This came in my email this morning from The Daily Dose by Dr. William Campbell Douglas. Read right to the end, especially about sunscreen!
Why you shouldn't shrink from the sun Despite what the panic police want you to believe, the sun is not the main cause of deadly skin cancer. But your relatives probably are.
Two new studies published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology link melanoma to genetics. One study looked at twins -- and found that when one twin got melanoma, the odds of contracting the disease skyrocketed in the other.
A separate study looked at family histories, and found that having a relative with any form of skin cancer increases your own odds of getting any form of skin cancer.
Remember, skin cancer isn't one condition. There are several forms of the disease, and the most common ones -- which are linked to ultraviolet light such as sunlight -- are benign, never fatal and easily treated in simple outpatient procedures.
The one you should fear -- melanoma -- is far rarer, potentially deadly and has nothing to do with the sun. In fact, a lack of sun can worsen it.
Think about this. Years ago, did you hear anyone worrying about melanoma?
Of course not! And it's not because we were ignorant and stupid. It's because fewer people had it.
Then, starting in 1973, melanoma cases began climbing -- right around the time we stopped going outside.
One study in Australia -- one of the sunniest places on earth -- found that office workers were more likely to get melanoma than lifeguards. Another found that melanoma is more common in Ohio than sun-soaked Florida.
Another study, published this summer in Nature Genetics, found that the number of moles you have (another genetic condition) is one of the strongest risk factors for melanoma. Not the sun.
It's so clear you'd have to be blinded by the sun not to see it... yet most so-called professionals still refuse to make the connection -- probably because so many of them profit off our bizarre and unnecessary fear of bright afternoons.
So stop buying sunscreen. Some studies show that this gunk can actually increase your risk of skin cancer. Then, be sure to spend a little more time in the sun. Get back inside before you burn, but not because you fear cancer -- but because sunburn hurts.
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