Sundicator.net

Check out the site EWG have created called Skin Deep which is a cosmetics safety database. It rates sunscreens and other cosmetics on the safety of their ingredients and the effectiveness of the products themselves. … Sunscreen does what it’s name suggests – it blocks the sun from reaching your skin. This is for the purpose of preventing skin damage in the form of sunburn or, more severely, skin cancer. But one of the problems with blocking the sun is that sun exposure is necessary in order to produce vitamin D.

Vitamin D is made by the body when ultraviolet radiation from sunlight reacts with the cholesterol in your skin (that’s right – you need cholesterol to make vitamin D). Sunblock stops, or at the very least decreases this reaction from occurring, possibly resulting in Vitamin D deficiency. (It should be pointed out, however, that this is a controversial statement. It is currently hotly debated as to whether sunscreen has a significant effect on vitamin D production – some doctors claim it does while the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) maintains it’s stance that sunscreen does not significantly reduce vitamin D production. Of course the majority of AAD officers have financial ties to sunscreen manufacturers. I’ll let you be the judge on that one).

Ironically, research is now linking low levels of vitamin D to cancer… New research out of Germany published in the Carcinogenesis medical journal found that women with low levels of vitamin D in their blood had a significantly greater risk of contracting breast cancer. Other studies have found vitamin D supplementation to significantly cut risk of colon cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer. Dr. Edward Giovannucci, MD told National Public Radio’s Patricia Neighmond that an estimated 30 people may die of cancers related to vitamin D deficiency for every one who dies from skin cancers caused by excessive sun exposure…

See the rest here:
Don’t Screen Out All the Sun – Love and Blueberries – Food …