Tan, Don’t Burn

Can We Start to Trust Sun Science (again)?

Is the modern science of sun exposure finally catching up with ancient knowledge and common sense?

A new report, “Severe Sunburn as the Overwhelming Risk Factor for 3 Common Skin Cancers: New Prevention Strategy”, contains statistics and some advice that would mean earth breaking shift of the present norms, IF they were accepted and implemented by health authorities worldwide.

Only some, because many of the findings in the article cited below support the present regulations and standards, built on the base of biased science and a strange IARC decision to classify sunlight as a most dangerous carcinogen.

Below is a summary of the information in the article. Visit this post for my advice on how to tan.

Regular and moderate tanning is better than intermittent burning sun exposure.

Dr Chiou finds severe sunburn to be practically the only risk factor for all types of skin cancer.

Re-analysis of published data from two large prospective cohort studies by Wu et al provides hitherto most unequivocal evidence showing Severe Sunburn (SS) as an overwhelming risk factor (> 90%) for all incidences of melanoma, Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) and Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC).

The temptation to squeeze in as much “sun-time” as possible during short vacations to sunny places often results in sunburns, while regular tanning sessions, even on the border of erythema, don’t seem to cause skin cancer, can even be protective and increase our immune defense.

regular exposure to non-burning sunlight may serve as a new strategy for skin cancer prevention and general health promotion. It is theorized that in addition to immunity enhancement, regular exposure to non-burning sunlight can result in skin tanning that will protect against sunburn and thereby protect against skin cancer

In the infamous “Monograph 55”, the IARC working group also found that people having “Chronic” or cumulative sun exposure, often in connection with outdoor work, had less risk for skin cancers, but then anyhow went on to classify any exposure to sunlight as life-threatening carcinogenic. (see “Classifying Sunlight a Carcinogen – Combating Cancer or Crushing a Competitor?”)

Our bodies can easily heal damages from mild sunburns.

Balancing the need for UVB exposure for vitamin D towards the risk for sunburn can be a challenge for us all.

In their overall wisdom, WHO, with all “health” authorities following them, have decided that the best way to meet this challenge is avoiding ANY exposure to UV light, and all their regulations and recommendations follow this approach.

This enforced sun avoidance is the main contributor to the global “pandemic” of low vitamin D and the absence of other health benefits obtained from sun exposure.

Professor Chiou’s analysis reveals, however, that we should not be that afraid of soaking up the rays from the sun (or from the lamps in a sunbed) because we are born with a built-in system for repairing damages from sun exposure in amounts bordering to sunburn.

The role of erythema, a mild sunburn, in cancer development appears limited due to our body’s extremely efficient repair mechanisms.

Regular, non-burning, sun exposure as cancer prevention and for general health promotion.

Dr. Chiou calls his finding “new,” but our ancestors knew about the healing powers of sunlight for thousands of years until the 1980ies when the Big Pharma lobbyists managed to convince everyone that sunlight could kill us.

Because chronic exposure to non-burning sunlight is protective against melanoma and can enhance immunity, this protective effect is expected to occur also with less serious BCC and SCC. Therefore, regular exposure to non-burning sunlight may serve as a new strategy for skin cancer prevention and general health promotion

In any case, this rediscovery is good news for the future of human healthcare, IF it will have any impact on the recommendations from WHO.

UVA, UVB, and SPF

Finally, Dr Chiou connects the dots between severe sunburns (as the major cause of skin cancer) – UVB – and SPF usage.

Since skin aging in ordinary people is predominantly caused by the intrinsic factors, and SS is predominantly caused by intense ultraviolet (UV) B rays, the need of using broad-spectrum sunscreens or organic sunscreen ingredients for protection against UVA may need to be re-considered. Based on an earlier modeling analysis, a sunscreen with an SPF of about 8 and 2 to 6 for white and non-white populations, respectively, may be adequate.

He might be wrong about that UVA exposure plays a lesser role than genes, lifestyle, and environment (intrinsic factors), and protection against UVA can therefore still be a good idea. Anyhow, with the definition of SPFX by itself (being X times the time to burn without SPF), the numbers he indicates are relevant. (Because, if you would burn after 30 minutes without SPF you could be in the sun for 8 x 30 min = 4 hours with SPF8 and, by then, the sun would be too low and its UVB filtered out or bounced by the ozone layer in the stratosphere.)

Nevertheless, the findings that SPF-use increase the risk of severe sunburn (and, following from that, skin cancer), is relevant and useful.

Since use of sunscreen during intense intermittent sun exposure can cause unintended SS, a false security phenomenon, sunscreen is postulated as a major risk factor for causing exponential increases of all 3 skin cancers in recent decades.

Many of you can relate to the fact that, a) you rarely manage to apply the sunscreen evenly and often miss some areas, and b) it encourages you to spend more time in the sun since you believe that you are protected towards sunburn.

How to get regular and moderate sun exposure all year around?

Now when you too have revived the ancient wisdom of the benefits of having regular and moderate sun exposure while taking care of not to get sunburned, the main question remains: Where to find those precious sunrays?

If you live in a place where the sun gets above 45 degrees above the horizon (which is the limit for the vitamin D giving UVB rays to reach you), most of the year, you are lucky since you can just go outside and soak up the rays.

If you live where the sun barely gets above the horizon for a large part of the year, you can always find the UV rays in a sunbed. It can actually be even better than in the real sun since you will know the “dose” more exactly.

Tell us in the comments what you think about that the truth about sun exposure revealed by Dr Chiou in his article Severe Sunburn as the Overwhelming Risk Factor for 3 Common Skin Cancers: New Prevention Strategy

Here is Dr Chiou’s impressive list of merits

Win L. Chiou, Ph.D. (1969 from UCSF)

President, Winlind Skincare LLC, and Chiou Consulting Inc. (Burr Ridge, Illinois, USA)

Journal Editor for Dermatology Archives

Former FDA Advisor and Consultant

Assistant Professor, Washington State University (1969-1971)

Assistant Professor (1971-1973), Associate Professor (1973-1976), Full Professor (1976-2005), Department Head and Director of Graduate Studies of Pharmacy University of Illinois at Chicago.