Sunlight, vitamin D, sunscreens and drama: is Hollywood (or TV drama) beginning to pay attention?

A friend just told me about watching an episode of Law and Order, Special Victims Unit.

The storyline involved a woman who had been locked up for four years, and one of the characters in plot mentioned that the victim of this heinous crime was terribly deficient in vitamin D.

Amazingly, he went on to say that a whole generation is now vitamin D deficient due to applying sunscreens when venturing outdoors.

Hallelujah!

Is the media starting to wake up to one of the most atrocious crimes of all—vitamin D deficiency brought on by the advice of the American Academy of Dermatology and other “professionals” who insist that we never go outside without “protection?”

I hope so. The media are a powerful force for either good or evil in society, and it appears that at least this one time, they got it right.

Sarah Palin, Vitamin D and tanning beds part 6: conclusion

This may surprise you, but I believe it is a good idea to be checked regularly by a dermatologist to assess any changes that may occur to your skin.

That advice, however, is most important for those who do not use tanning beds or get regular sunlight, since more melanomas occur among those who receive little or no UVB (see previous posts).

So let’s do a few mathematics.

Scientists now estimate that maintaining a vitamin D blood level of 55ng/ml would prevent the breast-cancer deaths of 85,000 US women yearly.[1]

Melanoma, on the other hand, takes the lives of about 3,020 women per year.[2]

If you assumed that tanning causes 3,020 deaths from melanoma (which it does not), but prevents 85,000 breast cancer deaths, which would you rather take a chance with? Such an analysis, of course, would not even take into consideration the other diseases that are prevented by high vitamin D levels.

For example, Australian researchers did an analysis to determine the risk of death from bone disease that would occur if the anti-sunlight advocates had their way.

For the purposes of their analysis, they assumed that sunlight caused melanoma.

They then calculated that for every case of melanoma death and disability prevented by avoiding the sun, there would be 2,000 cases of death disability caused by bone diseases alone due to lack of vitamin D.[3]

The good news is that sunlight does not cause melanoma; we have already established that regular exposure prevents melanoma.

If Sarah Palin is using her tanning bed in a safe and sane manner, she has one of the best health-promoting devices ever developed.

The vitamin D she receives from the UVB light is reducing her risk of twenty cancers and is also reducing her risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, hypertension, MS, lupus, diabetes and approximately 80 more diseases in which vitamin D deficiency is implicated.

So Sarah, go ahead and enjoy that tanning bed!

[1] Garland, C et al. What is the dose-response relationship between vitamin D and cancer risk? Nutrition Reviews 2007;65:S91-5.
[2] American Cancer Society Statistics 2008.
[3] Lucas, R, et al. Estimating the global disease burden due to ultraviolet radiation exposure.
Int. J. Epidemiol. Advance Access published February 14, 2008.

Sarah Palin, vitamin D and tanning beds: part 5

In the last installment of the Sarah-Palin/tanning-bed saga, we presented some of the positive research on tanning beds—research that has been mostly ignored by the American Academy of Dermatology and by the press.

Since the volume of positive research regarding tanning was too great to treat in one post, we continue it here.

One of the latest studies showed no significant increase in melanoma with tanning bed use.[i]

Have you ever heard of that research?

Another study of five European countries showed that in France, where 20% of the population used tanning beds, their use was associated with a 19% increase in risk of melanoma.[ii]

But in Sweden, where 83% of the population uses tanning beds, there was a 38% decrease in melanoma. Overall, the risk of melanoma was reduced by 10% in tanning-bed users, although individuals with fair skin and a high number of moles were at increased risk.

I ask again, have you ever heard of that research? Of course not; it doesn’t sell sunscreens and does not help the drug business. Clearly, studies that indict tanning beds without taking into consideration skin type are flawed, and if they do not also differentiate between tanning and burning, they are doubly flawed.

We have clearly stated that burning correlates to an increased risk of melanoma.

Unfortunately, most of the studies that associated tanning beds with increased melanoma did not control for burning.

A very light skin that does not tan or has many moles or a skin condition that is sensitive to UV may preclude tanning-bed use by some individuals.

Others who may have adverse effects to tanning bed exposure are organ transplant recipients or those taking photosensitive prescription drugs.

If you do not know if your drug is photosensitive, ask a pharmacist.

The next post will finish this discussion about Sarah, vitamin D and tanning beds. Stay tuned!

[i] Clough-Gorr, K. et al. Exposure to sunlamps, tanning beds and melanoma risk. Cancer Causes Control. 2008;7:659-69
[ii] Bataille V, et al. A multicentre epidemiological study on tanning bed use and cutaneous melanoma in Europe. Eur J Cancer 2005;41:2141-49.

Sarah Palin’s tanning bed, part 3. Will the tanning bed kill her, or will the vitamin D save her life?

Sunlight exposure and tanning have been vilified by many (but not all) dermatologists some of who call them “cancer machines.”

There are movements afoot to make it illegal for those under the age of 18 to even use them.

Perhaps we will soon see the “sunlight police” patrolling the beaches and arresting those who do not wear sunscreens.

Don’t laugh, it could happen. As I have already indicated in previous blogs, melanoma is the excuse for this madness, but melanoma is more common in those who stay out of the sunlight.

