Vitamin D and the Prevention of Skin Cancer
One of the major reason why type II diabetes is on the rise is due to living a lifestyle that encourages the promotion of disease and illness. Highly processed and refined foods are among the major reasons for the epidemics of diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Whether you are free from diabetes for the moment, have been diagnosed as pre-diabetic or already have the disease, there’s a good chance that you lack one or more vitamins and minerals that could help you control your blood sugar and help you avoid cancer. Both vitamin C and vitamin E help to prevent kidney disease, the organ most affected by poor blood sugar control. But vitamin D studies are showing the importance of this vitamin in regulating blood sugar in diabetics.
Good sources of vitamin D are eggs, fish liver oils and oily fish like sardines, salmon, trout and tuna. But one source that is often overlooked and the best source comes from the light of the sun. Exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun helps the body to manufacture vitamin D.
Today, the media and medical profession tout the dangers of skin cancer from sun exposure. It is true that too much sun creates sunburn that can lead to skin cancer. Bot most people get far too little to worry about getting skin cancer. But the media has successfully instilled the fear of disease, so many slather on the sunscreen believing that they will stay free of skin cancer.
The facts that point to the sun as cancer causing doesn’t add up next to the facts. Skin cancer rates are highest in Northern climates and more prevalent during the winter months. Farmers, construction workers, lifeguards and others who must work outdoors have lower skin cancer rates than do office workers and shut-ins.
Unfortunately, many sunscreen products today contain various chemicals, some of which have been proven to be carcinogenic. These chemicals are easily absorbed into the skin. The excess use of sunblock leads to more absorption of the chemicals. While sunscreen does prevent the ultraviolet rays of the sun from penetrating the body, the body does not produce enough vitamin D which has been shown to have anti-cancer properties.
The sun alone cannot be blamed for the rise of skin cancer rates. If this was true then skin cancer rates would have remained high throughout man’s existence.
Vitamin D and the Prevention of Skin Cancer
Getting enough sunlight is a problem for many who live in Northern climates where sunlight is only adequate three months of the year. There’s not enough during the winter months to help the body create enough vitamin D. Many people are deficient in this vitamin and that deficiency needs to be addressed by adding supplements. Of course, if you get regular daily sun exposure during the summer, you likely don’t need to take vitamin D supplements.
Supplements can help restore your levels of vitamin D which also has the benefit of regulating blood sugar levels. The best vitamin D comes from fish oil or from eating oily fish.
The current RDA requirement for vitamin D is pegged at 200 international units (IU) for anyone under 51, 400 IU for adults from 51 to 70 and 600 IU for those over 70. But many experts advocate higher levels, anywhere between 700 to 4000 IU per day. These doses have been proved to be both effective and safe.
But be sure to get the more absorbent forms of the vitamin. It should be molecularly distilled. This ensures the safety of the supplement where toxins and other harmful ingredients are kept to a minimum.
Getting just 20 minutes of sunshine every day will not increase your chances of melanoma. 20 minutes can boost your vitamin D levels to normal levels so it can fight the damaging effects that come from the chemicals from body lotions, cosmetics and the sunscreen you put on your skin.
Vitamin D and the Prevention of Skin Cancer
