Tag Archives: sunlight

Sunlight and Your Liver: is Nitric Oxide at work again?

By Marc Sorenson, EdD Sunlight Institute

Recent research, again involving Dr. Richard Weller, demonstrates that Sunlight exposure may prevent liver inflammation in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is the most prevalent liver disorder in western countries.[1] The authors of this research state then state the following possible mechanism: “Following exposure to sunlight-derived ultraviolet radiation (UVR), the skin releases anti-inflammatory mediators such as vitamin D and nitric oxide.”

Though there has been no proof that sunlight works for humans (no research yet), the authors indicate that animal studies suggest that exposure to sunlight (UVR), can prevent the development of NAFLD.

They also note that most of the credit for these positive results has focused on vitamin D, yet clinical trials have yet to demonstrate a clear, beneficial effect of supplementation; therefore, they suggest that other mediators such as nitric oxide may be important. This is another of those studies that demonstrates the possibility that sunlight has positive affects on a disease independently of vitamin D. Future research may clarify that idea.

Until then, regular sun exposure may be good insurance for a healthy liver.

[1] Gorman S, Black LJ, Feelisch M, Hart PH, Weller R. Can skin exposure to sunlight prevent liver inflammation? Nutrients 2015 May 5;7(5):3219-39.

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Tanning Beds and Sunlight as Treatments for Skin Disease

By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute

Some common-sense scientists understand that UV light is nearly 100% effective for many dermatological conditions, and that tanning beds are very convenient sources of UV for patients who cannot otherwise afford the rigorous travel and time commitments necessary to visit the dermatologist.[i] Their investigation involved an arduous search for scientific papers that reported on tanning beds and their salutary affects on different skin diseases.

The searches showed convincingly that tanning beds were a valid use for psoriasis, but also indicated tanning beds could be useful “as a treatment option for atopic dermatitis, mycosis fungoides, acne, scleroderma, vitiligo, and pruritus, as well as other UV sensitive dermatoses.”

The conclusion they reached was amazing, considering negative reports that are regularly touted by the press. They stated: “Unsupervised sun exposure is a standard recommendation for some patients to obtain phototherapy. Selected use of commercial tanning beds in the treatment of dermatologic conditions may be another useful and effective treatment for those patients with an inability to access office-based or home-based phototherapy.”[Italics mine]

One of the dermatologists who recommends unsupervised sun exposure as stated above is Dr. Julie Moore of Gottlieb Memorial Hospital. She says that sunlight is one of the best ways to treat psoriasis, so she recommends that her patients “sit out on the deck and give their affected areas a good sun bath.[ii]

Hallelujah! Common sense is beginning to penetrate the dermatology profession, as more dermatologists are climbing on the sunlight bandwagon each year. Now go and spend some safe, non-burning time in the sunlight!

[i] Radack KP, Farhangian ME, Anderson KL, Feldman SR. A review of the use of tanning beds as a dermatological treatment. Dermatol Ther (Heidelb). 2015 Mar;5(1):37-51.

[ii] Science News, August 6, 2013. Summer sun good for psoriasis sufferers says Gottlieb dermatologist.

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Sunlight Reduces the Risk of Hip Fracture by 77% in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Stroke Patients.

.Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute

While perusing the medical and scientific literature for research that would be pertinent for my upcoming book on the value of sunlight exposure, I found a most interesting paper on sunlight exposure and bone strength.[i] The researchers searched the literature on three groups of patients, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Stroke which correlated to very high fracture rates among patients suffering from those diseases. They then found three randomized, controlled studies that determined the efficacy of sunlight exposure for reducing the risk of hip fractures in patients with these diseases.

In each study, there was a control group that did not receive the exposure and an experimental group that received regular sunlight exposure to a small part of the body daily for a year. The results were impressive: For Alzheimer’s patients, the reduction in hip fractures was 78% compared to the controls who stayed inside; for Parkinson’s patients, 73%; for stroke patients, 83%. Overall, the risk of the hip fracture was reduced by 77% in the sunlight exposed groups. Bone mass also increased in each sunlight-exposed group, so osteoporosis was obviously reversed. Did you even realize that such a thing was possible? You probably knew it only if you have been reading the Sunlight Institute blogs. There is an even more impressive study that I always mention when writing about sunlight and osteoporosis. For example, an investigation from Spain in 2008 concluded that women who actively participated in sun exposure had one-eleventh the chance of a hip fracture as those who stayed indoors.[ii] It appears from the materials on the different disease groups mentioned above, that reversibility is a reality, but how much more important is it to prevent the disease in the first place? The women in Spain did exactly that.  

