Loading...
 

Dermatology's Disastrous War Against The Sun - April 2024


Article by A MidWesternDoctor.com

APR 21, 2024

Story at a Glance:
Skin cancers are by far the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, so to prevent them, the public is constantly told to avoid the sun. However, while the relatively benign skin cancers are caused by sun exposure, the ones responsible for most skin cancer deaths are due to a lack of sunlight.

This is unfortunate because sunlight is arguably the most important nutrient for the human body, as avoiding it doubles one’s rate of dying and significantly increases their risk of cancer.

A strong case can be made that this dynamic was a result of the dermatology profession (with the help of a top PR firm) rebranding themselves to skin cancer fighters, something which allowed them to become one of the highest paying medical specialities in existence. Unfortunately, despite the billions that is put into fighting it each year, there has been no substantial change in the number of skin cancer deaths.


In this article, we will also discuss the dangers of the conventional skin cancer treatments, the most effective ways for treating and preventing skin cancer, and some of the best strategies for having a healthy and nourishing relationship with the sun.

Note: in February’s open thread, I presented some potential articles, and since this topic was one of the most requested, I have spent the last month working on it.

Ever since I was a little child something seemed off about the fact everyone would get hysterical about how I needed to avoid sunlight and always wear sunscreen whenever we had an outdoor activity—so to the best of my ability I just didn’t comply. As I got older, I started to notice that beyond the sun feeling really good, anytime I was in the sun, the veins under my skin that were exposed to the sun would dilate, which I took as a sign the body craved sunlight and wanted it to draw into the circulation. Later still, I learned a pioneering researcher found significant alternations would occur in the health of people who wore glasses that blocked specific light spectrums (e.g., most glass blocks UV light) from entering the most transparent part of the body that could be treated by giving them specialized glasses which did not block that spectrum from entering.
Note: all the above touches upon one of my favorite therapeutic modalities—ultraviolet blood irradiation, which will be the focus of an upcoming article.

Later, when I became a medical student (at which point I was familiar with the myriad of benefits of sunlight), I was struck by how neurotic dermatologists were about avoiding sunlight—for instance, in addition to hearing every patient I saw there be lectured about the importance of avoiding sunlight, through my classmates, I learned of dermatologists in the northern latitudes (which had low enough sunlight people suffered from seasonal affective disorder) effectively require their students to wear sunscreen and clothing which covered most of their body while indoors. At this point my perspective on the issue changed to “this crusade against the sun is definitely coming from the dermatologists” and “what on earth is wrong with these people?” A few years ago I learned the final piece of the puzzle through Robert Yoho MD and his book Butchered by Healthcare.


VitaminDWiki – Noontime sun and D category contains

Noontime sun and D has 334 items

see also
No – 10 minutes per day of sun-UVB is NOT enough
Vitamin D Myths - SUN
Optimize vitamin D from the sun
Overview Suntan, melanoma and vitamin D
Overview UV and vitamin D
50 ng of Vitamin D - 100 hours of noon sunbathing OR 3 dollars of Vit D
3.3 X more likely to be Vitamin D deficient if wear long-sleeves – Oct 2022
Sun and UV
Avoiding the sun may be as bad as smoking - many studies
Vitamin D from the sun without the heat (silver-coated plexiglass)
Opinion: sun better than UV better than vitamin D
Fewer cognitive problems if more sun or Vitamin D
Which Is Worse - Avoiding Sunlight or Vitamin D Deficiency – April 2019
Have We Gotten Sunscreen Totally Wrong - Jan 2019
People who get little noon-day sun must supplement with Vitamin D – systematic review June 2017
The Greatest Public Health Mistake of the 20th Century (sunscreen block Vitamin D) - 2017
Does Less Sun mean More Disease 5 minute video
340,000 US deaths annually due to insufficient sun (some due to low vitamin D) – July 2020
Health benefit of Sunlight is more than Vitamin D in the blood - many studies
5 Amazing Properties of Sunlight You've Never Heard About
Vitamin D and Sun conference – Germany June 2017


VitaminDWiki – Cancer - Skin category contains:

121 items in Cancer-Skin

see also Overview Suntan, melanoma and vitamin D
Overview Skin and vitamin D
Cancer and Vitamin D - many studies
Melanoma might be suppressed by Vitamin D - many studies
Vitamin D from the sun reduces the risk of internal cancers, but increases some skin cancers – Nov 2021
The Greatest Public Health Mistake of the 20th Century (sunscreen block Vitamin D) - 2017
Cancers reduced by Vitamin D (Skin cancer in this review) – Dec 2022
Melanoma associated with vitamin D less than 30 ng (9X) – March 2021


18+ VitaminDWiki Noontime Sun pages have CANCER in the title

This list is automatically updated

Items found: 18
Title Modified
Less UV means 2X more Breast Cancer – June 2011 07 Jan, 2025
23 Cancers if little sun, 12 of which have been associated with low vitamin D – March 2022 02 Jul, 2023
Vitamin D from the sun reduces the risk of internal cancers, but increases some skin cancers – Nov 2021 05 Feb, 2023
Less Solar Radiation was associated with more Cancer - 1941 01 Aug, 2022
Most sunscreens actually increase the growth of skin cancer - May 2010 26 Apr, 2021
Book: Sunlight, UV, Vitamin D and Receptor, Skin and other Cancers - Dec 2020 09 Dec, 2020
High levels of Vitamin D and low rates of skin cancer among commercial fishermen – July 2019 01 Aug, 2019
Sunscreen use is no longer associated with reduced skin cancer – meta-analysis April 2018 10 Jul, 2018
Sunscreen used daily vs discretionary: no difference in skin cancer rate – RCT 2016 06 Aug, 2016
Cancer - far less for outdoor workers 11 Jun, 2015
Vitamin D from the sun while minimizing skin cancer - Interview by Dr. Mercolla of Dr. Cannell - Nov 2014 17 Nov, 2014
Fewer heart attacks, hip fractures and deaths if more skin cancer – Sept 2013 09 Nov, 2014
Elite NZ Outdoor athletes fear skin cancer 10X more than fear low vitamin D – Sept 2014 18 Sep, 2014
Cancer Council of Australia recommends 30 minutes of daily sunshine – June 2014 04 Jun, 2014
Walking an hour a day (more vitamin D) decreased chance of breast cancer by 14 percent – Oct 2013 20 Mar, 2014
Excessive sun increases cancer all around the body – July 2011 16 Mar, 2014
Decreased risk of non-melanoma skin cancer by working outdoors in Europe – April 2013 22 Dec, 2013
China has documented that less UV results in more cancer – June 2010 07 Jan, 2013