This is all woefully ill-advised.

Hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved by maintaining high levels of vitamin D, which tanning beds produce in abundance.

Every beneficial effect of vitamin D that is produced by sunlight (ultraviolet light or UVB) exposure is also produced by the use of high-quality tanning beds. And is it really UV light that causes melanoma?

In my last “Sarah-Palin” blog, I presented evidence that as we have moved out of the sunlight by opting for indoor jobs, there has been an incredible 25-fold increase in melanoma.

I also pointed out that 78% of melanomas occur on areas of the body that are seldom exposed to sunlight. What’s more, the risks associated with UV overexposure do not appear to be related to regular, non-burning exposure.

Remember that the key to safe tanning of any kind is NEVER BURN. The following is a list of tanning-bed benefits:

1. Tanning-bed use dramatically increases serum-vitamin D levels and bone mass.[1]
2. Whereas a daily 400 IU vitamin D supplement does not maintain healthful levels, tanning bed use increases vitamin D levels by 150% in only seven weeks.[2]
3. Tanning-bed use reduces chronic pain.[3]
4. Sun lamps are now being recommended by at least one British physician for use by pregnant women who will give birth in a winter month. The recommendation is being made to protect the unborn child from osteoporosis during adulthood.[4]
5. High quality tanning beds, because they provide UVB to both sides of the body simultaneously, stimulate the production of up to 15,000 IU of vitamin D in less than ten minutes.[5] Ten minutes of tanning-bed exposure can be done on a lunch break. That means they are more efficient than summer sunlight. Of course, those with darker skin will require a longer time to produce the same amount of vitamin D.
6. Tanning beds may be used regardless of outside weather, time of day or time of year.
It appears that Sarah is on the right track. We will shortly present specific research regarding tanning beds and melanoma. You may be surprised. Stay tuned!

[1] Tangpricha, V. et al. Tanning is associated with optimal vitamin D status (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration) and higher bone mineral density. Am J Clin Nutr 2004;80:1645-49.
[2] Holick, M. et al. Boston University. “Effects Of Vitamin D And Skin’s Physiology Examined.” Science Daily 21 February 2008 .
[3] Kaur, M. et al. Indoor tanning relieves pain. Photodermatol Photoimmunol Photomed 2005;21:278.
[4] Bukhari, M. et al. 108. Sun Lamps help Unborn Babies Beat Osteoporosis. Quoted in London Times April 27, 2008.
[5] Grant, W. Personal communication with the author, June, 2006

Sarah Palin, vitamin D and tanning beds, part 2.

To determine whether Sarah Palin was justified in installing a tanning bed in the Alaska Governor’s mansion, we need to decide whether or not the fear regarding sunlight as a cause of melanoma is justified.

Tanning beds, you see, emit the same type of ultraviolet light (UV) as summer sun.

First of all, let’s take a look at the history of UV exposure since 1900.

That year, approximately 75% of the population of the US worked outdoors; today, only 10% work outdoors.[1]

Yet, with this profoundly decreased exposure to sunlight, melanoma has increased dramatically in every age group since that time; for example, the lifetime risk of melanoma in 1930 was one in 1,500, whereas the risk today is one in 60.

Is there something wrong with this scenario?

If sunlight exposure causes melanoma, shouldn’t melanoma incidence decrease with decreasing sunlight exposure?

Other troubling facts for the dermatologists who march in lock-step with official policy: seventy-eight percent of all melanomas occur on areas of the body that are seldom exposed to sunlight,[2] and people who work indoors develop 50% more melanomas than those who work outdoors.[3]

Furthermore, among black people, nearly all melanomas occur on the soles of the feet and on the lower legs.[4]

Melanomas in women occur primarily on the upper leg and in men occur primarily on the back.[5]

These cancers also occur inside the mouth,[6] on sex organs[7] and in the armpits[8]—all areas of little or no sunlight exposure.

So here is my question for you to consider:

Do you believe that sunlight causes melanoma?

In other words, is the “sunlight creates melanoma” theory reasonable? Stay tuned for part three.

[1] Genuis, S. Keeping your sunny side up: How sunlight affects health and well-being. Can Fam Physician. 2006 April 10; 52(4): 422–423
[2] Christophers, A. Melanoma is not caused by sunlight. Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis 1998;422:113-17.
[3] Garland F. et al. Occupational sunlight exposure and melanoma in the USA Navy. Arch Environ Health 1990; 45:261-67.
[4] Crombie, I. et al. Racial differences in melanoma incidence. Br J Cancer 1979;40:185-93.
[5] Hakansson, N. et al. Occupational sunlight exposure and cancer incidence among Swedish construction workers. Epidemiology 2001;12:552-57.
[6] Burgess, A. et al. Parotidectomy: preoperative investigations and outcomes in a single surgeon practice. ANZ J Surg. 2008 Sep;78(9):791-3.
[7] Ribé, A Melanocytic lesions of the genital area with attention given to atypical genital nevi J Cutan Pathol. 2008 Nov;35 Suppl 2:24-7.
[8] Rhodes, A. Melanoma’s Public Message. Guest editorial, Skin and Allergy News 2003;34