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  • Why avoiding sunshine could kill you

    Why avoiding sunshine could kill you

    By Sarah Knapton, Science Correspondent6:30AM BST 07 May 2014 Comments203 Comments

    Women who never sunbathe during the summer are twice as likely to die than those who sunbathe everyday, a major study has shown.

    Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden claim guidelines which advise people to stay out of the sun unless wearing sunscreen may be harming the population, particularly in countries like Britain.

    Exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight is often cited as a cause of skin melanoma. The NHS currently recommends avoiding overexposure to the sun to prevent all types of skin cancer.

    But the new research, which followed nearly 30,000 women over 20 years, suggests that women who stay out of the sun are at increased risk of skin melanomas and are twice as likely to die from any cause, including cancer.

    "The results of this study clearly showed that mortality was about double in women who avoided sun exposure compared to the highest exposure group,” said lead author Dr Pelle Lindqvist.

    “Sun exposure advice which is very restrictive in countries with low solar intensity might in fact be harmful for women’s health.

    “The mortality rate was increased two-fold among avoiders of sun exposure as compared to those with the highest sun exposure habits.”

    It is thought that a lack of vitamin D may to be blame. Vitamin D is created in the body through exposure to sunshine and a deficiency is known to increase the risk of diabetes, tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis and rickets.

    Cases of rickets have risen fourfold in the last 15 years as sunscreen has increased in popularity.

    Previous studies have shown that vitamin D can increase survival rates for women with breast cancer while deficiencies can signal prostate cancer in men. Low levels of vitamin D have also been linked to more aggressive forms of skin cancer.
    Telegraph
    "Alexa, slaughter the fatted calf."

  • #2
    Heard about this on the radio on the way home. Pretty interesting.
    It's been ten years since that lonely day I left you
    In the morning rain, smoking gun in hand
    Ten lonely years but how my heart, it still remembers
    Pray for me, momma, I'm a gypsy now

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    • #3
      I think it's pretty obvious that people need sunlight. One of the health problem among women in Muslim countries that require full wrapping is that the women have a number of problems related to a lack of sun exposure. British women who follow government guidelines about sun block are also turning up with problems.

      Even those of us with very fair skin need some unimpeded sunshine in the summer. I aim for about a half an hour a day. I may be freckled and blotchy but my vitamin D status is good and my risk of skin cancer is actually lower.
      "Alexa, slaughter the fatted calf."

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      • #4
        I've known about this for quite some time. Vitamin D is far more important than people think.
        Not where I breathe, but where I love, I live...
        Robert Southwell, S.J.

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        • #5
          Well, I'm fucked. [insert vampire smiley here]

          Er, maybe not. People make such a big deal out of vitamin D but the truth is, if you're fair skinned, it's the summer and you're in shorts and t-shirt you will get your daily dose in as little as 5 minutes of sunlight exposure. 30 minutes of sunlight exposure twice a week will get you something like 10,000 IU (the US recommends 600 IU a day) well beyond the requirements.

          Now, if you're particularly dark skinned or elderly, you'll need more sunlight. Up to two hours' worth a day, to synthesize enough D3. But for us crackity-ass-crackers it isn't nearly as much as people think. I'm confident I get enough sunlight each midday just walking to my car from the house, and then walking FROM my car to the Mexican restaurant I am inevitably gonna eat at.

          What I don't understand is, if D is such a valuable vitamin, and most of the US is too far north to get proper sunlight in the winter (as one article I read put it, anyone north of Atlanta gets zero UVB in the winter months) then how come these people in New York and Toronto and Edmonton aren't just dying from D3 deficiency? Not everyone takes supplements and it's impossible to get your dose via food.
          “Any sufficiently advanced capitalism is indistinguishable from rent seeking.” ~ =j

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Tom Servo View Post
            Well, I'm fucked. [insert vampire smiley here]

            Er, maybe not. People make such a big deal out of vitamin D but the truth is, if you're fair skinned, it's the summer and you're in shorts and t-shirt you will get your daily dose in as little as 5 minutes of sunlight exposure. 30 minutes of sunlight exposure twice a week will get you something like 10,000 IU (the US recommends 600 IU a day) well beyond the requirements.

