Several studies are showing that the fear campaign over skin cancer has worked to prevent Americans from getting sufficient sunlight for adequate health. Smothered in toxic sunscreens, approximately 22% of Americans are moderately deficient in vitamin D, an essential nutrient for human beings.

“Many Americans are deficient in vitamin D due to limited sun exposure from indoor lifestyles, sunscreen use, and our northern latitude,” Washington, D.C.-based dietitian Caroline Thomason, R.D., said. “Plus in Northern America, our typical diet is low in vitamin D-rich foods like fatty fish and fortified products.”

Vitamin D is essential for “bone health, immune function, muscle strength, mental health and potentially cardiovascular health,” Thomason previously told USA TODAY.

The fear campaign has been solely focused on the sun’s role in skin cancer, with little mention of it providing anything else. But studies are now surfacing showing that increased sun exposure increases overall longevity.

Accoridng to a study published in PubMed, and funded by the National Institutes of Health, nonsmokers who avoided sun exposure had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group, indicating that avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking.

While there are always obvious flaws in studies such as these (polling, asking people to remember how much sun exposure they got over the course of 20 years, etc.), it does indicate that the sun is vital to humans.

Another study publihsed in PMC PubMed Central stated that: studies in the past decade indicate that insufficient sun exposure may be responsible for 340,000 deaths in the United States and 480,000 deaths in Europe per year, and an increased incidence of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, asthma, type 1 diabetes and myopia. Vitamin D has long been considered the principal mediator of the beneficial effects of sun exposure.

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While some foods offer vitamin D, the most effective and efficient way to get it is to be in the sun and let nature do the heavy lifting.

The vitamin D molecule produced in the skin by sunlight exposure is chemically identical to vitamin D3 found in food and supplements. However, there are differences in how the body processes and utilizes vitamin D depending on its source. When vitamin D is made in the skin through UVB exposure, it is released slowly into the bloodstream over several hours, making it available for 2-3 times longer than vitamin D taken orally. This slow release may contribute to more stable levels compared to the rapid spike seen with oral supplements. –Grassroots Health

It is also possible to “overdose” on vitamin D3 when supplementation is used.  However, vitamin D toxicity is not possible when generating vitamin D from sun exposure. Vitamin D3 generated by sunshine exposure is also available to the body for much longer than that taken orally (food or supplements).

Vitamin D from sunlight also improves one’s mood and can help beat “cabin fever” during the winter months.

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Do you buy into the skin cancer hype? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments!