QUICK PROLOGUE: I began writing this story about reports of unusually high Vitamin D deficiencies in children. It ended up ...somewhere else. And it's not good. So please read this entire article. Your questions and feedback would be appreciated. --Dr Lou
A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics found that 70% of U.S. children have "alarmingly low" levels of vitamin D, raising their risk of bone weakening, heart disease, and malignant cancers.
What's weird is, for decades now, Vitamin D deficiency was relatively rare in the U.S. However, recent studies have documented a growing problem: cases of rickets --a bone disease in infants caused by low vitamin D levels-- is on the rise, so it's clear now that many children are not getting enough of this essential vitamin.
Thankfully, Vit D not that hard to find: In one of the most unique processes in the body, Vitamin D is produced in the skin when exposed to sunlight ...that stuff out your window. And, in a really nifty piece of biological engineering, that same Vitamin D produced by the sun's rays absorbs and makes harmless the ultraviolet radiation that does the most damage to our skin and our DNA. What a deal!! Our skin MAKES VIT D and PRODUCES ITS OWN CANCER BLOCK to boot!
Not being one to waste precious resources, nature also designed Vitamin D to do some other functions in the body, one of the most important being that it promotes re-absorption of calcium in the kidneys, which enables mineralization of bone. In simple terms that means it helps prevent osteoporosis, which is a growing problem in many elderly.
BUT THERE'S MORE: Vit D also plays a major role in protection against cancers, supporting the production of certain white-blood cells called phagocytes, which are blood-born critters who hunt down and dine on rouge cells including cancer cells, in the body. Just like every society has a few bad eggs, we all have cancerous cells running around inside us trying to set up shop in the burbs. After all, we are 60 trillion cells, and to assume that there aren't any rejects is to assume there are no known sexual predators living in your neighborhood. Luckily, we have Vit D to do the trick. Or did until...
...kids stopped playing in the sun! The study, conducted at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York found low vitamin D levels were especially common in children who were 1) not physically active outdoors, 2) overweight or obese, and 3) spent more than four hours a day watching TV, playing videogames, using computers, or engaged in other visual media. Big surprise, huh?
"We expected the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency would be high, but the magnitude of the problem nationwide was shocking," writes lead author Juhi Kumar. What's shocking is that these kids spend so much time INDOORS STARING AT THEIR MILLIONTH MYSPACE HOLDING-MY-CAMERAPHONE-AT-
BUT THAT'S JUST PART OF THE STORY. NOW THE WEIRD PART: More than any other, today's group of youngsters could be called Generation SPF. Since infancy, they've been coated by their Redbook-educated moms with some sort of goop before they go outdoors. They were sold advert nauseum that the best bet to ensure good skin shelf-life is to cover it with SPF concoctions designed to protect us from damaging rays. Yet several studies done over the last few years show conclusive evidence that no protective effect is seen against cancer from sunscreen use. In fact, as hard as it may be to believe, several separate studies over the years show an increase in skin cancer with such sun-protecting goop.
One of those, published in 2007 in the Annals of Epidemiology, found that people using sunscreens were one and a half times as likely to get cancer than those who did not. And a paper published in the British Journal of Dermatology looked at 17 separate studies on the relation of sunscreen use to melanoma risk. Only three studies showed a decrease in melanoma risk, but a surprising six studies showed an increased risk with use!!
"But I must protect my skin from those harmful rays, Dr Lou!" ...I hear you plead through my computer speakers. FOLLOW ME HERE, IT'S IMPORTANT: Sunscreens were developed to prevent SUNBURN by blocking Ultraviolet Radiation (UVR). Its use has been shown to prevent DIRECT DNA DAMAGE that causes sunburn and maybe the two most common forms of skin cancer, basal-cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, both rarely serious, and almost never fatal. However, studies show that when sunscreen penetrates into the skin (which it does in just a few minutes), it causes INDIRECT DNA DAMAGE by BLOCKING THE FORMATION OF VITAMIN D, which increases the risk of the most lethal form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma.
STOP! Concentrate on what you're reading for a second and follow me here: SUNSCREEN USE INCREASES MALIGNANT CANCERS. According to The Skin Cancer Foundation the incidence of many common cancers is falling, but the incidence of melanoma continues to rise significantly, at a rate faster than that of any of the seven most common cancers. That British Journal of Dermatology specifically reports that Vitamin D deficiency from sunblock usage causes 100,000 people to develop cancer each year who wouldn't have, leading to 40,000 deaths per year.
In 1980, an American's lifetime melanoma risk was 1 in 350. Today, it's 1 in 84. BIG DIFFERENCE! What's changed? A hint may be that sunscreen sales exploded from $18 million in 1972 to $500 million by 1996. Now, it's closing in on a billion.
So there's a false sense of security here that has an underlying danger. Sure, slathering SPF 50 may cut down on sunburn, but because of that, many people stay exposed to the sun's MOST LETHAL rays many hours longer than they normally would without sunscreen. One simple reason is that they're not feeling the intense BURN of the sun on their skin, which would normally force then to seek shade or cover up.
So I'm recommending NO sunscreen usage. I know this runs contrary to conventional wisdom on this, but conventional wisdom convinced us that margarine was food. (It's not. And if you still think it is, we need to talk.)
Skin color does factor in skin cancers. Blacks, with their melatonin-rich skin, have 1/6th the skin cancers of whites. That darker pigment often means that they are not diagnosed as early, resulting in a 20% higher higher mortality rate. Knowing that, sunscreen usage among blacks has increased dramatically in recent years. But check this out; melanomas in African Americans, Asians, Filipinos, Indonesians, and native Hawaiians most often occur on non-sun exposed skin with less pigment, with 75% of tumors arising on the palms, soles, mucous membranes and nail regions. These sites are clearly not sun-related, which again points to a possible Vit D deficiency.
So here's the deal: GET OUTDOORS! ...and have some sun-time without any SPF GOOP so your body can make some good old-fashioned, kick-ass Vit D! But if you're out for any length of time, make sure to cover-up ...as in wear some clothes. I'm very active outdoors, and cover up with lightweight, long-sleeve shirts when it's for prolonged periods. I like the SPF rated stuff from Columbia, Northface, and other outdoor clothiers. (see: http://www.columbia.com/mens-
Does anybody you know still think margarine is food, or have any health issues? Send them a FREE consult and exam by clicking on this link: http://4pains.com/Fabale/
...and remember: HEALTH BEGINS WITH EASE
Dr Lou
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