Summary
Dermatologists recommend against any exposure to the sun without protection such as sun block, and recommend getting the daily dosage of vitamin D (which the human body manufactures when exposed to sunlight) from diet supplements and food choices. However, one Boston University professor says that ten minutes in the sun, two to three times a week, is adequate to generate the body's own vitamin D and helps with conditions such as Type 1 diabetes and bone disease.
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Details
While relating that she had low levels of the vitamin --- and even her colleagues concede that many of us are also deficient --- she turned her speech into an analysis of where to get the vitamin's benefits without increased exposure to the sun --- through diet and taking vitamin D supplements.
In an interview last year on ABC's Good Morning America, Holick explained his point of view.
"I think that a little bit of safe sun exposure is good for your health.
Vitamin D levels can be evaluated with a blood test, and Holick believes people should be tested annually.
He also thinks that indoor tanning facilities "represent a viable alternative to natural sunshine for stimulating your production of vitamin D" but warns that the radiation exposure is the same as natural sunlight and requires the same precautions.
Interestingly, a paper at the conference, presented by doctors from the Medical College of Georgia, advocated the use of sunless tanning products because a survey they conducted found that those using such products decreased the use of tanning bed facilities.
Holick's position, however, led to an enormous backlash against him by colleagues and by his university employer.
And his ties to the tanning industry have been questioned and were again questioned at the conference, where members of the audience referred to him as a tanning industry "consultant."
Holick has denied that his research is influenced by any financial conflict and told The Scientist that the Indoor Tanning Association is "not telling me the kind of research to do."
And while the American Academy is completely at odds with Holick --- he claims the association is too cozy with the sunscreen industry --- its advocacy of multivitamin supplements and food intake seems an impossible equation, in Holick's estimation.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he is well known as the creator of popular downloadable preparedness programs on financial collapse, emergency food storage, wilderness survival and home defense skills. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
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Tuesday, March 29, 2005
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