The National Osteoporosis Foundation estimates that osteoporosis was responsible for more than 2 million fractures in 2005, including 297,000 hip fractures, 547,000 vertebral fractures, 397,000 wrist fractures, 135,000 pelvic fractures and 675,000 fractures at other sites. The foundation also estimates that the number of osteoporotic fractures is expected to rise to more than 3,000,000 by 2025, and that an average 24 % of hip-fracture patients aged 50 and over die within one year following the occurrence of their fracture.[iii]  If we take 24% of just the hip fractures that cause death we see that osteoporosis kills at least 71,280 people per year. Larrosa, M.  Vitamin D deficiency and related factors in patients with osteoporotic hip fracture.  Med Clin (BARC) 2008;130:6-9.

Do you believe that it might be worth a daily sunbath to save the lives of 70,000 people per year? Do you believe that it would be worth daily exposure (unprotected by sunscreen) to the sun (when possible) to reduce your own risk of fracture? Then why don’t we know about these statistics and the marvelous prophylactic effects of sunlight? That answers are simple: (1) it doesn’t sell any Fosamax or Boniva. (2) It doesn’t sell any noxious, deadly sunscreens. (3) It would be unthinkable for most dermatologists to admit that soaking up a little sun each day might be good for us. It has been said, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”[iv] Now you have boned up on bone strength and sunlight, and you know the truth.  

My fervent hope is that all may be free from the deceptions of those who would ignore the truth in favor of making another dollar.

[i] Iwamoto J, Takeda T, Matsumoto H. Sunlight exposure is important for preventing hip fractures in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, or stroke. Acta Neurol Scand. 2012 Apr;125(4):279-84

[ii] Larrosa, M.  Vitamin D deficiency and related factors in patients with osteoporotic hip fracture.  Med Clin (BARC) 2008;130:6-9.

[iii] National Osteoporosis Foundation, Fast Facts on Osteoporosis.  Accessed Nov. 20, 2009 at http://www.nof.org/osteoporosis/diseasefacts.htm

[iv] John 8:32 (KJV)

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Sunlight is better than Vitamin D in Preventing Weight Gain.

Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute

Those of you who follow this blog remember that one of my posts regarding weight control showed that early-morning sunlight was inversely correlated to body weight and Body Mass Index (BMI).[1] The earlier in the day the sunlight exposure occurred, the slimmer was the figure or physique.[2]

Another scientific paper was recently published that “sheds more light” on the subject of obesity. This research was conducted on mice that were placed on a high-fat diet and then exposed to non-burning ultraviolet radiation (UVR) during a three-month experiment.[3] The mice, without the benefit of UVR, would have been expected to gain weight rapidly, but when they were exposed to UVR, the weight gain was impressively reduced; the UVR treatment achieved 30-40% less weight gain, compared to the expected weight gain with the high-fat diet. The amount of UVR exposure to the mice was proportionally equal to the amount of UVR that a human would be exposed to by standing for ten minutes at noon.

Other benefits included significant reductions in glucose intolerance, insulin resistance and fasting insulin levels (all markers and predictors of diabetes), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease measures and cholesterol. All of these factors, including obesity, are part of a cluster of maladies known as the metabolic syndrome, or MetS, which is indicative of deteriorating health and susceptibility to heart disease, diabetes and death. 

Other interesting findings:

Supplementation with vitamin D actually reduced the aforementioned beneficial effects. Dr. Shelley Gorman, one of the authors, made two interesting observations regarding the research:

  1. “These findings were independent of circulating vitamin D and could not be mimicked by vitamin D supplementation.”[4]
  2. “It looked like the presence of vitamin D in mice on the high fat diet prevented the [beneficial] effect of UV radiation on weight gain.”
  3. She also mentioned that the mechanism or weight loss may be dependent on nitric oxide (NO), which originates from diet and can be mobilized by UV radiation to become bioactive.[5]

In another part of the experiment, skin induction of nitric oxide (NO)—also a product of skin exposure to sunlight—reproduced many of the positive effects of UVR, something that vitamin D could not do.

The authors concluded their research thusly: “These studies suggest that UVR (sunlight exposure) may be an effective means of suppressing the development of obesity and MetS, through mechanisms that are independent of vitamin D but dependent on other UVR-induced mediators such as NO.

