Dry skin is usually a benign skin condition. Unfortunately, it can also be very uncomfortable. Our skin is our largest organ and acts as a waterproof, insulating shield guarding the body against extremes of temperature, damaging sunlight, and harmful chemicals. It also exudes antibacterial substances that prevent infection, manufactures vitamin D and helps detoxify our bodies of harmful toxins.
Sunlight and Cancer
The connection between Vitamin D deficiency and cancer was first made by Drs. Frank and Cedric Garland from the University of California, San Diego. After finding that the incidence of colon cancer was nearly three times higher in New York than in New Mexico, the Garland brothers hypothesized that lack of sun exposure, resulting in a vitamin D deficiency, played a role. Research now indicates that being deficient in vitamin D increases the risk of many cancers, especially breast and colon. For example, a four-year, placebo-controlled study involving 1,179 postmenopausal women concluded that vitamin D supplementation produced a dramatic 60% drop in the risk
Public health authorities warn of the hazards of too much sun exposure. However, excessive UVR exposure accounts for only 0.1% of the total global burden of disease in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), according to the 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) report The Global Burden of Disease Due to Ultraviolet Radiation. In contrast, the same WHO report noted that a markedly larger annual disease burden of 3.3 billion DALYs worldwide might result from very low levels of UVR exposure. This burden subsumes major disorders of the musculoskeletal system and possibly an increased risk of various autoimmune diseases and life-threatening cancers.
What are the benefits that exposure to natural sunlight provide?
Sunlight and Cancer
The connection between vitamin D deficiency
There has been a lot of confusion about how much sun is enough and what – if anything should be put on our skin to protect ourselves. What does remain true is that we have been smearing ourselves in many chemicals in order to protect ourselves from exposure to the sun’s rays. The long term effects of this have not yet been tested.
What we do know is that Vitamin D is very important to our health. Did you know that our bodies convert the sun’s rays into 10,000 international units of Vitamin D in just 20 minutes? Vitamin D is essential for good health because it protects us from cardiovascular disease and cancers. Keep in mind, overexposure to the sun’s ultraviolet radiation can have negative results of premature agi
