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.The article has some compelling evidence.
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.
So the thinking is this: Even if too much sun leads to skin cancer, which is rarely deadly, too little sun may be worse.
I personally don't wear sunscreen at all. It's not that I'm against it in some way...I'm just negligent due to laziness. I don't have any sunscreen in the apartment. I looked around vaguely for it at Wal-Mart one time, didn't see any, and gave up. Even when I do have it around, I tend to forget to put it on. I've recently been thinking that I should buy some and keep it in the bathroom, so I can make putting it on part of my morning routine, but now I'm thinking that wouldn't be such a great idea.
Now, I think I'll keep going along as usual, and save the sunscreen for full-on sun experiences like the beach.
2 comments:
Hey, that's some great information. I always wondered what was up with sunscreen and Vit. D. I guess I'll keep up what I've been doing too--I put sunscreen on my face to protect against wrinkles, and let my arms soak up the sun. That just goes to show you though, with all the research conflicting and changing...you just can't win. I recently went on a fruit kick with my girls only to come across a full page spread about which fruits to avoid cuz they're overly treated with pesticides.
Yeah. It seems like the best advice is "everything in moderation". There are certain things, like things that don't occur naturally in our environment, that it's probably best to avoid (my mom just sent me an email forward about the horrible dangers of aspartame), but regular foods that our ancestors ate should be fine, I would think.
I am hoping to someday grown my own fruit and vegetables, but that will obviously wait until I have my own house and some semblance of a yard. It's also a big responsibility to take care of a garden, so I would have to make sure I was prepared for that.
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