Vitamin D and Cancer Prevention

As a mother I am very concerned about the health of my children. That concern includes their skin health. I tend toward the more natural methods of promoting health but the exception for me has always been sunscreen. I slather it on my children whenever they will be out in the sun. Recently there have been studies done in which conclusions were made that maybe sunscreen is not necessary or helpful in the prevention of cancer.

The body needs Vitamin D. Vitamin D helps the body to absorb calcium. Vitamin D is found naturally in eggs, fish oil and beef liver. Most of our vitamin D comes from foods fortified with the vitamin D as opposed to natural sources. Because nature has already thought of everything, including how to protect vegans from rickets, the best natural source vitamin D is the sun. We can get all of the vitamin D that our body needs from the sun!

We have been taught to fear the sun and its damaging ultraviolet rays. We have been conditioned to pile on the sunscreen, wear hats and cover ups and stay indoors to avoid skin cancer. New evidence tells us that vitamin D (activated by UVB rays from the sun) can actually help cancer patients to get better and prevent cancer in the rest of us. Yes, the sun that is responsible for creating melanoma is the same sun that will prevent cancer.

Does that make sunscreen unnecessary or even harmful? Maybe. These days most sunscreens offer complete ultraviolet protection. This means that the sunscreens block those important short waves, the UVB waves. Without those, our skin does not produce the vitamin D necessary for proper calcium absorption.

So what should we do? We cannot have too much exposure to the sun. The fact remains that over-exposure to the sun can cause melanoma. My answer and the answer I find repeated in studies everywhere is to use common sense.

Here in the South, in the summer months, it is unbearably hot from about 10am-4pm. We try to avoid going outside during that time. If we must go outdoors during those hours, we slather on the sunscreen as usual. When possible we only stay outside for a short time.