Hollywood actress sun “worshipping” suggestion;
“We’re human beings and the sun is the sun — how can it be bad for you? I think we should all get sun and fresh air. I don’t think anything that is natural can be bad for you — it’s really good to have at least 15 minutes of sun a day.”
Underworked journalist pounces!
We’re not doctors here at the National Post, but we suspected there was something wrong with the Goop mogul’s sun-worshipping suggestion. To back up our suspicions, we asked a few real doctors what they thought about Paltrow’s comments. Here’s what they said… [snip]
Dr. Richard Bendor-Samuel, Cosmetic Surgeon at The Landings Surgical Centre, Halifax;
Fifteen minutes a day of sunlight in the morning or late afternoon is likely okay for most of us.
But let’s not focus on the fact that one of the experts quoted largely agrees with Paltrow. Let’s ask the World Health Organization…
… excessive UVR exposure accounts for only 0.1% of the total global burden of disease in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), according to the 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) report The Global Burden of Disease Due to Ultraviolet Radiation. DALYs measure how much a person’s expectancy of healthy life is reduced by premature death or disability caused by disease. Coauthor Robyn Lucas, an epidemiologist at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health in Canberra, Australia, explains that many diseases linked to excessive UVR exposure tend to be relatively benign–apart from malignant melanoma–and occur in older age groups, due mainly to the long lag between exposure and manifestation, the requirement of cumulative exposures, or both. Therefore, when measuring by DALYs, these diseases incur a relatively low disease burden despite their high prevalence.
In contrast, the same WHO report noted that a markedly larger annual disease burden of 3.3 billion DALYs worldwide might result from very low levels of UVR exposure. This burden subsumes major disorders of the musculoskeletal system and possibly an increased risk of various autoimmune diseases and life-threatening cancers.
She may not be a doctor, but she’s a damned sight better Googler.
inb4 “back in my day we stayed out in the sun for 20 hours a day and we’re fine” posts.
I don’t think anything that is natural can be bad for you — it’s really good to have at least 15 minutes of sun a day.
See, she’s both right and immensely, incredibly wrong there.
The “15 minutes of sun a day is good for you” thing is, as best we understand it, correct.
“[Nothing] that is natural can be bad for you” is mind-bogglingly incorrect.
Anyone thinking otherwise is welcome to try being bitten by a rattlesnake and see how that works out for them, to take one of innumerable examples of “natural” things that are dangerous or deadly.
Aside from the naive belief that anything “natural” is good for one, she’s recommending just common sense. Unfortunately common sense appears to be in short supply in the heliophobic dermatologic community.
Vitamin D deficiency is a far far greater danger than skin cancer. About 90% of the population of Vancouver is Vitamin D deficient which may explain something about many of the derangements that individuals there possess. Of course, in order to deal with this problem, the BC medical plan has prohibited GP’s from ordering Vitamin D levels in patients.
Melanoma is not caused by sun exposure – that was the finding of a Mayo Clinic review article on Vit D deficiency. Most melanoma locations I’ve seen have been in non sun-exposed locations and the risk of melanoma increases with decreasing sun exposure. I have to review this area again because in a conversation with a GP who worked in Australia for a few years his observation was that melanoma incidence was higher there than in the US. So, US data, anyway, suggests that if you follow dermatologists advice to only go out after dark, you’re more likely to get melanoma.
What I recommend to patients is that they apply sunscreen to their face, ears and other areas of their anatomy which they don’t want to lose portions of as they get older. Basal cell carcinomas are no bid deal, but getting a large one removed from the tip of ones nose is. Most guys don’t mind scars on the rest of their body.
The other alternative is to take Vitamin D and in far larger doses than one can easily buy in Canada. 1000 IU is the maximum non-Rx strength of Vitamin D available and I’ve found quite a few people who need between 10,000-20,000 units/day in order to get their levels in what I consider to be a normal range. Of course, there are other people who do fine on just 1000 IU daily and thus the idiotic decision of the BC Medical Services Plan means I can’t check peoples VitD levels. Thus, I tell them to spend lots of time in the sun.
Where there’s going to be a major issue is in kids whose parents have fallen under the sway of dermatologic heliophobic propaganda. It’s been sunny here for weeks yet I saw a kid with bilateral ear infections the other day and the kid looked pale. Asked the mother if he went outside and the answer was yes, but not without first being covered in sunscreen. The kid is lucky he doesn’t have rickets and the mother had no clue about how important VitD is in immune function. Kids with the lowest vitamin D levels have the most ear infections.
