Neon Beach

Dermatologists fume at tanning industry claims

Professors outraged companies are using raw data to say tanning beds 'healthy'


Pamela Fayerman, Vancouver Sun

Published: Monday, May 14, 2007
B.C. - Dermatologists are outraged the Canadian tanning bed industry is using unpublished data from a study on vitamin D supplements and cancer risk reduction to convince customers they'll actually derive health benefits from the ultraviolet exposure in tanning beds instead of the oft-touted health risks.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition is publishing an online study next month which is expected to show that a four-year trial of 1,179 women who took a vitamin D supplement daily had a reduction in cancer incidence. The primary way that humans get vitamin D is through sun exposure, although it is also present in fatty fish and egg yolks and it is in multivitamins and fortified foods like milk and margarine.
A short summary of the Nebraska trial data -- what scientists call an abstract -- was presented at a meeting in Virginia of bone and nutrition experts and the conclusion was that vitamin D and calcium supplements substantially reduced risk from all cancers in the post-menopausal women who took them, compared to women who took a placebo over four years.


In a news release sent to The Vancouver Sun, Steve Gilroy, executive-director of the Joint Canadian Tanning Association, made up of owners of tanning parlours, said the study has his industry "abuzz because it verifies the health benefits of exposure to UVB light. We realize that our industry can play a significant role as part of a healthy solution to the vitamin D deficiency experienced by many Canadians," he added.
Dr. Jason Rivers, a dermatologist and clinical professor at the University of B.C., said no one should think that the benefits of a vitamin D supplement are equal to, or the same as, ultraviolet exposure in tanning beds.
"You can't make those kinds of extrapolations. If a study found that there was some sort of benefit to smoking, would you then recommend smoking with everything we know about the hazards of tobacco? Of course not.
"The study used supplements, not ultraviolet radiation in tanning beds, and for the industry to make this kind of conjecture is wrong, it's nonsensical and it's crap," said Rivers, adding that gullible people might believe they should get their vitamin D from tanning beds, not realizing the ultraviolet radiation is five times stronger than natural sunlight or that it causes damage to cells and DNA.
Rivers said a safe level of unprotected sun exposure for individuals, without sunscreen, is 15 to 20 minutes a day, three times a week, in the summer. Fifteen minutes in the sun is said to be equivalent to 10,000 International Units (IU) of vitamin D. Health Canada recommends adults over age 50 take a daily supplement containing 400 IU. The tolerable upper intake for supplements is 2,000 IU, taking into account amounts absorbed through food and other sources, according to Health Canada. Exposure to excess vitamin D can cause calcification in the kidneys, heart, lungs and blood vessels.
Not surprisingly, Rivers swears by sunscreen and said he takes a daily vitamin D supplement containing up to 1,000 IU.


http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/n...d-0319e20ad3e9

Sherin

Hmmm. I wonder if the have looked at the ACS statistics?

__________________
War does not determine who is right, war determines who is left.

Neon Beach

ACS being?

Sherin

American Cancer Society

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/stt/stt_0.asp

__________________
War does not determine who is right, war determines who is left.

Neon Beach

Ooooooooh. DoH!

Neon Beach

Isn't it funny how they make claims based solely on, "studies show"? What studies, hello, got a name, a source, anything?

Sherin

they don't need to...they are Derms!

Who cares what the American Cancer Society says about it?

Statistics show that you are more likely to die of prostrate, colon or breast cancer than any kind of skin cancer.... Which can all have the risk factors severely reduce by obtaining daily doses of Vitamin D!

__________________
War does not determine who is right, war determines who is left.

Neon Beach

You know it, I know it and they know it? But they cannot risk anyone else knowing it!

engfant

I hope these people discover dog crap is the perfect edible SPF product and die from fecal ingestion.

__________________


For the bread and butter I leave brothers in the gutter.
Word to mother.

Neon Beach

You mean eat **** and die?