scientific articles on vitamin D, or other papers on the subject (Dr. Cannell will help you obtain them), and take the time to read the papers and understand their implications before you interview anyone. If you are not a science reporter, ask for help when reading the articles. A little time and a medical dictionary may be all you need, most are not that technical.

Call the vitamin D scientists after you read the papers. The scientists listed are just that—scientists—although at least two are practicing physicians as well.

Remember, many practicing physicians are ignorant about vitamin D. Just because someone is an endocrinologist, an orthopedist, or an osteoporosis specialist doesn't mean they have ever read, or kept up with, the vitamin D research. In fact, many practicing physicians are terrible sources of information on vitamins and supplements because they are expected to know about nutrition, don't know, and become defensive about their ignorance, giving misinformation.

Even members of the Food and Nutrition Board may not know or have kept up with the current vitamin D literature. However, if you know some of the literature yourself, you can ask them intelligent questions and find out how much they really do know. If you take a little time to read the top five papers (or similar papers) before you interview experts, you will quickly know which "experts" are stringing you along.