• 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.

Related posts:

1. How Do Indoor Tanning Facilities Teach Sunburn Prevention?
2. The Fundamental Truth About Tanning
3. Tanning Smart Means Understanding Benefits and Risks

1. How Do Indoor Tanning Facilities Teach Sunburn Prevention?
2. The Fundamental Truth About Tanning
3. Tanning Smart Means Understanding Benefits and Risks