Research continues to mount about the positive effects of sunlight that are independent of vitamin D. This should in no way be construed to diminish the vital importance of vitamin D; rather, it is to make a point that sunlight works in many ways, among which are stimulating the production vitamin D, stimulating the production of NO, stimulating the production of serotonin and stimulating the production of endorphins. Why should we be satisfied with any one of these marvelous health aids when sunlight is available? With sunlight exposure, we can have them all.

 

[1] http://sunlightinstitute.org/675/

[2] Reid KJ, Santostasi G, Baron KG, Wilson J, Kang J, Zee PC. Timing and intensity of light correlate with body weight in adults. PLoS One. 2014 Apr 2;9(4).

[3] Geldenhuys S, Hart PH, Endersby R, Jacoby P, Feelisch M, Weller RB, Matthews V, Gorman S. Ultraviolet radiation suppresses obesity and symptoms of metabolic syndrome independently of vitamin D in mice fed a high-fat diet. Diabetes. 2014 Nov;63(11):3759-69

[4] http://www.sciencewa.net.au/topics/health-a-medicine/item/3618-sun-shines-light-on-obesity-challenge

[5] See footnote 4.

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The Benefits of Gardening in the Sunlight

By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute

While contemplating my youth,  growing up on our farm and ranch on the Utah/Nevada border, I mused on the amount of sunlight exposure that the hard summer work required. I was in the fields much of the time and spent a lot of time moving irrigation water, bucking hay bales and building and repairing fences. When the work allowed it, I shed my shirt until the sun became uncomfortable and then donned my cowboy hat and a long-sleeved shirt to protect against getting too much of that wonderful UV light. Some work, such as throwing hay bales on wagons, did not allow a bare body, because alfalfa hay is very scratchy. Much of the time, however, I was able to soak up the sun, going shirtless whether driving a tractor or chasing down recalcitrant cattle and sheep on my horse. My hands were often in the earth as I planted gardens and barley and alfalfa fields. Occasionally, I overdid the sun exposure and paid the price with a sunburn, but that was an infrequent occurrence. My friends called me “the brown man” although I am a blue-eyed, light skinned Caucasian. My tan was very deep; hence the moniker.

Those halcyon days of my youth were summer days, and I was never ill in that season; all of that sunlight kept me well, and it also helped to keep my mood elevated. Melanoma was never a worry for me or for the other farm boys and girls who lived in that area, and I have heard of no one who grew up there who ever contracted the disease, although they had the same ethnicity as I. Of course, lack of melanoma was to be expected, because people who spend much of their life in the sun are far less likely to contract melanoma than those whose stay indoors. For example, Diane Godar and her colleagues have presented evidence that outdoor workers, while receiving 3-9 times the sunlight exposure as indoor workers, have had no increase in melanoma since before 1940, whereas melanoma incidence in indoor workers has increased steadily and exponentially.[1] [2] [3]

This cogitating on my youth was triggered by reading an article entitled A senior moment: Get ‘down and dirty’ — Gardening is good for you![4] It discussed all the benefits of gardening and related some research regarding its therapeutic use:

  1. Exercise that strengthens both the upper-and lower-body muscles, and especially hand strength

  2. Reduces arthritis

  3. Promotes circulation

  4. Reduces heart rate

  5. Lowers blood pressure

  6. Burns calories

  7. Improves sleep

  8. Exposes the body to sunlight (hooray) to reset the circadian rhythms and combat depression

  9. Promotes better nutrition

  10. Increases self-esteem

  11. Gives a better sense of time

  12. Provides aromatherapy

Of course, some of these benefits of gardening are really benefits of sunlight, as mentioned in the article. However, there may be another factor at play; when we connect with the earth, it improves our health,[5] including heart health[6] and mood[7] through a transfer of electrons from the earth to our bodies.

What have we lost as we have adopted our sedentary, indoor lifestyles? Among other things, we have lost our good nutrition, our sunlight exposure and our contact with the earth. It is no wonder that working in a garden has such beneficial effects on our health! It gives us back at least some of our basic human health needs. So if you don’t have a garden, find one and get out in the sunlight!

Having been reminded of some of those vital  needs, I am anticipating with alacrity my upcoming week at my Nevada ranch, where I will rusticate with my wife Vicki and my friends, Drs. Bill Grant and Adiel Tel-Oren. We will be soaking up the sunshine, feeling the dark mountain soil, eating nutritious foods and exulting in the beauty of the aspens and pines. We will also be renewing friendships with the birds, the ducks, the deer, the Elk, the wild turkeys and other wildlife that have no worries about us, because we don’t kill and eat them.

Sunlight, peace and friendships—it doesn’t get any better than this!

