Winter Sun Protection Sun-Screaming Winter "warning" from the wackos! Something I read online really got my goat the other day: It was a short piece warning people of the "dangers" of autumnal and winter sunlight. Basically, it said that just because it's a little cooler and cloudier outside doesn't mean you should skip the sunscreen. These paranoiacs then all-too-cheerfully reminded readers that killer
sunlight can reflect off of water, sand, snow, and cement (cement?) even in the bitter cold… What alarmist crap! So just to pull the rug out from under these goofball kooks, I did a little digging around online and found out they were 100% wrong when it comes to this "winter-skin-cancer" warning. As it turns
out, Alaskan Eskimos - who spend their entire lives in the glare of sunshine both from above and reflected from the ice and snow - enjoy LOWER rates of melanoma when compared to whites in the lower 48. Doesn't exactly jive with their doom-and-gloom winter sunlight warning, does it? Take that, you dimwits! Look, you know I've railed long and loud about the needlessness of over-priced sun-protective goop (Daily Dose, 2/27/04, and many others). But I can't stress enough that we NEED vital sunlight to maintain good health - especially in the fall and wintertime. Sunlight triggers your body's production of vitamin D (which, I might add, is made from another whipping-boy of the mainstream, cholesterol), which is vital in keeping your bones strong, your teeth healthy and keeping you upbeat and free of the "blahs." Further, a recent report in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association concluded that many in the U.S get less than the recommended amount of vitamin D every day. Based on a study of more than 27,000 people, the research showed that an alarming 90% of adults aged 50-70 weren't getting enough vitamin D - and that only 2% of those over 70 were getting enough of this precious bone-booster from their diets. But there's good news, too. Keep reading… Offsetting the disturbing (and utterly irresponsible) piece written by Yahoo's yahoos, I also came across a study from the Nutrition Journal online - one that casts a better "light" on solving the
vitamin D crisis the vast majority of our country's seniors face. According to the article, a pair of recent Canadian studies concluded that aggressive wintertime supplementation with high doses of vitamin D (as much as 7 times the recommended minimum of 600IU per day) carried no measurable downsides - while facilitating a marked improvement in the "well being" of the high-dose vitamin D subjects. What's "well being" mean? For the purposes of this research, the term refers to depressive symptoms - mood swings, melancholia, etc. The study also highlighted the vitamin-D-caused boost in blood calcium levels - a crucial co-component of this miracle vitamin's benefits to your bones and other tissues. So what's to be done to make sure you get enough D this winter? Eat plenty of eggs, fish, and dairy products to do it the dietary way. Or you can fortify your body with a daily dose of supplemental vitamin D-up to several thousand IU without worry, if the Canadian research is worth its salt. But most importantly, expose yourself to as much sunlight as you can: Take the grandkids sledding, go for a snowy hike in the woods behind the house - even just sitting for 15 or 20 minutes a day in front of a sun-soaked window is better than nothing. These are by far the best ways to "activate" the vitamin D you're ingesting, so you can stay as resilient and cheery as you can be this winter.
Shedding "light" by being right,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD | 
