Throw Out The Sun Screen and Get Some Rays
Report via My Way News
Sure the sun can cause skin cancer, but it is rarely deady. Not only that but too little sun is even worse. The sun is the best source of vitamin D which might help prevent thirty deaths for each one caused by skin cancer.
This is coming to light through some new studies. As a result I can't help but wonder if the sunblock craze as well as avoiding the sun isn't responsible for increased cancer rates.
•Overall cancer rates have increased by 22% and 56% among white women and white men, repectively, over the course of a single generation. Increases in black men and women are comparable.
•"A contemporary woman's risk of breast cancer is 54% greater than was her mother's at the same age among blacks and 41% greater among whites."
•"Men today have about a three- to four-fold risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer compared with their fathers."
•Excluding cancers linked to smoking, or where trends are confounded by changes in diagnostic procedure (breast and prostate; see below), "relative to the previous generation, rates increased on average 13% in black women, 52% in white men, and 67% in black men." There was little change in white women.
•For non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which they analyzed separately, the rates today relative to 25 years ago have "almost doubled in white women, nearly tripled in black women, more than tripled in white men, and more than quadrupled in black men."
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. The reason is that vitamin D increasingly seems important for preventing and even treating many types of cancer.
In the last three months alone, four separate studies found it helped protect against lymphoma and cancers of the prostate, lung and, ironically, the skin. The strongest evidence is for colon cancer.
Many people aren't getting enough vitamin D. It's hard to do from food and fortified milk alone, and supplements are problematic.
In the last three months alone, four separate studies found it helped protect against lymphoma and cancers of the prostate, lung and, ironically, the skin. The strongest evidence is for colon cancer.
Many people aren't getting enough vitamin D. It's hard to do from food and fortified milk alone, and supplements are problematic.
While advisers can't agree on how much the RDA should be for vitamin D, some scientists think adults need 1,000 IUs a day. Dr. Edward Giovannucci's research suggests 1,500 IUs might be needed to significantly curb cancer. The thing is the older you get the more you need.
My Multivitamin contains 400 IUs of D but also contains 3500 IUs of vitamin A which according to this report offsets many of D's benefits. Intake of large amounts of D in pill form can also cause a dangerous buildup of calcium in the body limiting a safe intake amount. Vitamin D from sunshine has no limits.
There is a lot of data to support vitamin D's advantages.
_Several studies observing large groups of people found that those with higher vitamin D levels also had lower rates of cancer. For some of these studies, doctors had blood samples to measure vitamin D, making the findings particularly strong. Even so, these studies aren't the gold standard of medical research - a comparison over many years of a large group of people who were given the vitamin with a large group who didn't take it. In the past, the best research has deflated health claims involving other nutrients, including vitamin E and beta carotene.
_Lab and animal studies show that vitamin D stifles abnormal cell growth, helps cells die when they are supposed to, and curbs formation of blood vessels that feed tumors.
_Cancer is more common in the elderly, and the skin makes less vitamin D as people age.
_Blacks have higher rates of cancer than whites and more pigment in their skin, which prevents them from making much vitamin D.
_Vitamin D gets trapped in fat, so obese people have lower blood levels of D. They also have higher rates of cancer.
_Diabetics, too, are prone to cancer, and their damaged kidneys have trouble converting vitamin D into a form the body can use.
_People in the northeastern United States and northerly regions of the globe like Scandinavia have higher cancer rates than those who get more sunshine year-round.
_Lab and animal studies show that vitamin D stifles abnormal cell growth, helps cells die when they are supposed to, and curbs formation of blood vessels that feed tumors.
_Cancer is more common in the elderly, and the skin makes less vitamin D as people age.
_Blacks have higher rates of cancer than whites and more pigment in their skin, which prevents them from making much vitamin D.
_Vitamin D gets trapped in fat, so obese people have lower blood levels of D. They also have higher rates of cancer.
_Diabetics, too, are prone to cancer, and their damaged kidneys have trouble converting vitamin D into a form the body can use.
_People in the northeastern United States and northerly regions of the globe like Scandinavia have higher cancer rates than those who get more sunshine year-round.
The forecast for today is mostly sunny and 74. I think I'll dig out a swimsuit; grab a good book and head for the backyard. My sunscreen is already in the trash.