Sunshine warnings are making people ill rather than protecting them
 July 5, 2004

Telling people to avoid sunshine is doing them more harm than good, says a new report. The report says that the British are in more danger by avoiding the sun than the dangers they would face by being in the sun. The report says the government’s warnings are outdated and putting people’s health at risk.

If you avoid the sun you are at risk of developing diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency – osteoporosis, some cancers, heart disease and schizophrenia. This is more dangerous for your health than the risk of getting skin cancer by going out in the sun, says the report.

The report urges the UK government to encourage people to sunbathe for a certain amount of time each day.

The Health Research Forum looked at hundreds of scientific papers. The Forum criticised charities and public officials for telling people to stay out of the sun, saying it is dangerous. The report says that this advice is copied from Australia, where there is much more sunlight than in the UK.

Oliver Gillie, study author, said "The policy cautions the public to avoid exposure to the sun while making no concessions to the health benefits of sunlight. In fact, any benefit derived by this policy in prevention of skin cancer is greatly outweighed by the disease deficits incurred by the loss of vitamin D. Continuing with these government recommendations can only increase vitamin D deficiency in the population and so lead to an increase in ill-health and premature death."

The UK government, and many charities, have been telling British people that ‘there is no such thing as a safe tan’. It advises people to put on a factor 15 sun cream all the time. It also tells people to stay in the shade all the time.

The Health Research Forum says that as Britain is not a ‘sunny’ place, the advice is ‘totally unsuited’ to the UK. The Forum says that the sun cream should only be put on after you have been in the sun for about ten minutes. This allows the vitamin D to be made in the skin.

Vitamin D is crucial for our health. It helps our body absorb calcium, it also affects cell growth. Lack of vitamin D can bring about heart disease, some cancers and schizophrenia.

90% of our vitamin D comes from sunlight. Osteoporosis has been linked to lack of vitamin D.

A white skinned person, says the report, needs to sunbathe for 20 minutes – three times a week – in order to get the maximum vitamin D the body needs.