About a decade ago, when I was in my late teens/early 20?s I used to work at a pharmacy. One time I got sent to a conference on sunscreen products. I remember hearing everything that was shared and how sunscreen products must now be pushed and taken seriously to protect everyone from skin cancer. And I remember thinking that something about this just did not make sense. The room was full of various white cream, chemical testers and my science loving mind and background, was already then thinking about the reaction between these chemicals on the skin and the sun.
Fast forward to today and we have a population deficient in vitamin D, skin cancer is on the rise, continuing to plague more people and the sunscreen industry is booming. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, each year there are more new cases of skin cancer than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon.
So what is going on? While I continue to still wonder about this myself, I have been actively trying to help people see the other side of the sunscreen story for a few years now. After all if we knew since the 1970?s about the sun and skin cancer risk, shouldn?t all these sunscreens we have been using start turning things around? And so through various research over time, I have discovered some interesting ideas that I believe to be more true, than what we are told through the mainstream media and medical field about the need for sunscreen.
Connecting the Dots on Skin Cancer and Sunscreen Use
There are many things that we may not be sure of, at least not for some time, where the whole sunscreen and skin cancer trends are concerned.?What we are sure of is that skin cancer rates are definitely on the rise. If you examine the graph below, you can see that since the 1970?s skin cancer rates for some parts of our population have more than quadrupled.
Source: Centre for Epidemiology, National Board of Health and Welfare.
Prudent mainstream medical professionals will take one look at that graph and conclude that we must protect ourselves with more sunscreen any time we expose ourselves to the sun. I mean it looks obvious that the more skin cancer cases there are, the more likely we are to get it, unless we protect ourselves. Right? Well not so fast. While the sunscreen industry would love us to use more and in fact they don?t make this a secret, telling us to ?keep re-applying frequently? and put SPF ingredients in almost every personal care product today, there is more to this story.
The popular sunscreens, pretty much as we know them today, began their production and entry onto the market around the 1950?s and 60?s. Even though their use continued to increase from there, it wasn?t until about the 1990?s that sunscreen became very popular infiltrating every part of the personal care products. At this point they were being widely marketed and available throughout North America, being touted as a ?must? any time we expose ourselves to the sun.
So let?s consider our first idea. By the looks of those dates, one can begin to start connecting a possible correlation between the increased use of sunscreen and the increased presence of skin cancer. After all, if sunscreen is meant to protect us, with its astounding popularity, one would think the skin cancer rates would at least stabilize, if not decrease. Of course this goes against everything the mainstream media and medical field would have us believe, so let us look at some more facts.
Our Lifestyles Play A Big Part
Around the same time, starting in the 1950?s and beginning to boom around the 1970?s we began to see the wide emergence and acceptance of processed food. Microwaves, convenience, frozen dinners and fast food started to become the norm. By the 1980?s we were well into leading lives based on nutrient-deficient convenience foods.
And so we saw the decrease of the wholesome, natural and nutrient-rich foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, beans and real whole grains, as well as home prepared meals from the average person?s daily meals. Equally so the amount of animal products?especially dairy, processed foods, refined grains, sugars, unhealthy fats and salts increased.
So how does this relate to our increase in skin cancer?
It is now a known fact that whole, natural plant foods contain compounds called phytochemicals. While we don?t know them all yet, as there are perhaps thousands or more, we do know that they are highly beneficial for our health. Animal foods do not have phytochemicals. Processed foods are nutrient deficient. Having very low nutritional value, some must be fortified synthetically. We cannot build health or a healthy body if we don?t have the right tools ? and the right tools are nutrients?and more specifically natural nutrients.
What else we know at this point for sure, is that diets high in fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of all types of cancers. Even the American Cancer Society is kind enough to admit that. In fact, antioxidants?a group of phytochemicals?work to combat free radicals and repair our DNA. Free radicals are damaging molecules that can come to us in all sorts of ways from our environment, with UV radiation being one of them. Free radicals readily damage our DNA and this is thought to be the precursor for cancer initiation. Phytochemicals only exist in plant foods and the primary source of antioxidants are also plant foods.
Antioxidants work in a doubly beneficial way. They can help us decrease the severity of any sunburn and make our skin more resistant to it. Secondly they provide healing, to repair any damaged areas. Carotenoids like beta-carotene, the precursor for?vitamin A, especially when combined with the antioxidant vitamin E, have been shown to decrease and protect against sunburn in individuals.
So over the past four decades, as skin cancer rates continued to rise, our diets continued to get?drastically?worse. It has only been in the last decade that the movement for natural health and optimal nutrition is starting to register with more people. Today, many health experts are beginning to connect the dots that poor nutrition, not sun exposure is a major cause of sunburns and skin damage.
Chemicals In Sunscreen Cannot Be Ignored
While many of us are still under the impression that commercial personal care products are ?safe? for us, the truth about their harmful properties or toxicities is coming out one by one.
