Which Is Worse - Avoiding Sunlight or Vitamin D Deficiency – April 2019

Sun Avoidance Is a Major Cause of Mortality Mercola

"Which Is Worse — Avoiding Sunlight or Vitamin D Deficiency?" section includes the following

• “For every skin cancer death in northern Europe, 60 to 100 people die from stroke or heart disease related to high blood pressure, which is strongly associated with vitamin D deficiency, and a lack of sun exposure in particular”
• “"Epidemiological and observational data thus suggests that sunlight exposure can reduce all-cause mortality, and has particular benefits on hypertension and cardiovascular disease. These benefits are at the cost of increasing the risk of skin cancer incidence, although the overall benefits outweigh the risks as demonstrated by dose-dependent reductions in all-cause mortality with increased sun exposure.”
• “"Women with active sun exposure habits were mainly at a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and noncancer/non‐CVD death as compared to those who avoided sun exposure. As a result of their increased survival, the relative contribution of cancer death increased in these women.
• “Nonsmokers who avoided sun exposure had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group, indicating that avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking. Compared to the highest sun exposure group, life expectancy of avoiders of sun exposure was reduced by 0.6–2.1 years.”

References include

• Vitamin D for Health: A Global Perspective 2013, FREE PDF
• Sunlight Has Cardiovascular Benefits Independently of Vitamin D 2016, FREE PDF
• Intrinsic Photosensitivity Enhances Motility of T Lymphocytes Dec 2016, FREE PDF

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