Dermatologists have a very skewed perception of risk – sort of like the ER docs who assume that guns are a major problem because when people get shot they end up in a hospital. I refer maybe 1/100 patients with a skin problem to a dermatologist and one of the things I do refer people for is when I suspect a skin cancer. So, dermatologists, seeing all of these people with skin cancers coming in assume that the problem is far worse than it actually is. Most basal cell carcinomas I just freeze with liquid nitrogen and they’re gone. Squamous cell carcinomas, which are a lot rarer, I refer on.
Yeah well, I’m mid 60’s or so….
My upper arms skin looks about mid-30’s, lower arms 60’s or so…backs of my hands 90’s….to my perception.
I’m one of them blond haired /blue eyed nordic types so I burn real easy…..a few years on the equator probably didn’t help none…..
IMHO George Hamilton is nutso…..
I hope you’ve crossposted that to the NP comments section, Dr. Loki.
So it was controversial for her to say that even 15 minutes of daily sun exposure is good? Where could 15 minutes possibly be bad? The surface of Mercury?
Two major problems…..listening to or believing anything from a celeb or the NP.
Now loki,who says it all,is actually qualified to do so! Gee. who you gonna listen to?
I’m weird, somewhat outdoorsy, but also very pale, so I’ve made a point since my late teens of avoiding the worst of sun exposure like the plague. (I quit smoking only because of the aging factor. Cancer schmantzer.) Tilley hats (wide brims), and lots and lots of high quality sunblock (not all sunblocks are created alike). Sunblock is one of the few things I will splurge on.
Vitamin D is probably the cheapest vitamin to buy. I wonder if Dr. Loki would tell us whether there’s a difference between bottled vit. D, and food vit. D, and then again the stuff we produce naturally from sun exposure. I would consult my own doctor, who is a very nice man, but he moved to upper Tantallon (I’m in Halifax), and I only go to him for refills.
BTW, the good doctor gives us so much useful info, we should pay for it.
Thanks be to our regular resident doctor for some real life knowledge untainted by politics or an agenda. Sent same to my nurse daughter, but I’m sure she is with it and uses common sense.
Sasquatch, yes, the leather look is in, and got some of that too, but I probably have five years on you. Too much Mattawa Plain and picking rocks and throwing bales the old fashioned way.
Vitamin D, so overrated…
“We’re not doctors here at the National Post”
No, – and you’re not nurses, or engineers, – or scientists, – or accountants, – or trades people, – or technologists, – or computer technicians, – or businesspeople – or teachers, – or police officers – or military personell, – or fishermen, – or hunters, in fact you don’t do a damned thing of any value.
You simply sit on your lazy, holier-than-thou asses and spit on others.
So go find something USEFUL to do and STFU – ‘kay?
Loki is correct about vit D. I take 1kIU daily when my arms are tanned and up to 6-8kIU in the winter when only my face gets sun if at all. I have joints that tell me when I don’t have enough D in my system. In my case it’s really simple; if I take vit D, then I experience significantly less joint pain and feel much healthier.
Blame Bush or Harper. Jeese, can’t anyone say anything without the media making it sound like “expert” advice. and then jumping all over them for so called bad advice. Crap, Canadians can’t wait for the weather to get warm and sunny so they can peel off layers of winter and worship that big yellow ball in the sky. 15 minutes in the morning and at sunset sounds like advice from a Toronto subway commuter. Hell, the typical Saskatchewan spends more time in the sun just getting to his barn.
‘sunscreen’ — never needed it, except in extreme cases where zinc-oxide sun block was necessary. The chemical goop will likely do more harm than good.
A wide brimmed hat to shield the ears and face and loose, light colored cotton clothing with just enough skin exposure to tan but never burn. Just good common sense I learned from my grandparents.
My son is a blue eyed red head an he burns to blisters in a very short period of time. We don’t hide him from the sun but we have to be careful with hats and sunscreen, and long sleeved shirts if he is out for more than half an hour.
After listening to the words of wisdom from Lindsay Lohan,Paris Hilton, Britney Spears,Kim kardashian,Justin Bieber,and now the lovely Gwynneth,I believe the world is long overdue for a good old fashioned,and completely natural plague.
What Paltrow said is about as controversial as “eat your vegetables”.
Summertime, I like to be out in the sun. I put on sunscreen when I think I will be out for several hours, but for 15 minutes, it lets me tan and lets me make some vitamin D, which I understand is good for me in many ways.
I am not sunophobic, and I have had melanoma already. Thanks to the prompt action of my GP, it is all gone.
Thank-you for the excellent information Dr. Loki.
Paltrow is in a battle against the ravages of transparency.