So there’s this new EPA sun safety program in Washington State. When you read the article, it’s clear that there’s still a lot of confusion surrounding the topic of safe sun exposure and vitamin D.

Although I completely agree that people need to BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO GET A SUNBURN, the outreach specialist for this program says “he echoes scientists who say that about 10 minutes of sun a day on your arms and legs in the summer will give you plenty of vitamin D.” This is just baloney. At our clinic in the middle of summer most people are testing abnormally low with regard to vitamin D. Mind you, these are folks who are getting plenty of time outside in the mid-day summer sun. What’s a possible explanation for this phenomena? We stand by our belief that we just don’t get the UVB rays that we need at our latitude to generate adequet vitamin D levels, but we do get ample damaging UVA rays - hence the high incidence of melanoma.

So, two big tips for today:

1. Check your vitamin D levels and treat low vitamin D levels adequetly.

2. Always avoid getting a sunburn!

Later,
Darcy