MYTH: Sunbathing Is Bad for Your Health

It seems like I've been talking forever about the enormous benefits of increasing your vitamin D levels and sun exposure.

Studies over the last seventy years have linked low levels of vitamin D with various health problems including cancer, osteoporosis and osteomalacia in adults (resulting in hip and vertebral fractures), rickets in children, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, hearing loss, high blood pressure, psoriasis, heart disease, and diabetes.

As I discussed in the previous section, studies have confirmed that vitamin D and sun exposure can protect against infectious diseases.

Yep, you read right, read it again! And you have always heard that sun could could cause cancer - right? Well if you backed yourself like a potato in the sun that is true. All you need is 20 minutes a day, but read on for the full story.

If this research isn't enough motivation to make you want to increase your vitamin D levels, maybe some of the more recent research linking vitamin D deficiency and cancer will make you change your mind It has been estimated that every year between 50,000 and 63,000 individuals in this country die prematurely from various cancers caused by insufficient vitamin D.

Researchers have determined that providing 1,000 IU of vitamin D for all American adults would cost $1 billion a year. Vitamin D supplementation would reduce the occurrence of various cancers by 30 to 50 percent, and the expected annual economic benefits for cancer alone would be in the range of $16-25 billion. (Photochem Photobiol 05;81:1276-1286) (Recent Results Cancer Res 07;174:225-234) (Am JPublic Health 06;96(2):252-261)

So let's see here, spend a Billion to save a possible $25 Billion. Sounds like a no-brainer to me!

The total economic burden in 2004 due to vitamin D deficiency from inadequate UVB exposure, diet, and supplements was estimated at $40 to 56 billion. (Photochem Photobiol 05;81(6):1276-1286).

Staying out of the sun doubles your risk of prostate cancer. (Cancer Res 05;65(12):5470-5479) .Studies have shown that women with the lowest levels of vitamin D have a five times higher risk of developing breast cancer. (Bur J Cancer 05;41 (8):1164-1169).

Chronic pain is associated with very low vitamin D levels. Studies also showed that once vitamin D levels were returned to normal the pain was reduced dramatically or even disappeared. (Ann Rheum Vis 05;64(8):1217-1219)

Yet people continue to believe that sun exposure is bad for your health and causes (not prevents) cancer. As a result, we're in the midst of a full-blown epidemic of vitamin D deficiency, one that's gone unnoticed by most . researchers and health care providers.

The problem is getting worse every year and, for some reason, no one seems to be alerting the public or doing anything to correct the situation. Do you agree with me that this is very hard to understand?

Obviously, since there's no money to be made in recommending "heliotherapy" or sunbathing, there will be a push to sell drugs and prescription forms of synthetic vitamin D. After all, the public has already been brainwashed into believing that exposure to the sun, at practically any level, is dangerous. So the logical solution would be to simply use another pharmaceutical product. Here we go again, another reason that "big pharma" uses to promote something that is supposed to resolve a problem, i.e. vitamin D deficiency, but the side effects out way the benefits.

For the dwindling few of us who still can use a little common sense in these matters, sunlight and vitamin D-containing foods and supplements can be a godsend. When it comes to exposure to the sun, keep in mind we weren't designed to spend our lives hiding in caves or under shady trees. All of the research, and common sense, tells us that direct sunlight is one of the primary sources of this essential vitamin.

It really doesn't require that much exposure to reap the benefits. One 20-minute full-body exposure to the summer sun will result in putting 20,000 IU into the body within 48 hours. (This dosage above for colds and flu is about the equivalent of spending two days at the beach.) As I'll explain later, however, if you're using sunscreen, sun block, or cholesterol-lowering drugs, you'll probably get far less than 20,000 IU.

It's also interesting to note that a sunscreen with an SPF rating of only '8' (don't even think about SPF 30 or 45) reduces vitamin D production by 95 percent. ( Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 04;13:1502-1508)

One study involving eight light-skinned individuals showed that a single dose of sunlight, which was just enough to produce mild skin reddening the next day, elevated vitamin D production and cathelicidin levels. U Invest 05;125(5):1072-1074) Most of us don't have the luxury of sunbathing regularly, so supplementation is a necessity.

This is especially true if you live above 38 degrees north latitude-which runs approximately through Baltimore, St. Louis, Denver, and San Francisco where the sun is too weak from mid-fall through winter into mid-spring to stimulate vitamin D production in any significant quantity. And, as we get older our skin is less efficient at producing vitamin D. Excessive fat layers decrease vitamin D production. Also, if you have darker skin the melanin blocks the penetration of the sun's UV rays and lowers vitamin D production. Some studies have shown that to produce adequate amounts of vitamin D naturally those with darker skin require 50 times more sun exposure than fairer-skinned people.

Vitamin D, then you'll definitely need to take additional D from food sources or as an additional supplement. (Milk and milk products don't seem to be that effective at preventing vitamin D deficiencies, despite the fact that many have been "fortified" with the vitamin.)

Safety Above All

There's an almost hysterical fear of vitamin D overdosing, when in reality the risk is very small. It's been estimated, from all the research, that our body needs 4,000 IU of vitamin D a day from all sources (sunlight, food, etc.). Forget the RDA (required daily allowance) that the FDA publishes. Potential toxicity may start at 10,000 IU a day for an extended period, but top researchers feel that number may actually be closer to 40,000 IU a day. After all, remember your body can easily make 20,000 IU after only a few minutes at the beach.

The real problem is allowing these deficiencies to go uncorrected. To make matters worse, just recently we've started to see a wave of new pharmaceutical industry-backed "research" warning that nutritional supplements are not only worthless but possibly even harmful to your health. Although 70-plus years of research continues to prove the safety and need for these fat-soluble compounds, the media loves to focus on the alleged dangers of their "toxicity" when taken at too high a dosage.

Our vitamin D levels play a very significant role in our overall health.