The Healing Power of the Sun. Sunlight is actually good for you. Just like how people have lost touch with what is natural to eat, they have also lost touch with the importance of sunlight. Without it, all kinds of illness set in. Sunlight actually helps heal illness and disease. Contrary to what many have been led to believe, it is not the cause of skin cancer. It may aggravate it, but not cause it.
Vitamin D has long been considered important for bone health because it aids in the absorption of calcium into the bone tissue. However, emerging research indicates that vitamin D is critical for other body systems to function properly, greatly increasing the scope of vitamin D’s importance. Because vitamin D is produced primarily by exposure to the sun, and because populations who live in northern latitudes have difficulty producing enough vitamin D due to reduced sun exposure, this essay will focus on the specific effects of vitamin D insufficiency experienced in northern regions such as the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.
Vitamin D Insufficiency and Related Pathology. Click here to read the article.
Vitamin D Insufficiency and Related Pathology. Click here to read the article.
Sunscreens contain toxic ingredients that may actually promote skin cancer growth and the production of free radical in the body. The rate of skin cancer has slowly risen in the decades since sunscreen use first began.
In this article Dr. Mercola covers the sunscreen issue:
Researchers at the Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based nonprofit, released their annual report claiming nearly half of the 500 most popular sunscreen products may actually increase the speed at which malignant cells develop and spread skin cancer because they contain vitamin A and its derivatives, retinol and retinyl palmitate.
Furthermore, the FDA has known about the dangers of vitamin A in sunscreens since ordering a study 10 years ago, but has done nothing to alert the public of the dangers.
"Retinyl palmitate was selected by (FDA's) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition for photo-toxicity and photocarcinogenicity testing based on the increasingly widespread use of this compound in cosmetic retail products for use on sun-exposed skin," said an October 2000 report by the National Toxicology Program.
According to AOL news, other problems with sunscreens include:
Bundchen refuses to use it on herself or her family because of the chemicals they contain. According to the Daily Mail:
"[Bundchen] made the comments at the launch of her own organic skin care range, which presumably doesn't include sun care lotions."
Bundchen, incidentally, is currently the highest paid supermodel in the world. She also has said that it should be against the law for healthy mothers to give their baby infant formula full of sugar, and often soy.
The FDA is once again on the wrong side of consumer safety, just as they have been time and time again when they allow dangerous drugs onto the market that end up killing people and are later recalled.
Failing to alert consumers of the dangers of vitamin A and its derivatives in sunscreens falls in line with the FDA's seemingly endless ability to protect their big business "clients" at the expense of public safety. In this case the manufacturers of sunscreens are the beneficiaries of the FDA's inability or unwillingness to publish their own vitamin A safety research that they conducted over 10 years ago in 2000.
For a long list of other FDA debacles through the years, just put "FDA" into my search box at the very top of this, or any page at mercola.com.
Is Sunscreen Really a Necessity?Let's consider a question that naturally arises out of this latest failure by the FDA – do you even need to use sunscreen in the first place?
The answer is "maybe", and only when you can't control how much sun you are exposed to. For instance, if you work outdoors all day as part of your job, or if you need to protect sensitive areas of your face, like around your eyes, that are particularly susceptible to photoaging and not that large a surface area to impact vitamin D levels if blocked with sunscreen.
But you certainly don't want to use most of the commercially available sunscreens under any condition as they not only block your body's ability to produce vitamin D, they're also loaded with toxic chemicals. More about that in a minute.
However, sunscreens available in most health food stores, and the one we sell on our site, are safe to use when the need arises.
The fact is, getting safe sun exposure every day is actually one of the bestthings you can do for your health. Sun exposure allows your body to naturally produce your own supply of vitamin D, and experts agree that this is the best form of vitamin D available.
The point to remember is that once your skin turns the lightest shade of pink (if you're Caucasian), it's time to get out of the sun. Past this point of exposure your body will not produce any more vitamin D and you'll begin to have sun damage. And sunburn anywhere on your body is never good for your health.