When the sun hits our skin, two main things happen. One is that it begins the reaction which produces vitamin D in our bodies for us. Hence we can understand why around 3/4 of the population is deficient in vitamin D, when we are constantly blocking this reaction. The second is that it signals for melanin production?the pigment made naturally in our bodies?to protect against UV damage.
What is most amazing about melanin and which most people don?t know, is that its photochemical properties make it an excellent photoprotectant. This means it absorbs harmful UV-radiation and transforms the energy into harmless heat through a chemical reaction known as ?ultrafast internal conversion?. This property enables melanin to disperse more than 99.9% of the absorbed UV radiation as heat, protecting us from UV damage.
And this brings us to our first problem with sunscreen. Sunscreen chemicals cannot disperse the energy of the excited state as efficiently as melanin. This causes a whole slew of problems as penetration of sunscreen ingredients into the lower layers of the skin takes place, increasing the amount of free radicals and harmful reactive oxygen species. On top of that just the heat reaction of many of the chemicals with the sun alone, using our skin as their petrie dish, has its own problems.
To add to this, the second main problem is that the very same ingredients that are needed for a product to have sun-blocking properties are harmful to us, even without the presence of the sun or heat. The common names like oxybenzone, PABA, benzophenone, avobenzone and more should be avoided at all costs! See the following article from PressCore.ca for a more thorough list of harmful sunscreen ingredients.
Natural sunscreens contain natural ingredients as the base, and the natural minerals like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as the active ingredients to block the sun. Even though these may not be perfect, they are by far the best natural options available if sunscreen use is for some reason a must.
And if you think this is some fresh or radical news, think again. Apparently studies exist to prove that there are major problems with sunscreen and its link to skin cancer. Naturally the powers that be are slow to face this information as it threatens to bring down a major industry which is making billions of dollars off of us. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, has been a leading voice on this issue and you can read more of his findings when it comes to the sunscreen-skin cancer link here.
?If the product is doing more harm than good, people have a right to know ? and the FDA must take action.?
Sen. Chuck Schumer
What About Earth and Sun Changes?
Our discussion would be incomplete without mentioning that yes, the sun and Earth have also been changing over the past several decades.
Some claims have surfaced that the sun has gotten stronger over the past few decades and many people go around believing that, without having any proof for such claims. Various studies have shown that the sun has not gotten stronger or hotter, on the contrary cooler and even the EPA has stated that based on a 25-year record, the effect of changes in the sun?s intensity are estimated to be relatively small on the Earth?s atmosphere.
Where a more plausible explanation exists for the perceived increase in sun intensity, is the loss of parts of the ozone layer. The ozone layer?which protects us from much of the UV radiation?has gone through some turbulent times, thinning out in some areas over the past few decades. This allows more UV radiation to pass through. As we have learned that many of our industrial chemicals were to blame, we have begun to slowly turn things around hoping that the ozone layer will perhaps recover over the next century.
Conclusion
So in the end, I am not going to tell you whether you should continue to wear sunscreen or not, and in what capacity. What I am going to share is my advice, that for the sake of your health and anyone else?s whom you put sunscreen on?especially children?DO NOT BUY or USE ANY of the COMMERCIAL, CHEMICAL options like Coppertone, Hawaiian Tropic or Banana Boat (just to name a few). When you feel a sunscreen is necessary, only wear one of the natural options available today. To help you find one, consult the EWG?s free sunscreen report.
The best way to protect from sun damage and heal any existing damage is as always, by working from the inside out. Change your diet and focus on eating whole, natural, fresh, mostly plant food, keeping toxins and chemicals found in today?s food or drinks out. We know for sure today that you can boost your internal sunscreen by eating antioxidant-rich foods, so why not use Mother Nature?s first and most natural defense mechanism. The second best option is to use sun smart habits and cover up with light, loose clothing when needed.
As the years go on and our atmosphere, our thinking and our habits continue to change, it is my hope that we will be able to see more clearly the connecting links that I outlined above. For me, over a decade later that gut feeling I had back when working at the pharmacy proved true. And thus today, we can each only do our own research and go with what feels most right to us. I know that I personally would never again use a commercial sunscreen or fear the sun. Instead I choose to sensibly enjoy its amazing health benefits. In fact, I barely ever use any sunscreen any more, unless spending hours in the mid-day sun, at which point I cover up with clothing or use some of my current favorite natural sunscreen?and I continue to stay burn-free.
For more information, I highly recommend this video featuring the Health Ranger, Mike Adams that sheds more light on the idea that sunlight alone does not cause skin cancer.
Wishing you a happy, healthy and fun summer!
*Photograph 1,2 & 3 credit?osseous
*Photograph 4 & 5 credit?barockschloss
About the author:Evita Ochel, B.Sc., B.Ed., CHN - is a certified holistic nutritionist, biologist, educator, writer, researcher and speaker in the areas of health, science and holistic wellness. She is a nutritional science expert and her teaching and writing focus on natural, wholesome, plant-based and organic nutrition to achieve optimal health and longevity. Learn more about Evita Ochel or Follow Evita Ochel on Twitter.
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