On my way to school every day I pass by a tanning salon named "Desert Sun" (for those of you in Seattle, it is at the corner of Stone Way and 45th). Recently this tanning salon decided that it was necessary to spend money on a banner that says, and I quote, "Vitamin D from UV exposure reduces the risk of breast cancer by 60%". Below is a picture of the salon and the very banner that I am talking about (sorry it is fuzzy, it is through a bus window). So seriously, WTF? First off, studies that talk about Vitamin D from UV exposure are not talking about the kind you get from a tanning bed. Second, what about the greatly increased risk of skin cancer from tanning? Or the plethora of other health risks with tanning beds, like skin fungus from shared beds? I may be wrong about this, but from my understanding, even with just a little sun exposure (like the kind you get from a five minute walk to your house from the bus) you get a lot of Vitamin D. There is no need to put yourself at increased health risks by actually going into a tanning salon and frying the hell out of your skin. Every time I pass this banner it makes my heart cringe. I mean seriously people, WTF?
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2 comments:
wait... aren't there anti-cancer chemicals in everything?
i mean, at least every week there's an article about a food or thing that has been discovered to have anti-cancer zap rays...
great posts lately; keep up the good work, hot ones! i've been thinking about vitamin D and skin cancer lately, and i definitely want to know more... i've heard that you need 10-15 min in the sun for your skin to produce enough vitamin D for the day, but this IS problematic in seattle. and does this include afternoon sun, winter sun (which is more like afternoon sun), clouded sun? can you store up for a few days?/what's the in-body vitamin D longevity?
and then there's the skin cancer issue... doesn't seattle actually have some of the highest rates around? i think there could be something to the danger of infrequent exposures, increased vulnerability through not keeping those skin cells in sun-defense mode...
so many unanswered questions...
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