Sunshine Vitamin D, Sunscreen, and Cancer

You've seen or heard it... the self-serving ads of the multi-billion dollar sunscreen industry blaming exposure to sunlight as the cause of skin cancers. And the hype suggests that you should always protect yourself with sunscreens if you want to avoid contracting the disease. This is a myth created by the industry.

In a previous article, I have cited the results of several studies pointing to Vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor in developing autoimmune diseases, among them, certain types of cancers. [read Vitamin D Benefits]


One study, published in February 2005 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, confirmed that exposure to sunlight lowers the risk of skin cancer. Another study done in Australia showed that lifeguards, whose job involves long exposure to sunlight, have the lowest rates of melanoma.

Even studies funded by the sunblock industry itself failed to prove that sunlight was the leading cause of two non-lethal forms of skin cancer; the basal cell and squamous cancers. More importantly, no link to the sun was ever established for melanoma, the only lethal type of skin cancer.

But while sunscreens are good at giving sunburn protection, this benefit does not translate to skin protection. Only the burning UV-B rays of the sun are blocked, while the non-burning but highly penetrating UV-A rays get through, giving the false impression that you are getting total skin protection.

Sunscreens contain a common inert substance called PABA, which, when exposed to sunlight, produces genetic mutations, attacks and damages the DNA, and leads to cancer.

A Swiss study published in Environmental Health Perspectives in 2001 found five other common chemicals in sunscreens that mimic estrogens, just like soya products that mimic estrogens that cause breast cancer. [read One Woman's Horrifying Experience With Soya Products]

Sunscreens with SPF of 8 block the body's production of Vitamin D by 95%. An SPF 15 sunscreen blocks it by 99%. In other words, sunscreens deprive us of the health benefits of Vitamin D.

From the above, three things are clear;

• Sunscreens prevent the body from producing the very vital Vitamin D which greatly reduces our risks of developing autoimmune diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, alzheimer's, and parkinsons, among others.
• Sunscreens increase our risks of contracting skin cancer, contrary to the industry's claim that it will prevent it.
• Sunscreens are deleterious products that we are better off without. It is one of the numerous products that we use containing toxic chemicals.

Do you want to trade the benefits of sunshine Vitamin D for an injurious product? I don't think that making the right choice would be that difficult.