this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2026
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"Perhaps vitamin D synthesis in the skin maybe one of those functions."
This isn't a sentence from a place of evidence backed science, this is a string of probably connected things that Dr. Mason should know isn't the same as a proven idea. In fact he says its anecdotal, but he is presenting it in a way that the listener can come to the conclusion that cholesterol makes vitamin D without having to site anything.
If this were a scientifically backed idea he could have said but didn't would follow.
"The Keys survey showed people with higher vitamin D had lower cholesterol."
"A second study was done and found X and Y"
"Thus confirming that cholesterol is used to make vitamin D"
But that isn't what he said. He only cited part of what sounds like a much larger study and is then extrapolating based vaguely on anecdote.
Could it also be possible that people who spend a lot of time in the sun simply consume food with higher vitamin D content and they're in the sum all day because they're mostly agrarian or some sort of labor economy so they're working out which lowers cholesterol levels with a normal diet? Yes, but we don't know more than that based on this talk.
If he's honest, then this is an interesting start point to do science, but as it stands he's just using human psychology to convince people of his position without needing good evidence.
Do you see how "perhaps" is different from "just asking questions?"
It is not anecdotal that vitamin D and cholesterol levels in the body are related by the Kandutsch-Russell pathway: https://www.jbc.org/article/S0021-9258(20)41142-1/fulltext
The anecdotal evidence that Dr Mason is referring to is the observed phenomenon that people on the carnivore diet do not sunburn as easily as the people who are not.
Please don't misrepresent the content in this community.
No. Its the same rhetorical move its just different from the more aggressive "just asking questions"
I'm trying not to, but this is a short clip without any context or further readings.
I want you guys to have better educational materials.
This guy says a lot of things with coincidental or anecdotal evidence at best and that's not good evidence when also trying to position oneself as an academic expert e.g. "Dr." In the name. Dr. Mason should know better if the Dr. Is worth anything.
Take the criticism or don't, but this is a relatively small push back to the carnivore idea.
If there's more, better science on these claims, then they should be included, referenced within the talk. Something! Maybe this is just an out of context clip, but that doesn't make the argument better. It's fundamentally a bad line of reasoning that only means something to people deep in the weeds of carnivore food science. How was I, an outsider, supposed to know about the paper you're citing? How can I know he knows about it?
Here is the full talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvh4D_osFXs
I've made a post on it for you - https://startrek.website/post/41025554 He does reference the papers that support his statements in the slides.
I can tell you from personal experience posting that almost nobody will actually watch a hour long lecture, but they will watch a 30s short.
The sunlight talk really isn't about carnivore, it's about the benefits of sunlight exposure. The very minor part of the talk discussing photosensitivity on different diets is more of an aside then the focus.
You can ask, you can watch his full lecture - but coming in swinging puts people on the back foot.
I was in error, the short clip is actually from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVqNO8rgYKk a informal 5 minute talk he gave at a keto conference (preaching to the choir so to speak), but it is based on his more formal lecture I discussed above.
Honestly I hate youtube clipping, it confuses everything.