Bring me sunshine

A report published in the British Medical Journal says the danger of dying from skin cancer has been exaggerated and the potential health benefits of sunlight have been played down.

Researchers from the University of Bristol say there is evidence that vitamin D - dubbed the 'sun vitamin' because it is produced by the body in response to sunlight - can prevent bone problems including childhood rickets, reduce multiple sclerosis and depression and can treat skin conditions like psoriasis.

Anything which makes people feel more comfortable about being in the sun is bound to go down well in the North-East. A recent survey by Cancer Research UK revealed that people from this region are the least likely to seek shade when the sun is shining.

In 2001, Nasa researchers deduced that more than 23,000 deaths a year in North America could be due to lack of sunlight, and other US studies have discovered a strong link between breast cancer mortality and lack of exposure to ultra-violet (UV) rays.

In 1992, Dr Gordon Ainsleigh published a paper in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in which he reviewed 50 years worth of medical literature on cancer and the sun.

He concluded that the benefits of regular sun exposure considerably outweigh the risks of skin cancer, accelerated ageing, and melanoma.

While some experts remain sceptical, some studies show that vitamin D can actually kill off many types of internal cancers including breast, colon, ovary, bladder, womb, stomach and prostate gland tumours, and may even be capable of stopping them from developing in the first place.

Dr Richard Hobday, acclaimed author of The Healing Sun: Sunlight And Health In The 21st Century is concerned that over-zealous campaigns against sunlight are contributing to a growing public health risk.

He says: "This year is the 100th anniversary that the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Danish sunlight therapist, Niels Finsen.

"But today sunlight has fallen from favour to such an extent that there are now annual health campaigns that stress the dangers of sunbathing, and an entire industry has emerged to protect us from the sun's ultraviolet rays."

Hobday argues that the ultraviolet rays that cause tanning and burning are the same ones that have a therapeutic effect: "There is a substantial body of historical and scientific evidence that suggests that the threat to public health from vitamin D deficiency caused by underexposure to the sun's rays may be far more significant than that posed by skin cancer."

He points out that before antibiotics became widely available, sunlight therapy was used to treat tuberculosis and other diseases, and special hospitals were built so that solar radiation could be administered.

Hobday says it took the medical profession until 1921 to realise that sunlight prevents rickets: "Parents used to be told to put infants out in the sun at every opportunity. Now they are told to keep babies under 12 months out of direct sunlight and to put sunscreen on older children - not surprisingly, there are reports that rickets is making an unwelcome return."

He argues that it has been known for more than 50 years that death rates from major internal cancers increase with distance from the equator: "Several recent ecological studies suggest that sunlight exposure protects against breast, ovarian, prostate and colon cancer.

"Bone quality is also deteriorating among the older population, and low levels of vitamin D are implicated - certainly many more lives are claimed each year by hip fractures than are claimed by skin cancer," he adds.

According to Hobday, given the medical profession's rather chequered history where sunbathing is concerned, exhortations to stay out of the sun should be treated with a degree of caution.

"As the old Italian saying points out: "Where the sun does not go, the doctor does," he advises.

However Dr Colin Driscoll, leader of the Optical Radiation Group at the National Radiation Protection Board, urges caution.

He says the risk of developing skin cancer from over-exposure to the sun supersedes the benefits of vitamin D synthesis.

He says: "There are small benefits of exposure to sunlight but not when it is weighed up against the potential for developing skin cancer from which 1,500 to 2,000 people die every year in the UK.

"Two-thirds of these deaths are entirely preventable simply by reducing exposure to the sun's harmful rays."

Dr Driscoll says excess vitamin D in the body is of no benefit but that the carcinogenic detriment caused to the skin by over-tanning or burning will remain throughout a lifetime.

"If you have a large level of exposure as a child, then that damage is stored up in your 'sun bank' which is why it so important to inform adults about children's exposure risks.

"Children can quite easily accumulate an average lifetime exposure in their early years before they take control of their own risk assessment," he points out.

Dr Driscoll recommends staying out of the sun during the peak UV exposure times between 11pm and 3pm during the months of April and September in the UK.

He says: "If you do have to go out in the sun during this time, wear a hat and wrap-around sunglasses to protect the eyes, and cover up any unprotected skin with sun screen with a UV protection factor of at least 15."

Skin expert, Dr Mark Birch-Machin of Newcastle University echoes the view of many specialists when he says there is: "No such thing as a safe tan."

Dr Birch-Machin, whose research is funded by Cancer Research UK says there is no doubt that excessive exposure to the sun is dangerous.

"You are damaging the DNA in your skin cells, which can lead to skin cancer. It's like a time bomb which could go off in 15 or 20 years," the specialist added.

He has developed a way of testing skin samples for signs of sun damage which could lead to a kit being sold on the high street.

Dr Birch-Machin demonstrated his new test to a television audience a few weeks ago.

Viewers of Tonight With Trevor McDonald were shown how before-and-after skin tests on six girls holidaying in Ibiza identified sun damaged.

One of the girls was told that her skin had been damaged by just one week in the sun.

The rest were also warned to be more careful as he could see evidence that their skin had already been affected by long-term sun exposure.

Dr Birch-Machin hopes that a widely-available test kit could help to reduce the 1,600 annual death toll from malignant melanoma in the UK