By Robert Bazell

Chief science and health correspondent

NBC News

updated 5:54 p.m. MT, Mon., Jan. 19, 2004

Tamara Smith visits a tanning parlor when she can’t be outside in the sun. “I’m always indoors. I don’t go outside,” says Smith.

Many doctors say ultraviolet light from the sun or a tanning machine is dangerous because of the risks associated with skin cancer. But some health experts, such as Dr. Michael Holick of Boston University, disagree.

“I believe that Americans have gone overboard with their fear of the sun. I think that sensible exposure to sunlight is really important for your overall health and well-being,” says Holick.

The reason for the concern is vitamin D, essential for bone strength and other health needs, which our skin makes through exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

We need 1,000 units of vitamin D a day, but a glass of milk supplies only 100 units and a multivitamin only 400. So most people need the sun in order to avoid deficiency.

Sunscreens can reduce vitamin D production
Now, new research has found that wearing sunscreen continuously can reduce the amount of vitamin D a person is able to make.

“We looked at individuals that always wore a sunscreen before they went outside. … And we found that, indeed at the end of the summer, they were deficient in vitamin D,” says Holick. “And so we have shown over and over again that adults, even if they’re on a multivitamin, and drinking milk, if they always wear sun protection, or avoid any direct sun exposure, they’re at high risk of developing vitamin D deficiency.”

Rooftop measurements of sunlight show that, for most people, getting enough sunlight exposure at this time of year is not easy, even for people who don’t regularly wear sunscreen. In the middle of the winter on a very sunny day in a city as far north as Boston, there’s not enough sunlight for people to get sufficient quantities of vitamin D.

The good news is that if you get enough sun during the rest of the year, it carries you through the winter, says Holick.

Or there are machines. In Holick’s lab he put young people in tanning machines and measured their bone density.

“Tanners had higher bone density on average than non-tanners,” says Holick.

Still, he cautions against the dangers of skin cancer and warns people not to go overboard. However, it is critical, he says, to realize the sun’s rays are not always our enemy.

© 2007 MSNBC Interactive

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Twenty minutes’ lying in the sun could provide your best chance of avoiding colds and flu, according to new research which demonstrates that vitamin D, not vitamin C, provides the most efficient protection against cold viruses.

Read the rest of this article: The New Zealand Herald

The young woman in the American Cancer Society advertisement holds up a photograph of a smiling blonde. “My sister accidentally killed herself. She died of skin cancer,” reads the headline.

The public service announcement, financed by the sunscreen maker Neutrogena, is running in 15 women’s magazines this summer. It warns readers that “left unchecked, skin cancer can be fatal,” and urges them to “use sunscreen, cover up and watch for skin changes.”

Read the rest of this article: NY Times

84% of sunscreen products are harmful to health, says alarming EWG study

For 29 years, the FDA has refused to publish safety standards for sunscreen products. That’s nearly three decades of keeping the public in the dark about the extremely harmful, cancer-causing chemicals found in sunscreen products.

Read the rest of this article: Natural News

A legislative attempt to restrict teenagers from tanning salons burned out Monday.

The proposal started out as a strict tanning ban for minors unless they had a doctor’s prescription. Then the Senate knocked it back to requiring notarized parental consent or in-person permission for teens under 18.

But Republicans and several Democrats in the House still couldn’t stand the measure.

Read the Rest of this article: Denver Post

Sunlight may be the best thing for melanoma. That’s right, in spite of what you’ve been reading, the sun doesn’t cause melanoma, in fact, it’s actually good for you, as many studies have indicated.

Now two more studies are showing the benefits of the sun. Needless to say, this news has left scientists and dermatologists scratching their heads. After all, what else is there to do when what you’ve been preaching to the masses–that sunlight causes cancer and will kill you–ends up being flat out wrong?

Read the rest of this article: The Weston A. Price Foundation