Virtually every medical source says that most skin cancers are caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light from sunlight and tanning beds damaging the skin’s DNA.
BUT – We need the sun for our health and we need to make vitamin D.
Yes, people can burn, and you should protect your skin but before you apply your sunblock, be sure to be in the sun for 15 minutes to soak up some healthy rays.
Ten minutes of direct sun exposure can stimulate production of 10,000 IU vitamin D in the body. In the northern hemisphere at the latitude of North Somerset – you will make vitamin D only in the 4 summer months and only when the sun is high in the sky – the rule is – when your shadow is shorter than you!! Take your clothes off and get in the sun for 10 mins a day when you can. Or take a good quality supplement – we sell one at Walnut Grove, British made and organic, you need 4-5000IU per day.
Suncreams are a minefield
Whatever product you use, make sure it’s based with zinc oxide or titanium oxide, whose particles are too large to be absorbed through the skin.
Avoid skincare products with a lot of toxic ingredients in them like methyl parabens, which mimic oestrogens and have been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer and fertility problems. Even common moisturising creams have been found to increase the risk of skin cancer by up to 95 percent in mice.
Remember – your skin is like a million little mouths soaking everything up – you can’t just put garbage on your skin without asking any questions. And the same thing goes for soaps. We don’t need soap all over every inch of our body every day. Pits and parts—that’s all you need to really clean.
If you are concerned about skin cancer, if you are pale skinned, bald, do sports where you are exposed especially in the water then you should be, you need to keep your immune and metabolic systems in tip-top shape. Check under the bonnet !! and as all my articles say, look after your overall health – our skin is the visible bit on the outside but it is a window to what is underneath.
SPF, UVA, UVB, UVC
What’s the real scoop on ultraviolet (UV) light and sun protection factor (SPF)? Dangerous short-wavelength UVC is completely filtered by the Earth’s atmosphere and does not reach us. Medium-wavelength UVB is responsible for delayed tanning and burning and doesn’t penetrate beyond the outer layers of our skin.
Longer-wavelength UVA, which accounts for about 95 percent of the UV radiation affecting us, penetrates into the deeper layers of the skin, creating tanning (not burning), but also contributing to skin ageing and wrinkling. And yet most active ingredients in sunscreen protect only against UVB.
The famous SPF rating has nothing to do with UVA light. Unless your sunscreen touts itself as “broad-spectrum,” it only guards against UVB.
Worse, many chemical-laden sunscreen products that are supposed to shield us from harmful cancer-causing UV rays possibly end up causing cancer themselves. In 2019, the FDA (in the US) tested popular sunscreens and sunblocks and discovered that many of the common UV filters—including avobenzone, oxybenzone, octocrylene and ecamsule—are absorbed system-wide by the body in enormous amounts, staying in the bloodstream for over three weeks after the last application.
Testing has shown that many of the chemical ingredients in the FDA study can disrupt hormones leading to fertility problems, poor birth outcomes for babies and perhaps even cancer.
What to do?
Get natural mineral-based sun blocks (not sunscreens) that have zinc oxide or titanium oxide as the main active ingredient.
These products have come a long way from the greasy white paste grandmother slathered on our noses when we were kids. Nowadays many mineral-based products are invisible once rubbed on the skin.
And instead of questionable chemicals entering your bloodstream, you’ll find a lot of nutrient-rich ingredients like vitamin E, hyaluronic acid, and antioxidant-rich blueberry, acai and green tea extracts for protection against free radicals.
Also make sure you are getting sufficient vitamin D (as mentioned above) as well as some zinc and some selenium in your diet. And if you’re at all concerned about a melanoma (look for larger moles, irregular in shape or colour and if it changes over time) go to your GP to have it checked out. Although melanomas only occur in one percent of skin cancers, it’s definitely better to be safe than sorry.
