Study confirms benefits of tanning, sun exposure for the production of health-promoting vitamin D

Thursday, November 10, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: tanning beds, vitamin D, health news

(NaturalNews) Exposing your unprotected skin to natural sunlight and even using a tanning bed are not necessarily the highly dangerous, cancer promoting activities that many in the government and media would have you believe they are.

A new study out of Oslo University Hospital (OUH) in Norway confirms what we here at NaturalNews have been saying for a long time -- regular exposure to moderate levels of sunlight promotes good health through the healthy production of vitamin D in the body.

Johan Moan, a scientist and researcher from the Department of Radiation Biology at OUH's Institute for Cancer Research found that the benefits derived from exposure to vitamin D-producing UV rays far outweigh the miniscule risk of developing cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM). In fact, it is primarily overexposure in the form of sunburns that is responsible for UV-related cancer risk.

"Sun exposure is commonly supposed to be the main cause of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) in most populations. However, the matter is disputed," said Moan and his research team in conjunction with their findings.

"It can be estimated that increased sun exposure to the Norwegian population might at worst result in 200-300 more CMM deaths per year, but it would elevate the vitamin D status by about 25 nmol/l (nanomoles per liter) and might result in 4,000 fewer internal cancers and about 3,000 fewer cancer deaths overall."

But the risk of getting skin cancer from exposing skin to natural sunlight or a tanning bed, might even be less than that. Ivan Oransky, editor of Reuters Health and treasurer of the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ), wrote last year in a blog that the actual risk of getting skin cancer from using a tanning bed is about 0.2 percent, and this risk likely only includes those that overexpose themselves (https://www.naturalnews.com/029895_skin_cance...).

Russian health authorities also recognize the benefits of tanning beds, as they last year installed tanning beds in Russian prisons to help improve inmate health (https://www.naturalnews.com/030416_tanning_be...).

Vitamin D deficiency is linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, endocrine dysfunction, infections, autoimmune disorders, kidney problems, neurological disease, respiratory illness, skin problems, and cancer, among other things (http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-condit...).

Sources for this article include:

http://www.voxy.co.nz/health/sunbed-cancer-r...