Summer
officially begins soon, with vacations and fun in the sun. The sun just makes
you feel good – if you haven’t become afraid of it. Many of my patients avoid
the sun like the plague. These days you hear frequent warnings that sunshine
poses serious risks to your health.
Among the
many alarmist voices are the sunscreen manufacturers. For more than 20 years,
the $5 billion-a-year industry has been propagating the supposition that the
sun is deadly and we must be protected from it by slathering on chemical compounds.
Of course,
they conveniently fail to mention that sun exposure is essential for good
health; or that common sun lotion contains 5 known carcinogens – two of which
are actually activated by the sun – and block your body’s ability to produce
essential vitamin D.
And here’s
the worst part – There has never been any evidence that sunscreens prevent the
most serious kinds of skin cancer. In fact, they can actually increase that
risk.
The rising
risk of cancer is not because we’ve increased sun exposure.
With most of
us working indoors now, we are exposed to far less sunlight yet certain
cancers, especially skin cancers, have dramatically risen. Your diet is more
important. We have progressively lowered antioxidant intake.
Many
antioxidants have been shown to significantly lower your risk of cancer –even
skin cancer. I’ll bet there are many more yet to be discovered. A study
published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology backs me up on
this.
They found
that regular green tea drinkers were 20 to 30 percent less likely to develop
the two most common types of skin cancer: *basal cell carcinoma and squamous
cell carcinoma.
The study
also found that the green tea antioxidant known as EGCG can reduce burning on
UV-exposed skin. The protective power of EGCG comes from its ability to prevent
and repair the cellular damage caused by overexposure to the sun.
Dermatologists
usually ignore any evidence that diet and sunlight have a synergistic
connection. In fact, they spend most of their time telling you to stay out of
the sun altogether. Their prescription – stay out of the sun as much as
possible and wear sunscreen when you do venture outside – is not only
unnecessary; it’s bad for your health.
These
findings do NOT mean it’s OK to burn in the sun as long as you have a cup of
tea afterward. Sunlight is good for you; sunburns are bad, so use appropriate
moderation.
All
information above has been graciously provided by Al Sears, MD.
1 JR Rees et al. Tea consumption and basal cell and squamous cell
skin cancer. Journal of
the American Academy of Dermatology, 2007; (56)781-785.
* These statements have not been evaluated
by the Food and Drug Administration.
This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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