Originally published June 9 2005
Scientists question if sun causes cancer, point to its ability to promote vitamin D production
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dermatologists have long warned about the harmful effects of the sun's rays on skin. However, scientists are now beginning to question this. The sun's rays are known to cause vitamin D production in the skin, and vitamin D is helpful in preventing and treating many types of cancer. Four separate studies conducted this year show that a lack of vitamin D is often more harmful than too much sun. Scientists are not suggesting baking in the sun, but fifteen minutes of exposure, without sunscreen, would be beneficial. Vitamin D occurs naturally in salmon, tuna and other oily fish, and is routinely added to milk -- but ingested vitamin D accounts for little of the vitamin found in blood. Darker pigmented skin produces less vitamin D during sun exposure, as does the skin of elderly people.
SCIENTISTS are excited about a vitamin again.
But unlike fads that sizzled and fizzled, the evidence this time is strong and keeps growing.
The vitamin is D, nicknamed the "sunshine vitamin" because the skin makes it from ultraviolet rays.
Sunscreen blocks its production, but dermatologists and health agencies have long preached that such lotions are needed to prevent skin cancer.
Now some scientists are questioning that advice.
Many people aren't getting enough vitamin D. It's hard to do from food and fortified milk alone, and supplements are problematic.
So the thinking is this: Even if too much sun leads to skin cancer, which is rarely deadly, too little sun may be worse.
One is Dr Edward Giovannucci, a Harvard University professor of medicine and nutrition who laid out his case in a keynote lecture at a recent American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Anaheim, California.
"I would challenge anyone to find an area or nutrient or any factor that has such consistent anti-cancer benefits as vitamin D," Giovannucci told the cancer scientists.
The talk so impressed the American Cancer Society's chief epidemiologist, Dr Michael Thun, that the society is reviewing its sun protection guidelines.
"I find the evidence to be mounting and increasingly compelling," said Dr Allan Halpern, dermatology chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, who advises several cancer groups.
Even if sunshine were to be recommended, the amount needed would depend on the season, time of day, where a person lives, skin colour and other factors.
For some of these studies, doctors had blood samples to measure vitamin D, making the findings particularly strong.
However, it is possible to get skin cancer.
And this is where the dermatology establishment and Dr. Michael Holick part company.
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