[1] Godar D, Landry, R, Lucas, A. Increased UVA exposures and decreased cutaneous Vitamin D3 levels may be responsible for the increasing incidence of melanoma. Med Hypotheses 2009;72(4):434-43

[2] Godar D. UV doses worldwide. Photochem Photobiol 2005;81:736–49.

[3] Thieden E, Philipsen PA, Sandby-Møller J, Wulf HC. UV radiation exposure related to age, sex, occupation, and sun behavior based on time-stamped personal dosimeter readings. Arch Dermatol 2004;140:197–203.

[4] http://www.chicoer.com/opinion/20150417/a-senior-moment-get-down-and-dirty-x2014-gardening-is-good-for-you.

[5] Oschman JL, Chevalier G, Brown R. The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. J Inflamm Res. 2015 Mar 24;8:83-96.

[6] Chevalier G, Sinatra ST, Oschman JL, Delany RM. Earthing (grounding) the human body reduces blood viscosity-a major factor in cardiovascular disease. J Altern Complement Med. 2013 Feb;19(2):102-10

[7] Chevalier G. The effect of grounding the human body on mood. Psychol Rep. 2015 Apr;116(2):534-43

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Rickets can Ruin Dental Health. This is where sun avoidance has led us!

By Marc Sorenson, EdD. Sunlight Institute

In the medical journal Pediatrics, an interesting report discussed the plight of two young girls who suffered from severe tooth decay related to Rickets,[i] a horrific disease caused by vitamin D deficiency. This illness is characterized by defective bone growth and horribly deformed bodies, and, as we will see, it may also be characterized by teeth without enamel.

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Dramatic Increases in Melanoma Correlate to Low Annual Sunlight Exposure in Europe.

By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute

SUNLIGHT EXPOSURE CORRELATES TO A LOWER RISK OF MELANOMA.

I’ve been writing on this FACT for some time, and an impressive 2015 paper corroborates it.[1] Published in the scientific journal Dermato-Endocrinology, the paper makes some very interesting comments, all based on excellent research:

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Let’s revisit the need for appropriate nutrition in preventing melanoma death.

By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute

Let’s revisit the need for appropriate nutrition in preventing melanoma death.

It has been well-established that melanoma is not caused by sunlight exposure, despite the sunphobes’ protestations to the contrary. There are numerous research papers that indicate melanoma is considerably less frequent among those who are regularly exposed to sunlight than among those who avoid it.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] (The references cited here are only a few of the many papers that corroborate the fact that melanoma is less common among those who embrace the sun.)

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We did not Evolve in a Sunless Box! Lack of Sunlight Causes Nearsightedness (Myopia) in Children.

You may not realize that sunlight is critical for good vision in children, but in my opinion, the science provides incontrovertible evidence. A new study has corroborated the findings of a number of earlier investigations.

The Daily Mail, a UK newspaper, reported that “Too much time indoors damages children’s eyes: Lack of natural sunlight thought to be driving up rates of short-sightedness among the young.[i]” They also mention that Chinese children are now being sent to schools with translucent walls to prevent the nearsightedness associated with lack of sunlight.

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Important for women! Completely Avoiding Sunlight is Associated with a 1000% Increase in Breast Cancer.

By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute

As I was searching the National Library of Medicine (PubMed) for information on sunlight and its relationship to breast cancer, a profoundly important piece of research emerged. An investigation from Iran on the association between cancer risk and vitamin D showed that low vitamin D predicted only a slightly increased risk of breast cancer. However, among women who totally covered themselves and thereby had no sunlight exposure, there was a more than a 10-times increase in the risk of the disease.[1]

The message of the study is that sunlight avoidance, as promulgated by the sunscreen industry and dermatological societies, is one of the biggest frauds ever perpetrated. Coupled with our pitiful nutritional habits, it guarantees that breast cancer will remain rampant. Women (and men), please take care of yourselves by getting regular, non-burning sunlight exposure. That habit correlates to a reduction not only in breast cancer, but also prostate cancer and about 20 other major cancers. The sun is not your enemy. Just use it wisely and don’t burn. And while you do that, please eat lots of berries, dark fruits and green vegetables.

I have written many articles on this site regarding sunlight and cancer. Use the search bar to look up and read them. I will shortly post another blog on prostate cancer and sunlight. Until then, happy and safe sunbathing!

[1] Bidgoli SA, Azarshab H. Role of vitamin D deficiency and lack of sun exposure in the incidence of premenopausal breast cancer: a case control study in Sabzevar, Iran. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2014;15(8):3391-6.

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