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FREE VIDEO

• Too
little sunlight?
Jan. 19:
Doctors are now saying ultraviolet light from the sun or a
tanning machine can be good for you. Why? Because of
vitamin D. NBC's Robert Bazell explains.

Nightly
News

Sunscreens can
block vitamin D

At least some sunlight
is necessary to stay healthy

By Robert Bazell

Correspondent

NBC News

Updated: 7:54 p.m. ET Jan. 19, 2004

Tamara Smith visits a tanning parlor when she can’t be
outside in the sun. “I’m always indoors. I don’t go outside," says Smith.

advertisement

Many doctors say ultraviolet
light from the sun or a tanning machine is dangerous because of the risks
associated with skin cancer. But some health experts, such as Dr. Michael
Holick of Boston University, disagree.

“I believe that Americans have gone overboard with their
fear of the sun. I think that sensible exposure to sunlight is really important
for your overall health and well-being,” says Holick.

The reason for the concern is vitamin D, essential for
bone strength and other health needs, which our skin makes through exposure
to the sun's ultraviolet rays.

We need 1,000 units of vitamin D a day, but a glass of
milk supplies only 100 units and a multivitamin only 400. So most people need
the sun in order to avoid deficiency.

Sunscreens can reduce vitamin D
production
Now, new research has found that wearing sunscreen
continuously can reduce the amount of vitamin D a person is able to make.

Test yourself

• Skin cancer: How
much do you know?

"We
looked at individuals that always wore a sunscreen before they went
outside. ... And we found that, indeed at the end of the summer, they were
deficient in vitamin D," says Holick. "And so we have shown over and over
again that adults, even if they're on a multivitamin, and drinking milk, if they
always wear sun protection, or avoid any direct sun exposure, they're at high
risk of developing vitamin D deficiency."

Rooftop measurements of sunlight show that, for most
people, getting enough sunlight exposure at this time of year is not easy, even
for people who don't regularly wear sunscreen. In the middle of the winter
on a very sunny day in a city as far north as Boston, there’s not enough
sunlight for people to get sufficient quantities of vitamin D.

The good news is that if you get enough sun during
the rest of the year, it carries you through the winter, says Holick.

Or there are machines. In Holick’s lab he put young
people in tanning machines and measured their bone density.

“Tanners had higher bone density on average than
non-tanners,” says Holick.

Still, he cautions against the dangers of skin cancer and
warns people not to go overboard. However, it is critical, he says, to realize
the sun’s rays are not always our enemy.

© 2004 MSNBC
Interactive

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Robert Bazell

Correspondent

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