10 June 2015
Shunning the sun may be killing you in more ways than you think
It’s time to rethink our exposure to sunlight and ultraviolet rays. Their health benefits go way beyond vitamin D
Massimo Vitali/Gallerystock
UNLESS you’ve been living under a stone, it would be hard not to have heard that sunlight is bad for you. In fact if you are living under a stone, it is probably because of all the messages we get about sunlight and the risks of skin cancer.
This is, of course, quite correct. A vast body of evidence links sun exposure to skin cancer. What is lacking, however, is any evidence that sunlight is bad for you, if by “bad for you” we mean it shortens life. Ask a dermatologist about the evidence that sunshine raises your risk of dying and there will be an embarrassing silence. After a century of knowing the link between sunshine and skin cancer, this is not good enough. In fact, there is increasing evidence that keeping out of the sun may be killing you – and in more ways than you think.
Even the most ardent sun-phobes acknowledge that sunlight has health benefits, but these have largely been put down to Vitamin D. People with the highest vitamin D levels tend to be healthier. They are less likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, strokes or heart attacks – in fact, they are less likely to die prematurely of any cause. This raised hopes that a simple vitamin supplement could reduce lots of major causes of death.
Many studies have now tested the effects of vitamin D supplements on health, but the results have been disappointing. The incidences of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases are not reduced by these tablets, and