Sunlight reduces the risk of 16 types of cancer

Tuesday, August 1, 2006: "A study published this week in Anticancer Research confirms that solar UVB irradiance is associated with reduced risk of 16 sites of cancer, apparently through production of vitamin D. These cancers include 6 sites of gastrointestinal cancers, 3 cancers of female sites, 3 urogenital cancers, 2 types of lymphomas, and 2 upper aerodigestive tract cancers.

....According to co-author Cedric Garland, Dr.P.H., “Enhancing vitamin D status appears to be the single most important single simple thing that people can do to reduce their risk of cancer, apart from avoiding tobacco and moderation in intake of alcohol.

According to William Grant, Ph.D. “Other recent studies recently found that it takes 1000 to 1500 International Units (I.U.) of vitamin D per day to reduce the risk of cancer incidence and death by 30-50%. In the U.S., dietary sources provide only 250 to 300 I.U. per day. People with fair skin living in the sunnier regions of the country can make 1500 I.U. of vitamin D in about 20 minutes near solar noon with 10-20% of their body exposed, i.e., arms and back in women and back or chest in men. Those with darker skin require 2-4 times as much time or body exposed for the same vitamin D production. This may help explain why black Americans have higher cancer incidence and mortality rates than white Americans, which was described recently in the Journal of the National Medical Association.”

Cedric Garland added, “Briefly exposing a large enough area of skin for adequate vitamin D synthesis is more effective than increasing the amount of time spent in the sun. Protracted exposures to the sun are counterproductive after the 20-30 minutes at most when vitamin D synthesis for the day is complete. People of all ages should wear a hat whenever spending more than a few minutes in the sun, and should spend the time walking or otherwise in motion.”
William Grant added “The public receives a steady barrage of public service messages to avoid the sun and wear sunscreens in order to reduce the risk of skin cancer and melanoma.

Unfortunately, such messages do not mention that these risks are counterbalanced to a substantial degree by the advantages of producing vitamin D from solar UVB irradiance. Insufficient UVB irradiance and vitamin D costs society about 10 times what excess solar UVB does, and excess UVB irradiance is not required for optimal vitamin D production.” Cedric Garland said “vitamin D in the appropriate dose is giving society new hope in the fight to prevent cancer.”
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Gary Moller Comments:
This article is a wonderful summary of the situation, as I see it, and shows how far out of step public health messages are getting with where research is heading. It is time for change.

30-50% reduction in cancer incidence just by getting a little sunshine!!!

If a large pharmaceutical company were to develop a drug with the power of Vitamin D (at the cost a billion $$$), the news would surely be sensational. Is there hardly any publicity and reluctance to change because there is no money to be made? If the news got out might it hurt some pockets by undermining the sales of outrageously expensive drugs like Herceptin - a drug that only improves survival rates by 2-4% while causing heart damage in 28% of users?

Something is very wrong and needs to be put right urgently.