Did you happen to read that story about the epidemic of Chimpanzee's getting skin Cancer in the wild? Perhaps you may have caught the story about the Giraffe's getting Cancer in the wild? Don't worry if you missed the story, we all did, because Animals living in their natural uncontaminated habitat don't get Cancer of any kind let alone skin Cancer. Everything on planet Earth lives and dies by the sun, including humans. For thousands of years before the Industrial age humans lived and thrived outside in the sun and without the sun we all die, literally.
Since the world seems to be confused about the sun, which has been done very deliberately to perpetuate some agendas, below is more then enough evidence to convince anyone being unemotional, objective and logically consistent (a rare combo these days).
What if the Opposite is True?
As written in The Lancet:
"Paradoxically, outdoor workers have a decreased risk of melanoma compared with indoor workers, suggesting that chronic sunlight exposure can have a protective effect."
Another study reviewing all other published data on the subject was published in the International Journal of Cancer. They showed that people with “heavy occupational exposure” have significantly lower risk. Which can be seen here.
This is because of their high Vitamin D levels which will be shown in detail later.
Are Sunscreens Good For you?
For starters, the EWG research shows that 84 percent of 910 name-brand sunscreen products offer inadequate protection from the sun, or contain ingredients, like oxybenzone, with significant safety concerns.
Clearly the majority of people 100% wasted their money when it comes to Sunscreen but as you will see with this example they contain far more than just 1 questionable ingredient! See how EWG rates the Ingredients in one of the best selling Sunscreens Coppertone here (many of these ingredients are linked to Cancer).
Yes they CAUSE Cancer
One study that proved this was published in Mutation Research. It showed that when sunscreen containing padimate-O was used, it increased DNA damage 75-fold compared to the absence of sunscreen found here.
Another study in Great Britain said the following:
“Chemically speaking, it is identical to an industrial chemical that generates free radicals when illuminated… Our results suggest that some sunscreens could, while preventing sunburn, contribute to sunlight-related cancers.”. Found here
Furthermore regardless of the formulation and absence of chemicals in the Sunscreen it can also increase your risk of Cancer in several other ways.
- Sunscreen blocks your skin from producing Melanin which is a protective substance, your body's natural protection system from excessive sun and this is also what outwardly appears as a tan. It is also inversely correlated with the amount of DNA damage that occurs due to excessive UV radiation. Found here
- Sunscreen blocks your production of Vitamin D which is strongly inversely correlated with Cancer. In fact Vitamin D can cause Cancer cells to self destruct and even increase their susceptibility to your NK Killer cells. Found here. And in the case of another "Skin Cancer", Squamous Cell Carcinoma Vitamin D can suppress cell motility, invasion and metastasis, in other words have a dramatic impact on the spreading of Cancer which is when Cancer tends to become fatal. Found here.
- Consistent sun exposure not only results in Melanin that can protect you from the sun during the season, Vitamin D is also a fat soluble antioxidant which will also protect you from burning. The burning of the skin from the sun is an oxidation process. Vitamin D enhances cellular defenses against UV-induced oxidative and other forms of DNA damage in skin in at least 3 different ways. Found here. Personally, I have glow in the dark skin, however, due to being outdoors frequently in the sun I have not burned or peeled the entire year even when in strong sun for prolonged periods of time.
What If I used an Effective Sunscreen?
In came sunscreen lotions, up went Cancer. The first tanning lotions were introduced around 1930. The goal was to allow you to stay in the sun longer without burning. A few years later, the melanoma rate began to rise.
Australia home of the highest skin Cancer rates have a message that began in 1981: Slip-Slop-Slap. This campaign, which counsels people to “slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat”. Let's see how well that worked out for them.
These data slides are taken from a presentation done by Ed Gorham and colleague from the Faculty of Family and Preventative Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. The following data slides come from their presentation on vitamin D, skin cancer and sunscreen (accessible at: Skin Cancer Sunscreen dilemma).
Below is a chart from the Connecticut Tumor Registry
LOGIC WARNING!
If sunscreen was so effective shouldn't the Cancer rates be going down???
On the subject of Melanomas there is also the pesky inconvenient fact that melanoma lesions frequently occur on parts of the body least exposed to sunlight. This includes the soles of the feet, under the nails, on the genitals and inside the nose and mouth. Hmmmm....
Dr. Marianne Berwick of the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center also reviewed 10 of the best studies on sunscreens and the incidence of cancer. Her results were reported at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. According to Dr. Berwick, “There is no evidence that use of sunscreen at any age offers any real protection against malignant melanoma.”
Studies have shown that while there is generally an increase in the incidence of melanoma as latitude decreases (closer to the equator).......wait a second did I read that right? There is less Cancer the closer you move to the Equator and if we listened to the mainstream news we should see the exact opposite! However, mortality from melanoma is four to six times higher in Nordic countries than in Mediterranean countries, according to the WHO. The issue of mortality as you will see is closely correlated to Vitamin D levels.
