Too little sun causes harm

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Too little sun causes harm, cancer specialists say

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor

22 March 2005

 

 

Cancer specialists around the world are rethinking their advice to

cover up in the sun amid growing concern that staying in the shade

may be causing harm.

 

Australia is revising its warnings about the risks of sun exposure

because of fears about vitamin D deficiency, which increases the risk

of a range of diseases from cancer to osteoporosis, in what doctors

have described as a "revolution".

 

The British charity Cancer Research UK launches its annual SunSmart

campaign today highlighting the dangers of too much sun. But in

Australia, health experts warn that some people are getting too

little. In a statement, the Cancer Council of Australia said: "A

balance is required between avoiding an increase in the risk of skin

cancer and achieving enough ultraviolet radiation exposure to achieve

adequate vitamin D levels."

 

Australia is one of the sunniest countries in the world, and vitamin

D deficiency is likely to be significantly worse in Britain. A survey

in Geelong in Victoria, southern Australia, cited in the cancer

council's statement, found that 43 per cent of women suffered a mild

vitamin D deficiency and 11 per cent had moderately severe deficiency

during winter. Geelong gets an average of 2,007 hours of sunshine a

year, 60 per cent more than Glasgow which has 1,250 hours, according

to the UK Meteorological Office.

 

Bruce Armstrong, professor of public health at Sydney University,

said: "It is a revolution. I have worked in public health and been

preaching sun avoidance for 25 years. But this statement says that

there are two sides to the story."

 

Vitamin D is made by the action of the sun on the skin and can be

stored by the body for up to 60 days. Between October and March the

sun in Britain is too weak to generate vitamin D so by the end of

winter most people are deficient.

 

A lack of vitamin D can cause rickets in children, leaving their legs

deformed. Research shows it is also linked to multiple sclerosis,

diabetes and cancers including those of the colon, breast, ovary and

prostate. Some dermatologists are challenging the orthodox view that

there is "no such thing as a safe tan" saying instead that the real

risk is from sunburn, especially before the age of 20.

 

Neil Walker, chairman of the UK Skin Cancer Prevention Working Party,

says that warnings to avoid the sun entirely are "draconian and

unnecessary".

 

His view was supported by Professor Brian Wharton, chairman of the

British Nutrition Foundation, who said: "We do need some sensible use

of the sun and we have been swinging too strongly against it." Sara

Hiom, head of health information at Cancer Research UK, said that

concern about vitamin D deficiency was growing, and an international

conference hosted by the World Health Organisation was planned.

 

"We do take on board the new evidence coming through. We are

seriously looking at this. We need more research on who is at risk.

We are not going to tell people to go out and sunbathe, but we do

need to focus on those most at risk ­ with fair skin or lots of moles ­

and tell people some sunlight is good for them."

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/story.jsp?story=622467