Originally published June 25 2005
Sun exposure produces healthy vitamin D
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
According to Dr. Mike Rosen in an article for WTNH.com, sun exposure is not as dangerous as once thought, as it produces vitamin D in the body that can help protect against certain types of cancers, and, in fact, using sun block may increase an individual's chances of getting some cancers.
The researchers believe the link lies in Vitamin D. They noticed that people at a high risk of prostate cancer were similar to people at risk for Vitamin D deficiency: they often lived in northern latitudes, they had darker skin and were old.
And that fact is, the sun creates vitamin d in the skin.
Paul Marsolini is very cautious about getting skin cancer...and protects himself from the sun. "I use over 30 sun block I'll go out easily to the beach and spend and hour even two hours but I really do limit my exposure."
But did that protection lessen his protection against a cancer he currently faces: prostate cancer.
Previous research had shown that the prostate uses vitamin d to promote the normal growth of prostate cells, and it blocks the ability of prostate cancer cells to spread to other parts of the body and invade healthy tissue.
Dr. John Philips, a prostate cancer expert at Beth Israel Medical Center, says, "It is an anti growth type of vitamin um and so we do have some data some pretty good data with cancer cell lines and other tumors that vitamin D is anti cancer."
The researchers compared 450 white patients who had advanced prostate cancer--cancer that had spread beyond the prostate--with a control group of 455 men who did not have prostate cancer.
Sun exposure between the two groups was measured by comparing pigmentation of underarm skin, which is usually not exposed to sunlight, with forehead pigmentation, which is.
Recent research has suggested that the increased forehead pigmentation reflects a lifetime's worth of sun, darkening with age.
Now, there was no difference in the underarm measurement between the two groups.
"Dietary vitamin D such as milk, milk proteins, soy, soy proteins, now most soy beverages come with calcium and vitamin D, are going to give them their dietary supplements without the risk of ultra violet radiation," states Dr. Philips.
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