More Casualties Than Global Shooting Wars?
Yes, sun avoidance undoubtedly prevents some skin cancers, including the deadliest type, melanoma.
But a recent study suggests lack of sunlight contributes to hundreds of thousands of deaths every year in the United States alone, This is orders of magnitude more than the estimated 8400 annual deaths from melanoma.
In this episode, Dr. Dawn Lemanne and Dr. Deborah Gordon discuss evidence linking sun avoidance to
- Almost a million annual deaths in the US and Europe alone
- Increased risk of breast, pancreatic, colon, and lung cancers, as well as heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke
- Perhaps most surprisingly, to INCREASED risk of death in those already diagnosed with sun-induced melanoma
We explore the evidence that supplementing with vitamin D pills fails to remedy these terrible conditions, and what a thoughtful person can do instead, while staying safe.