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Sunlight seen
protecting against some cancers LONDON
- Although too much exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays can cause skin
cancer, sunshine may have a protective effect against some cancers, U.S.
scientists said on Thursday. They
suspect vitamin D, the so-called sunshine vitamin that is also found in
fortified milk and dairy products, cod liver oil and some fatty fish, can
help to slow down the speed at which cancer cells divide. "This
study found inverse associations between both residential and occupational
exposure to sunlight and mortality from female breast and colon
cancers," said Dr Michael Freedman of the National Cancer Institute
in Bethesda, Maryland. In
research reported in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Freedman and
his team studied deaths from breast, ovarian, colon, prostate and skin
cancers in 24 U.S. states between 1984 and 1995 to determine the impact of
sunlight on the diseases. Not
surprisingly they found more deaths from skin cancer in sunnier states but
the number of people who died from the other cancers was lower in the
sunshine areas. Working
outdoors in a sunny climate was also associated with fewer breast and
colon cancer deaths but not with the other cancers. Freedman
said more research is needed to explain the association between sunlight
and certain cancers. |