Sun exposure. By Marc Sorenson, EdD…
Endometrial cancer, also called corpus uterine cancer, is a reproductive cancer that takes the lives of many women. There are 60,050 new cases yearly from endometrial cancer and there are 10,470 deaths. Like many cancers such as breast and prostate cancer, sun exposure may have remarkable protective effects that should not be ignored.
Endometrial cancer mortality rates were found to be strongly inversely correlated with sun exposure in Dr. William Grant’s ecological studies.[1] [2] Other research, using Spanish data, found an inverse correlation between endometrial cancer mortality and sun exposure assessed by using latitude as an index of sun exposure—higher latitude means less sun exposure, which means greater cancer risk.[3] Corroborating this finding was research from Sweden; this 15.5-year study showed a 20% decrease in the risk of endometrial cancer among women who sunbathed in the summer, and a 40% decrease in risk in those who used a sunbed more than three times per year.[4] When the data was adjusted for confounding factors such as body-mass index and physical activity, the decrease in the risk of endometrial cancer was 50%!
The takeaway from this information is this: Don’t be taken in by the anti-sun cabal. Read all the facts before making a decision. And, always take care not to burn, whether in the sun or in a sunbed.
[1] Grant WB. An estimate of premature cancer mortality in the U.S. due to inadequate doses of solar ultraviolet-B radiation. Cancer. 2002 Mar 15;94(6):1867-75.
[2] Grant WB, Garland CF. The association of solar ultraviolet B (UVB) with reducing risk of cancer: multifactorial ecologic analysis of geographic variation in age-adjusted cancer mortality rates. Anticancer Res. 2006 Jul-Aug;26(4A):2687-99.
[3]Grant, WB. An ecologic study of cancer mortality rates in Spain with respect to indices of solar UVB irradiance and smoking. Int J Cancer 2007;120:1123-28.
[4] Epstein E, Lindqvist PG, Geppert B, Olsson H. A population-based cohort study on sun habits and endometrial cancer Br J Cancer. 2009;101(3):537-40.