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Sunscreen is a good product with an intelligent usage: the prevention of sunburn.
It is not necessary to wear this product daily most of the year in most climates
to prevent sunburn. Yet many in the $30 billion sun-care industry encourage
everyone to wear products with sunscreen 365 days a year - no matter where they
live. This may in fact cause more harm than good in the long run. Consider:
- By wearing sunscreen in northern climates most of the year you totally block
your body's ability to produce vitamin D. New research has shown that vitamin
D deficiency is epidemic in American adults today, that we do not get vitamin
D from our diets and that up to 90 percent of the vitamin D in our systems
comes from sun exposure. Ultraviolet light exposure is the body's natural
way, and the only reliable way, to produce vitamin D. In fact, according to
accepted anthropologic evolutionary theory, that is why fair-skinned cultures
developed fair skin: To better produce vitamin D from sunlight.
- A study published in March 1998 in the New England Journal of Medicine showed
that more than half of all Americans may be vitamin D deficient, and that
37 percent of people whose diet included sufficient levels of vitamin D were
still vitamin D deficient upon blood testing. Vitamin D deficiency is a leading
cause of osteoporosis, a disease affecting 25 million Americans which leads
to 1 million hip and bone fractures every year. In elderly individuals, such
fractures are often deadly. Encouraging everyone to wear sunscreen all year
long in any climate undoubtedly is contributing to this problem.
- While the tanning industry does support the use of sunscreens as a tool
to prevent sunburn outdoors, we do not believe it is proper to teach people
to wear this product during times of the year when one would not be able to
sunburn outdoors. That is misbranding the product.
- Women's cosmetics today almost always contain sunscreen. It is very difficult
for women to find products that do not block UV exposure. Again, while sunscreen
is an excellent product that has an intelligent usage in the fight against
sunburn, overuse of the product may have serious consequences as well. Because
most women wear foundation products daily, their make-up may be preventing
them from producing vitamin D much of the year. And because women are more
likely than men to develop osteoporosis, making up 18 million of the 25 million
Americans afflicted with the disease, they would stand to benefit even more
from an increase in vitamin D production.
- Vitamin D and sun exposure have been linked to lower incidence of many internal
cancers, most notably breast cancer. A study published in 1999 by the Northern
California Cancer Center (NCCC) confirmed that women who receive regular sun
exposure are 30-40 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than those
who do not receive regular sunlight. It has been hypothesized that vitamin
D formed in the body through ultraviolet light exposure plays a role in inhibiting
or retarding this disease. Previous studies have shown a relationship between
sun exposure and lower incidences of breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancers.
This is an emerging topic and the NCCC study has added credibility to the
relationship. The media and the sun care industry can no longer ignore that
there may be very significant positive effects of regular sun exposure.
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