There are a lot of tales told about skin health. One of the most
damaging is that sun exposure causes skin cancer. As you'll see in a
moment, this is simply not true.
Melanoma is the form of skin
cancer the media likes to refer to when they want to scare the dickens
out of the public about the dangers of sun exposure. There are a number
of reports of the fact that melanoma has been steadily increasing over
the last 20 years. Most dermatologists will say this increase is due to
the fact that more people are getting far too much sun exposure in their
younger years.
A closer look at the matter, however, reveals a
far different story. Skin cancer awareness programs have been effective
at increasing the number of people undergoing full-body screening exams,
and the result is a huge increase in the number of skin biopsies being
performed. It seems that even with biopsies there is still considerable
confusion and disagreement among pathologists when it comes to
identifying melanoma. It's apparently not a cut-and-dried diagnosis.
Looking
at the same tissue, one pathologist will see a benign lesion while
another will see it as melanoma. Thus, the dramatic increase in biopsies
has led to more melanoma diagnoses, many of which are false, as a new
study shows.
The study, conducted by doctors at Dartmouth Medical
School, found that there has been a 250% increase in skin biopsies since
1986-which just happens to be roughly the same percentage increase in
the number of people diagnosed with early-stage melanoma. These
researchers became skeptical about the rise in melanoma after they
noticed that over that time there hasn't been any increase in deaths
from melanoma or any increase in the number of advanced cases of the
disease.
Plain and simple, there has not been an actual increase
in the overall incidence of melanoma. The apparent increase is due
merely to improved detection because of the increased number of
screening procedures and subsequent biopsies, which by the way, hasn't
led to any increase in survival or cure rates.
Much like cancers
of the prostate, breast, and lung, the more doctors look for cancer, the
more likely they will find it and the number of false diagnoses will
also increase.
If you or someone you know is diagnosed with
melanoma, I would definitely suggest getting a second or possibly even a
third opinion.
Obviously, excessive exposure that results in
sunburn isn't a benefit at all. However, moderate amounts of sunlight,
along with a varied diet containing nature's natural protective anti-
oxidants, vitamins, and fatty acids (omega-3s) is actually beneficial
and has been shown to help prevent many forms of cancer-including skin
cancer.
Lifetime sun exposure was actually shown to result in a
lower risk of developing melanoma. (I Invest Dermatol
03;120(6):1087-1093) Past studies have shown that individuals who
utilize sun exposure reasonably have a lower incidence of colon and
breast cancer, prostate cancer, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, hip
and vertebra fractures, et cetera.
Over 20 years ago it was
discovered that vitamin D has an "anti-proliferative" effect on cells.
In other words, vitamin D can stop cells from multiplying out of control
(i.e., from developing into cancer). The body has only two sources for
vitamin D. The first is from oily foods (vitamin D is fat-soluble) such
as oily fish, organ meats, and eggs. The second is from your own skin
cells, which use the same "cancer-causing" UV rays from the sun to
convert a form of cholesterol into vitamin D.
Not surprisingly,
those who consume more fish and omega- 3 foods have a reduced incidence
of melanoma, while those consuming more of the omega-6 oils (the
vegetable oils that are now so pervasive throughout our food supply)
have increased rates of melanoma and other skin cancers.
A couple
of other chemicals that your skin makes when it has adequate exposure to
the UV rays of the sun. The function of these two vitamin D-related
compounds, lumisterol and tachysterol, isn't yet fully understood. It's
possible that they're associated with helping prevent blood sugar
problems and obesity.
Avoiding sunlight puts you at a far greater
health risk than exposing yourself moderately. Dr. William Grant, one of
the top researchers on this subject, has studied the relationship
between sunlight and health for years. He's found that every year 47,000
individuals in this country die from 16 different types of cancer due
to insufficient vitamin D, whereas 8,000 die of melanoma and another
2,000 die from other skin cancers.
Furthermore, pale skin,
numerous moles, smoking, a diet high in fat and low in fruits and veg-
etables, and frequent sunburns are all stronger predictors of later skin
cancer than UV exposure. As with most things, moderation is the
watchword. Enjoy your time in the sun every day and prepare your body
with an adequate intake of the right fatty acids.
