By Marc Sorenson, EdD. Sunlight Institute…
In end stage kidney disease, heart disease and other vascular diseases are often the most dreadful accompanying disorders, also known as a comorbidities. Any healthful procedure that can mitigate the distress of these diseases can be a godsend to the patient suffering from kidney deterioration. UV therapy, similar to sun exposure, has now been shown to alleviate some of the difficulties of cardiovascular diseases and thereby increase the quality of life.[1]
The research was conducted on fourteen kidney-dialysis patients. They were irradiated with whole-body UV for six months. Before and after that time, they were measured for several physiological functions to determine if there had been worthwhile changes in indicators of cardiovascular diseases. These were the results:
- Hematocrit increased, indicating a larger volume of red blood cells, which are important for carrying oxygen to the heart, vessels and all other parts of the body.
- The patients required less erythropoietin, a hormone that stimulates production of red blood cells and hemoglobin in case of low-tissue oxygen. This would indicate that oxygen need was reduced after the UV treatment, putting less stress on the cardiovascular system.
- In addition to, or perhaps because of, these positive changes, maximal oxygen uptake increased, indicating greater work capacity and physical fitness.
- Workload capacity increased and lactic acid production decreased, also indicative of enhanced physical fitness.
- Pulse rate decreased, indicative of an ability of the heart to deliver more oxygen per beat through the cardiovascular system. This is also a fitness measurement.
- Both systolic and diastolic blood pressures decreased, showing a healthier vascular system.
The researchers made the following conclusion: “Cardiovascular disease is the most important comorbidity [to kidney disease]. Exposure to simulated sunlight that contains both UVB and UVA reduce cardiovascular risk factors and improve quality of life.”
Protect your kidneys or protect your heart either by safe exposure to the “simulated sunlight” of sunlamps or tanning devices, or by regularly exposing yourself (again, safely) to mankind’s best friend the Sun.
[1] Krause R, Stange R, Kaase H, Holick MF. UV Irradiation and Pleiotropic Effects of Vitamin D in Chronic Kidney Disease – Benefits on Cardiovascular Comorbidities and Quality of Life. Anticancer Res. 2016 Mar;36(3):1403-8.
By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute…
An impressive research paper on colorectal cancer demonstrates that both vitamin D supplementation and ultraviolet-light (UV) exposure are effective in reducing that cancer.[1] To begin the research, mice that are bred to be susceptible to intestinal tumors were put on a vitamin D-deficient diet, which reduced vitamin D levels significantly and spurred the development of non-cancerous tumors. Then, the diseased animals were either supplemented with vitamin D, or exposed to UV radiation. Remember that UV is the type of non-visible radiation produced by the sun.
In both cases (vitamin D supplementation and UV exposure), the area covered by tumors was significantly reduced. However, only UV exposure reduced the progression of the tumors to malignancy (full-fledged cancer).
The authors made the following statement regarding their somewhat surprising finding:
“Mortality from colorectal cancer decreases as ambient levels of UV radiation increase, suggesting that UV exposure is critical to the prevention of the disease. This study demonstrates the biological plausibility in mice of a causal relationship between moderate chronic UV irradiation or vitamin D supplementation and an impairment of outgrowth of primary intestinal cancer. While both UV irradiation and vitamin D supplementation decreased the overall area covered by tumors, only UV exposure inhibited malignant progression” [emphasis mine].
The Garland brothers in 1980 demonstrated that Sun exposure was inversely associated with colon cancer.[2] They assumed that sun-stimulated vitamin D was the mechanism that caused the inverse association, but it now seems that sun exposure has cancer preventive mechanisms beyond vitamin D.
Remember: sunlight alone will always be better than vitamin D alone, because there are many healthful chemicals, beyond vitamin D, that are produced by sun exposure.
[1] Heggert Rebel, Celia Dingemanse-van der Spek, Daniela Salvatori, Johannes P.T.M. van Leeuwen, Els C. Robanus-Maandag and Frank R. de Gruijl. UV exposure inhibits intestinal tumor growth and progression to malignancy in intestine-specific Apc mutant mice kept on low vitamin D diet. Int J Cancer. 2015 Jan 15;136(2):271-7.
[2] Garland CF, Garland FC. Do sunlight and vitamin-D reduce the likelihood of colon cancer? Int J Epidemiol 1980;9:227–31.
By Marc Sorenson, EdD, Sunlight Institute
Sometimes we come across research, conducted many years ago, that carries a great message of health for those who seek the sun. In this case the research was done in 1988 and involved a study on mice that were given a chemical protocol designed to induce skin cancer.[1] Half of the mice were also given ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation during that protocol. After 20 weeks of cancer a cancer initiation-promotion protocol with two carcinogenic chemicals, there were 75% fewer cancerous tumors per mouse in the mice that were irradiated UVB.
Another 24-week study reported in 1992 showed that 12 weeks of UV radiation, applied either before or after chemical initiation of cancer, resulted in a 61% reduction in the mice that were irradiated before the chemical treatments, and 50% in the mice that were irradiated during the treatments.[2]
The message is this: exposure to UV light from sunlamps or sunshine may be protective against skin cancer development. So what’s new? Many of us have been promulgating that message for many years, and this research simply shows that we were not the first to understand the cancer-preventive influences of sunlight.
[1] Gensler HL Prevention of chemically induced two-stage skin carcinogenesis in mice by systemic effects of ultraviolet irradiation. Carcinogenesis. 1988 May;9(5):767-9.
[2] Gensler HL, Simpson PJ, Powell MB. Inhibition of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate-induced tumor promotion in murine skin by systemic effects of ultraviolet irradiation. Photochem Photobiol. 1992 Jul;56(1):25-30.