Regular Sunny Holidays Predict Better Prognosis in Melanoma Patients.

Regular Sunny Holidays Predict Better Prognosis in Melanoma Patients.

By: Marc Sorenson, Sunlight Institute–

To those of us who support regular sun exposure, a study of epochal importance has just been published in the medical journal PLoS One. The lead author, Dr. Sara Gandini, has also performed previous research showing the efficacy of sunlight in enhancing health, and has brought to light that many factors not related to sunlight are the real causes of melanoma.[1]

In her latest publication, she and her colleagues show that holidays in sunny areas were significantly correlated to thinner melanomas,[2] meaning that the cancers were less likely to progress and spread. There was a dose-response protection against thicker melanomas; in other words, the greater the number of weeks of sunny holidays, the greater less the risk of thicker melanomas. This correlation existed only for women. The good news, however, is that for both sexes,recurrence of excised melanomas was reduced an average of 70% in those who spent the greatest number of days in the sunlight.

I and many others have said for years that not only does sunlight not cause melanoma, regular non-burning sunlight is protective against contracting melanoma. This new research corroborates that fact.

A similar study on melanoma thickness and the risk of relapse was done in 2009 by Julia Newton-Bishop and colleagues.[3] In that research, it was shown that subjects with higher vitamin D levels had thinner melanomas and a greater survival prognosis. Nevertheless, the results were not nearly as impressive as the study by Gandini, et al. Sunlight exposure per se appears to be superior to vitamin D levels per se in protecting against melanoma.

Sunlight exposure is the best and most natural way to produce large quantities of vitamin D in the human body, and we are learning that sunlight produces many health benefits beyond vitamin D production. This present research is another step forward in bringing sunlight back to its rightful position as mankind’s best friend.

 


[1] Gandini, S, et al. Meta-analysis of risk factors for cutaneous melanoma: I-3. European Journal of Cancer  2005;41:28–44.

[2] Gandini S, De Vries E, Tosti G, Botteri E, Spadola G, et al. Sunny Holidays before and after Melanoma Diagnosis Are Respectively Associated with Lower Breslow Thickness and Lower Relapse Rates in Italy. PLoS One 2013;8:e78820.

[3] Newton-Bishop JA, Beswick S, Randerson-Moor J, Chang YM, Affleck P, et al. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels are associated with breslow thickness at presentation and survival from melanoma. J Clin Oncol 2009;27:5439-44.

 

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