- Some sunscreens only protect against UVB radiation, and not against the UVA component of the ultraviolet spectrum. Incomplete protection against the full spectrum, combined with increased time spent in the sun, can lead to an increase in the risk of developingmalignant melanoma, a rarer but more deadly form of skin cancer associated with indirect DNA damage.
- Some sunscreen chemicals can penetrate into the skin and potentially cause more cell damage than they prevent.
- Reduced exposure to ultraviolet light in sunlight can contribute to Vitamin D deficiency.
In this article Dr. Mercola covers the sunscreen issue:
Researchers at the Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based nonprofit, released their annual report claiming nearly half of the 500 most popular sunscreen products may actually increase the speed at which malignant cells develop and spread skin cancer because they contain vitamin A and its derivatives, retinol and retinyl palmitate.
Furthermore, the FDA has known about the dangers of vitamin A in sunscreens since ordering a study 10 years ago, but has done nothing to alert the public of the dangers.
"Retinyl palmitate was selected by (FDA's) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition for photo-toxicity and photocarcinogenicity testing based on the increasingly widespread use of this compound in cosmetic retail products for use on sun-exposed skin," said an October 2000 report by the National Toxicology Program.
According to AOL news, other problems with sunscreens include:
- The use of the hormone-disrupting chemical oxybenzone, which penetrates the skin and enters the bloodstream.
- Overstated claims about performance.
- The lack of needed regulations and oversight by the Food and Drug Administration.
Bundchen refuses to use it on herself or her family because of the chemicals they contain. According to the Daily Mail:
"[Bundchen] made the comments at the launch of her own organic skin care range, which presumably doesn't include sun care lotions."
Bundchen, incidentally, is currently the highest paid supermodel in the world. She also has said that it should be against the law for healthy mothers to give their baby infant formula full of sugar, and often soy.
The FDA is once again on the wrong side of consumer safety, just as they have been time and time again when they allow dangerous drugs onto the market that end up killing people and are later recalled.
Failing to alert consumers of the dangers of vitamin A and its derivatives in sunscreens falls in line with the FDA's seemingly endless ability to protect their big business "clients" at the expense of public safety. In this case the manufacturers of sunscreens are the beneficiaries of the FDA's inability or unwillingness to publish their own vitamin A safety research that they conducted over 10 years ago in 2000.
For a long list of other FDA debacles through the years, just put "FDA" into my search box at the very top of this, or any page at mercola.com.
Is Sunscreen Really a Necessity?Let's consider a question that naturally arises out of this latest failure by the FDA – do you even need to use sunscreen in the first place?
The answer is "maybe", and only when you can't control how much sun you are exposed to. For instance, if you work outdoors all day as part of your job, or if you need to protect sensitive areas of your face, like around your eyes, that are particularly susceptible to photoaging and not that large a surface area to impact vitamin D levels if blocked with sunscreen.
But you certainly don't want to use most of the commercially available sunscreens under any condition as they not only block your body's ability to produce vitamin D, they're also loaded with toxic chemicals. More about that in a minute.
However, sunscreens available in most health food stores, and the one we sell on our site, are safe to use when the need arises.
The fact is, getting safe sun exposure every day is actually one of the bestthings you can do for your health. Sun exposure allows your body to naturally produce your own supply of vitamin D, and experts agree that this is the best form of vitamin D available.
The point to remember is that once your skin turns the lightest shade of pink (if you're Caucasian), it's time to get out of the sun. Past this point of exposure your body will not produce any more vitamin D and you'll begin to have sun damage. And sunburn anywhere on your body is never good for your health.
Lack of sunshine causes skin cancer, according to Andreas Moritz. In this video from 2009, he explains why being in the sun is actually good for you and your skin. Find out why your sunscreen is doing more harm than good. Also, you need vitamin D to prevent cancer, and sunscreen may interfere with your exposure to vitamin D from the sun. I like the way he explains UVA & UVB. Sunscreen blocks the UVB rays on your skin to prevent a tan or getting burned, but does not block the UVA rays which are responsible for skin cancer. This explains one reason why skin cancer is on the rise. I know if I see my skin getting pink, I cover up. If you are not getting pink than you might stay out in the sunlight for hours past what you should.
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