            Now, if you're particularly dark skinned or elderly, you'll need more sunlight. Up to two hours' worth a day, to synthesize enough D3. But for us crackity-ass-crackers it isn't nearly as much as people think. I'm confident I get enough sunlight each midday just walking to my car from the house, and then walking FROM my car to the Mexican restaurant I am inevitably gonna eat at.

            What I don't understand is, if D is such a valuable vitamin, and most of the US is too far north to get proper sunlight in the winter (as one article I read put it, anyone north of Atlanta gets zero UVB in the winter months) then how come these people in New York and Toronto and Edmonton aren't just dying from D3 deficiency? Not everyone takes supplements and it's impossible to get your dose via food.
            Same, same. I really limit my time outside in the summer to early am sun before it gets hot and after the sun goes over our yard.

            I thought I had remember a study a few years back where they said just the opposite. After reading it again, it was more to the point that having either too little vitamin d or too little are not good for you.

            http://sciencenordic.com/too-much-vi...d-can-kill-you
            May we raise children who love the unloved things - the dandelion, the worm, the spiderlings.
            Children who sense the rose needs the thorn and run into rainswept days the same way they turn towards the sun...
            And when they're grown and someone has to speak for those who have no voice,
            may they draw upon that wilder bond, those days of tending tender things and be the one.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Tom Servo View Post
              Well, I'm fucked. [insert vampire smiley here]

              Er, maybe not. People make such a big deal out of vitamin D but the truth is, if you're fair skinned, it's the summer and you're in shorts and t-shirt you will get your daily dose in as little as 5 minutes of sunlight exposure. 30 minutes of sunlight exposure twice a week will get you something like 10,000 IU (the US recommends 600 IU a day) well beyond the requirements.

              Now, if you're particularly dark skinned or elderly, you'll need more sunlight. Up to two hours' worth a day, to synthesize enough D3. But for us crackity-ass-crackers it isn't nearly as much as people think. I'm confident I get enough sunlight each midday just walking to my car from the house, and then walking FROM my car to the Mexican restaurant I am inevitably gonna eat at.

              What I don't understand is, if D is such a valuable vitamin, and most of the US is too far north to get proper sunlight in the winter (as one article I read put it, anyone north of Atlanta gets zero UVB in the winter months) then how come these people in New York and Toronto and Edmonton aren't just dying from D3 deficiency? Not everyone takes supplements and it's impossible to get your dose via food.
              Vitamin D is now often checked during annual lab work ordered by physicians. In areas with very long winters or very long summers there often is a high population, largely elderly, that have a Vit D deficiency. This is simply caused due to the fact they are not leaving the house as often due to the weather or spending time outdoors.

              There are Rx doses of Vitamin D that can help with the deficiency. The normal dose is one 50000 IU capsule once weekly.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by RobJohnson View Post
                Vitamin D is now often checked during annual lab work ordered by physicians. In areas with very long winters or very long summers there often is a high population, largely elderly, that have a Vit D deficiency. This is simply caused due to the fact they are not leaving the house as often due to the weather or spending time outdoors.

                There are Rx doses of Vitamin D that can help with the deficiency. The normal dose is one 50000 IU capsule once weekly.
                I'm firing Frosty as our med expert.

                'n I can do it.

                First mod decision I have made since I got here.

                Make it law.
                Robert Francis O'Rourke, Democrat, White guy, spent ~78 million to defeat, Ted Cruz, Republican immigrant Dark guy …
                and lost …
                But the Republicans are racist.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Gramps View Post
                  I'm firing Frosty as our med expert.

                  'n I can do it.

                  First mod decision I have made since I got here.

                  Make it law.
                  Frosty is pretty bright. Really bright.

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