Talk about health

I suppose, like most of us, you've been influenced by the avalanche of publicity about skin cancer and the necessity to slap on a sunscreen before you rush out and get some rays.

Too much sun means increasing the risk of developing skin cancer, some versions of which can be fatal if not caught in time.

It seems a simple task to look after your skin health, doesn't it? But, like most things to do with health, it's not that simple after all. Sure enough, excess and burning sunshine can cause skin cancer and melanoma, but we all need some sun in moderation.

It's vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential to our continuing good health. It's an necessary part of our hormone system and is involved in repair of damaged DNA, as well as essential for keeping your bones in good order. More recently vitamin D has become recognised as an anti-cancer vitamin.

Trials have found it lowers the risk of developing breast cancer, and it stops cancers developing by turning cells back to "normal" and slowing the formation of new blood vessels that cancers need to grow.

What's this got to do with sunscreens?

Well, we need sun on our skin to make vitamin D, otherwise we can only get it from fish oils or supplements. Anything that interferes with our digestion, from diarrhoes to Crohn's disease, antacids to cholesterol-lowering drugs, and toxic chemicals lowers vitamin D levels.

Fish oils also have vitamin A in them and this can interfere with the benefits of vitamin D, although halibut liver oil is better than cod liver oil for vitamin D content.

So, the best way to improve your vitamin D level is by judicious use of 10 to 15 minutes bursts of sun. Sunscreens stop all of that. Vitamin D may even help speed up your tanning.

And ... the chemicals in sunscreens are being tested to see whether they can cause skin cancer all by themselves. Some trials have suggested that they do, while others haven't. It's a blow, because many people, including me, use a sunscreen to protect exposed arms, face and other parts.

Is it the sunscreen causing the cancer or is it the combination of sunscreen and sun on your skin that does the damage? No one has the answer, yet. But, there is some doubt that sunscreens are as safe as they might be.

What to do? Until we get more research details, there is no definitive answer, just a niggling little doubt. My view, for what it's worth? Get your daily ten minutes unprotected sun to maximise your vitamin D, then cover up and don't get burned. Use sunscreens on exposed skin if you must, but not to excess, and be careful. And, very importantly, see your doctor if in any doubt about skin damage, moles etc.

I've written some more about this very subject in my latest newsletter. Sign up for it FR EE on my site http://healthexplored.co.uk , where you'll also find a range of health publications.