The Vitamin D Secret
Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast
Dr. Eric Berg
4.7 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How can you overcome vitamin D deficiency on the carnivore diet without increasing your intake? Discover how the carnivore diet can improve gut health, insulin resistance, and chronic inflammation to improve vitamin D absorption and help optimize its benefits naturally.
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0:00 Introduction: Vitamin D and the carnivore diet
1:01 Magnesium, zinc, vitamin K2, and D3
1:55 Other barriers to vitamin D absorption
2:11 Carnivore diet benefits
3:19 Vitamin K2 benefits
3:57 Cholesterol and vitamin D
5:01 Vitamin D receptor resistance
6:14 Carnivore diet results
Many people notice major improvements on the carnivore diet, including reduced symptoms of autoimmune disease, less joint pain, improved mood, and better overall health.
Although beef, chicken, pork, and other meats are relatively low in vitamin D, the carnivore diet can still help correct vitamin D deficiency. Simply taking more vitamin D doesn’t always solve the problem.
Vitamin D depends on several important cofactors, including magnesium, zinc, vitamin K2, retinol, and cholesterol, the raw material used to make vitamin D in the body.
Vitamin D enters your cells through the vitamin D receptor. Vitamin D receptor resistance is very common, often caused by obesity, insulin resistance, and poor gut health.
Meat is a potent source of highly bioavailable nutrients, especially the cofactors needed for vitamin D. Many plant foods contain antinutrients that can interfere with nutrient absorption.Vitamin D is made from cholesterol, so inadequate cholesterol intake can also impact vitamin D production.
The carnivore diet helps to reduce gut inflammation, increase autophagy, improve bile flow, reduce SIBO, and eliminate candida overgrowth, all of which support better vitamin D absorption and overall health.
Dr. Eric Berg DC Bio:
Dr. Berg, age 61, is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals and author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan. He no longer practices, but focuses on health education through social media.
Disclaimer:
Dr. Eric Berg received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1988. His use of “doctor” or “Dr.” in relation to himself solely refers to that degree. Dr. Berg is a licensed chiropractor in Virginia, California, and Louisiana, but he no longer practices chiropractic in any state and does not see patients, so he can focus on educating people as a full-time activity, yet he maintains an active license. This video is for general informational purposes only. It should not be used to self-diagnose, and it is not a substitute for a medical exam, cure, treatment, diagnosis, prescription, or recommendation. It does not create a doctor-patient relationship between Dr. Berg and you. You should not make any change in your health regimen or diet before first consulting a physician and obtaining a medical exam, diagnosis, and recommendation. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Why the carnivore diet fixes a vitamin D deficiency without taking more vitamin D. |
| 0:05.9 | People doing the carnivore diet report their autoimmune diseases clearing up. |
| 0:11.6 | Their depression goes away. Their joint pain disappears. Some people even report handling the sun |
| 0:18.5 | a little differently. They get a tan easier and less burns. All of these |
| 0:23.1 | conditions strongly linked to a vitamin D deficiency. But here's the paradox. Beef, chicken, pork |
| 0:30.3 | have very little vitamin D. In a typical carnivore diet, you're dealing with probably 500 to |
| 0:36.6 | 1,500 I use of vitamin D3 every single day. |
| 0:40.0 | Now, that's a little bit better than the average diet, but it's not a tremendous amount |
| 0:44.0 | of vitamin D. So how do you fix a vitamin D deficiency without taking more vitamin D? |
| 0:49.5 | Most people think about a vitamin D deficiency as if you're not getting enough vitamin D. So they end up taking |
| 0:55.1 | more and more and then they get their blood tests and some people find they're still deficient. |
| 1:01.3 | Let's talk about why that is. Vitamin D does not work alone. Okay. It's dependent on cofactors |
| 1:10.4 | that allow the absorption of vitamin D. And we're talking about |
| 1:13.9 | the big one, magnesium, vitamin K2, zinc, retinol, the active form of vitamin A. And then we have cholesterol, |
| 1:21.8 | the raw material that helps you make vitamin D. And you can take all the vitamin D in the world. |
| 1:26.2 | But without these cofactors, |
| 1:27.6 | that vitamin D is just going to be floating around in your blood, not really doing anything. |
| 1:32.1 | On top of that, the vitamin D has to eventually go in the cell through what's called the |
| 1:38.2 | vitamin D receptor. There's something called vitamin D receptor resistance, which is super common. |
| 1:46.6 | And many times because the receptor is blocked for various reasons, you're going to be deficient. |
| 1:51.8 | Even if you have normal levels in your blood. |
| 1:55.0 | And then the other barriers are obesity. |
... |
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