New research has found that women with high concentrations of vitamin D have a much lower chance of developing cancer. But even more striking is this: avoiding the sun may be as dangerous as smoking.
Nonsmokers who stayed out of the sun had a life expectancy similar to smokers who soaked up the most rays, according to a recent study involving nearly 30,000 Swedish women over 20 years.
Avoiding the sun “is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking” the authors wrote in a recent issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine. Compared with those with the highest sun exposure, life expectancy for those who avoided sun dropped by 0.6 to 2.1 years.
I Word Understanding
Striking– noticeable and obvious
Risk – a situation involving exposure to danger
II Have your say
• Do you know that 10 minutes of full body sun exposure–lying on a lawn chair with a bathing suit on in summer sun–produces the equivalent of 10,000 international units in one day, and that is a natural amount and safe.” Yes It is
• The safest time for sun exposure is before 11 a.m. and after 4 p.m.
• In your daily work do you usually expose your self to the sun light?
• One more thing Avoiding the sun “is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking”
