By: Marc Sorenson, Sunlight Institute–
A recent study in the journal Blood, shows a remarkable reduction of the risk of a group of cancers known as lymphoid malignancies, i.e. non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, multiple myeloma and classical Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Researchers in California measured exposure to sunlight among residents in different geographic areas and compared the different categories of exposure to the risk of contracting these cancers.[i] Those residents living in the areas with the highest quartile (fourth) of sunlight exposure, when compared with those in the lowest quartile, showed a 43% reduced risk of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and a 64% reduction of risk of one of its subcategories known as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The risk of another subcategory, chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, showed a 54% reduced risk. Multiple myeloma was also associated with a reduced risk of 43% among those living in areas with the highest quartile of sunlight exposure. Interestingly, dietary vitamin D was not associated with the risk of these cancers. The researchers stated, “These results support a protective effect of routine residential UVR exposure against lymphomagenesis through mechanisms possibly independent of vitamin D
This last finding is doubly important, since it indicates that sunlight exposure may have protective effects against cancers independent of its stimulation of vitamin D production by skin, or that the type of vitamin D produced by sunlight stimulation of skin is superior to that obtained through food or supplements. It appears that Mother nature know best, and that sunlight, one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind, should not be ignored a as preventive therapy.
[i] Chang ET, Canchola AJ, Cockburn M, Lu Y, Wang SS, Bernstein L, Clarke CA, Horn-Ross PL. Adulthood residential ultraviolet radiation, sun sensitivity, dietary vitamin D, and risk of lymphoid malignancies in the California Teachers Study. Blood 2011;118:1591-9.