Two minutes are barely enough to explain what has recently appeared to be a medical panacea. Last year my physician all but compelled me to take 1000 milligrams of Vitamin D every day. According to my doctor, anyone who lives north of Atlanta, Georgia isn’t getting enough D from sunlight. Apparently, tens of millions of people are Vitamin-D-deficient and don’t know it. To listen to my primary care provider, D strengthens bones, wards off certain types of cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure.

Who could ask for anything more? Well, not so long ago the medical establishment was warning the public about the dangers of D. To take more than 2000 milligrams of the vitamin per diem would result in the body’s being unable to expel what was considered a toxic substance.

Sadly, back in the 1980s I learned about a vitamin salesman, an Ohioan, who overdosed on his products and died. That was enough to make me completely swear off multivitamins—until last year when, as I said, my sawbones convinced me that a pill of D a day would keep the mortician away.

Co-producer Janice Horowitz does a feisty job of summing up the pros and cons of the vitamin debate, as she does with other segments in her “Dueling Docs” series. The thing is, of course, she breezes through issues as quick as a two-minute trip to the drugstore.

Nevertheless, for leisure-deficient public radio listeners, hers might be just the pill to pop.