Is Sunscreen Increasing Your Risk of Cancer?
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on August 16, 2009 – -Perhaps you’ve been brainwashed by the media about the dangers of the sun and how important it is to wear sunscreen every time you go outdoors. My son was told in health class that he should NEVER go outdoors unless he’s wearing sunscreen, even at night, because the UV light can “Get Him” even in the dark. Being a saavy health information consumer, he argued with the teacher, explaining to her the importance of daily sun exposure for adequate Vitamin D production. She, of course, wasn’t buying the information, especially since the source was a fifteen year old.
Perhaps she’ll change her tune if she watches the following videos from reputable sources…MSNBC and the University of California Medical School. Maybe some of the references below from medical journals will be convincing. According to Dr. Cedric Garland of UC Medical School, about 50,000 cases per year of breast cancer and and 51,000 cases of colon cancer can be prevented by maintaining adequate blood levels of Vitamin D.
How do you get adequate blood levels of Vitamin D? Daily sun exposure is the best way. When you can’t get sun exposure, a vitamin D supplement is prudent.
Everyone who uses sunscreen or spends most of the day indoors should get a vitamin D blood test. Based on Dr. Garland’s Research, the ideal blood level of vitamin D for cancer prevention is between 50 and 60 ng/dl.
For details about how Vitamin D and sunshine work, watch this very entertaining video by Dr. Michael F. Hollick, an MD researcher from Boston. His slides are humorous, his presentation style fun and his information sound. I disagree with drinking 3 glasses of milk a day, but most of the other recommendations make a lot of sense. His website http://www.vitamindhealth.org/ is a wealth of information.
Another good source of Vitamin D research is Dr. Mercola. I particularly enjoyed the research that linked washing with soap and sunlight exposure through windows to Vitamin D deficiency.
Finally, there’s the issue of the safety of sunscreen. There have actually been studies that report an increased risk of cancer with the use of sunscreen because of carcinogenic compounds like benzophenone or its derivatives (oxybenzone, benzophenone-3), found in most sunscreens. Benzophenone is one of the most powerful free radical generators known to man and it’s activated by ultraviolet light. For more info about the link between sunscreen and cancer, visit
http://www.vvv.com/healthnews/dsunscre.html
If you’d like to really get into the technical details and cancer statistics, as well as the proposed mechanism by which Vitamin is believed to prevent cancer, take a look at this video by Dr. Cedric Garland http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PsyaYNX1dw
Here are a few medical research papers that support the Vitamin D cancer connection
[1]Annals of Epidemiology April 14, 2009 Dr. Cedric Garland
[2] Annals of Epidemiology July 2009, Volume 19, Issue 7, Pages 468-483
[3] Science Daily, “New Model Of Cancer Development: Low Vitamin D Levels May Have Role” May 26, 2009
[4] The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology March 2007; 103(3-5):708-11
[5] American Journal of Clinical Nutrition June 2007; 85(6):1586-91.
[6] American Journal of Epidemiology October 12, 2007
Here are some of Dr. Joe Mercola’s Vitamin D articles and videos
[1] Mercola.com “Daily Sunlight Can Keep Cancer Away” August 7, 2008
[2] Mercola.com “Lack of Sunshine Causes One Million Deaths a Year” August 24, 2007
Let me know where you stand on the issue. Do you get enough sunshine? How do you plan to get your Vitamin D levels into the optimal range and protect yourself? Comment below!
Tags: cancer prevention, sunshine, Vitamin D, vitamin d testing
Posted in Articles, Cancer, Vitamin D, Vitamins and Minerals | 3 Comments »
New Findings About Vitamin D, An Often Overlooked Cause of Fatigue, Depression and Chronic Disease
Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on May 13, 2009 – -Vitamin D is being researched more and more and deficiencies have been found to be rampant in our Western World. Vitamin D is called the Sunshine Vitamin because your body can make it when exposed to sufficient sunshine.
Vitamin D3 is actually a steroid hormone formed when your skin is exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation. UVB converts a cholesterol derivative in your skin into vitamin D3.
Controversy abounds about just the right amount of sunshine needed to produce adequate Vitamin D, and most experts are now recommending testing and supplementation for those that are low.
If you live in the tropics and spend most of your time outdoors, chances are good you have plenty of vitamin D. If you live in Alaska, or Seattle, chances are that you don’t. For those of us in between, how do we know?
A simple blood test can test for vitamin D levels. I’ve been recommending that you can rely on mother nature if you are exposed to sun over 25% or more of your body 20 minutes or more each day. On the days when this is not true, take a supplement. Liquid D3 seems to be the most effective.
Today I ran across an article by Dr. Joe Mercola and I was shocked at the title, which said that exposure to sunshine could decrease your vitamin D levels.
Turns out that window glass filters out the majority of UVB radiation, but it minimally filters out UVAs. Vitamin D3 is formed from exposure to UVB rays. UVA radiation destroys vitamin D.
Whoa, hold on. Being indoors not only keeps you from making the Vitamin D you need but destroys the Vitamin D you already have! Wow. This is actually a clever method that nature has to prevent Vitamin D overload. It helps destroy excess vitamin D when you’re outside a lot.
When you are outside, you get BOTH UVA and UVB, so there is a balance. When you’re exposed to sunlight through windows you get the UVA but almost no UVB. To make matters worse, UVA increases oxidative stress. So working indoors and driving in a car can lead to health challenges. All the more reason to retire to the beach.
UVA is a primary player in skin cancer. It also what causes you to tan and leads to photo aging of your skin.
Dr. Leonard Smith discovered that increasing his vitamin D levels resulted in the resolution of skin conditions such as moles and basal cell carcinoma.
Vitamin D and Showering
Another interesting tidbit about Vitamin D that Dr. Mercola wrote about was the association between Vitamin D levels and showering with soap.
It turns out that the Vitamin D3 formed on the surface of your skin does not immediately get absorbed into your bloodstream. It actually takes up to 48 hours to absorb the majority of the vitamin D you made as a result of sun exposure.
So, if you shower with soap, you’ll wash away a lot of the vitamin D3 your skin generated. Since you are not likely to want to go so long without a shower, Dr. Mercola recommends that you reserve the soap for your armpits and groin, and wash the rest of your body with plain water. I usually do that anyway, so I’m happy to hear that there’s a benefit beyond saving money on soap!
In summary, here’s how to ensure that you get adequate Vitamin D levels:
- Get safe outdoor sun exposure or use a tanning bed, 20 minutes a day. Just be careful to avoid getting sunburned.
- If you can’t or won’t get adequate sunlight, take a liquid Vitamin D3 supplement. Just be sure to get your vitamin D levels checked regularly, to be sure you are dosing porperly. You can get the testing done without a doctor’s prescription at www.directlabs.com.
- If you shower after sun exposure, avoid soaping exposed areas for for at least two days, to maximize the absorption of vitamin D in your skin.
Vitamin D needs to be taken seriously. Deficiencies can lead to many health challenges including heart disease, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, hypertension, arthritis, depression, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, PMS, Crohns Disease, cancer, MS and other autoimmune diseases.
So go have some fun and get your vitamin D levels optimized.
Love, Health and Joy,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: Add new tag, Cancer, fatigue symptoms, pain and inflammation, Raw Foods, sugar, Vitamin D
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