It's also interesting how when traveling from either pole to the equator, UV exposure increases up to 5000% whereas ozone depletion only increases UV exposure by 20%. If the sun's UV exposure were really a major causative factor in Cancer people should be dropping like flies in all countries near the equator which is not the case as Illustrated below.
Cancer Vs Latitude
The accompanying graph comes from a 2005 paper by Mohr et al.that correlates cloud cover and distance from the equator with Colorectal Cancer incidence in 175 countries.
For a larger view of the map above click here.
If you are struggling to see a pattern at this point you are seriously lacking in pattern recognition ability or objectivity. In case you are still not clear there's more.
As reported in 2015, Cedric F. Garland, DrPH, adjunct professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health and member of UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center stated the following:
"People who live in sunny countries near the equator have only one-sixth of the age-adjusted incidence rate of pancreatic cancer as those who live far from it. The importance of sunlight deficiency strongly suggests - but does not prove - that vitamin D deficiency may contribute to risk of pancreatic cancer. studied data from 107 countries, taking into account international differences and possible cofounders, such as alcohol consumption, obesity and smoking. "While these other factors also contribute to risk, the strong inverse association with cloud-cover adjusted sunlight persisted even after they were accounted for"
A placebo controlled study has confirmed these findings. In the study, vitamin D supplements reduced the incidence of cancer by as much as 77% compared to patients who were given placebo (sugar pill). Found here
The incidence of cancer is reduced by 17% and the death rate from cancer by 29% for every 10ng/ml increase in the blood level of vitamin D. The effect is particularly strong for cancers of the gastrointestinal tract where the reduction in death rate was 45% for the same increase in plasma levels of vitamin D. Found here
A study conducted at Harvard School of Public Health, 179 colorectal cancer patients were matched with control subjects and their vitamin D levels compared. Again those with the highest versus the lowest levels of vitamin D demonstrated a 50% reduction in the risk of colorectal cancer. Found here
Scientists from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported UVA exposure is unlikely to have contributed to the rise in the incidence of melanoma over the past 30 years.
"Almost every disease decreases in frequency and duration as we move towards equatorial populations, and the data shows that there is a minimum of a 1000 percent increase for many diseases in countries furthest from the equator..." Dr. Anthony Petaku
"Evidence from observational studies indicates inverse associations of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D with risks of death due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other causes. Supplementation with vitamin D3 significantly reduces overall mortality among older adults;" Found here
"Increasing serum 25(OH)D levels is the most cost-effective way to reduce global mortality rates, as the cost of vitamin D is very low and there are few adverse effects from oral intake and/or frequent moderate UVB irradiance with sufficient body surface area exposed." Here
A study in 2012 in AntiCancer Research stated, "This review consistently found strong inverse correlations with solar UVB for 15 types of cancer: bladder, breast, cervical, colon, endometrial, esophageal, gastric, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, rectal, renal, and vulvar cancer; and Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma." Found here
According to history, the first recorded instances of sunbathing were found in ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia. The physicians of this time considered the sun to be “the best food and medicine in the world”.
The above of course is not conclusive and doesn't take all lifestyle factors into account but it does reveal a pattern, one that has been seen in many other studies also. Oddly, many who are paid to discredit the sun or have some other vested interest in not seeing the truth will invent all kinds of stories about some studies being imperfect, including those who merely feel guilty about their choices of the past as well as those holding onto programmed fears about the sun going forward. Parental justifications out of guilt and fear can be extremely blinding, so much so that despite mountains of evidence they play a game where standards of quality in scientific evidence are never "good enough" in anything that is contrary to programmed mainstream beliefs but the standards held towards mainstream beliefs like Vaccines and the Food Pyramid and any other myth they want to be true is held to a wildly different standard IF they are even willing to examine the facts at all. If you are one of these programmed robots I have no interest in hearing any of the channel 6 repeated comments you have because without any science at all, the sun bad for humans hypothesis flies in the face of common sense so please spare us all the wasted time and skip the comments because I'm not remotely interested.
This post is already going to be very lengthy so there is no way I am even going to attempt to post all that could be posted on this subject in this one post.
Suffice to say, more than 2,500 research studies have been published in biomedical journals investigating the inverse association between vitamin D (and its metabolites) and cancer, including almost 300 epidemiological studies. There is a clear pattern that has emerged and no doubts future studies that are not sponsored to provide the opposite conclusion and create more confusion will show more of the same.
In conclusion, the sun is as much your friend as it is to every other living thing on the planet and you need to make efforts to get some daily regardless of your other commitments in life. I can guarantee many of you reading this are seeking recommendations for "sun protection" all the same despite all the evidence above and for the sake of this article I will end here but stay tuned and I will do another blog detailing practical "sun protection" strategies that can be used during extreme exposures. In the meantime, any and all UV blocking type strategies need to be used very sparingly so stop worrying and get you and your family out in the sun.
Your Friend in Health,
Terry Tillaart
