Thursday, January 31, 2013

Is the Skin Cancer Foundation really looking out for our best interest?

The Skin Cancer Foundation is at it again folks and this time it's really making me wonder if they have the population's best interest in mind at all!  They recently released a press release stating they've busted myths surrounding vitamin D and sun exposure. In this article they state a few so called facts on how the sun isn't an efficient source of vitamin D and that you should depend on supplements and diet to get the recommended amount, and some more bologna that is just silly.

I'm not sure where they got their sources, but SCIENCE and NATURE can prove all of their "facts" wrong.  The sun is the ONLY natural source of vitamin D. You can't realistically get enough vitamin D from food sources, and while supplements are an option, they certainly are not natural or as efficient as the sun. And their claim that after more that 8 minutes in the sun your vitamin D level will actually go down -- that's absurd and absolutely not backed by science.

I read in one of the person's comments below stating that the Skin Cancer Foundation is funded by 69 companies, all of which are cosmetic companies or ones who benefit from the sun scare that has undoubtedly created a vitamin D deficiency epidemic.  I did a little research of my own to verify, and sadly it's true. If you click on the link and go to the bottom of the page to Corporate Supporters, you can click in each category and see a number of companies.  So, this makes me wonder, who are they really working for?  Who are they here to help?  I've always been weary of this foundation as well as a few others, and for them to bash the sun as not being the most vital source for your vitamin D proves that their pocket books are more important than your health.

Here are a few articles that are stating the exact opposite of what the Skin Cancer Foundation is claiming.
Sun and Vitamin D article
Sun and Vitamin D article
Sun and Vitamin D article

Now, I don't want to say that I disagree that you can't get vitamin D from supplements and from your diet, but they definitely aren't as efficient as the sun.  As far as food goes, you would have to eat about 10 servings of freshwater fish every day or over 100 glasses of milk a day to get the amount of vitamin D you actually need.  Another down side of depending on a supplement for your vitamin D is the risk of toxicity.  Especially when people are deficient, which more than 95% of the US and Canadian population is.  When you take high doses of vitamin D through supplements, your body does not know how to break down the artificial vitamin D and when you take too much and your body doesn't dispose of it, it causes toxicity.  Now, when getting your D from the sun, your body does know how to break it down because it's natural.  This is how God intended us to receive our vitamin D, and for thousands of years, that's how it's been done.  People from ages ago didn't depend on supplements and vitamin D deficiency wasn't an issue, so, why are we doing everything so differently now and scaring people out of the sun?


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