Sun Safety, Sunscreen Safety and Vitamin D

According to Medscape, in the late fall of 2021 Valisure, an online pharmacy who tests every batch of medication they sell, tested 294 batches of sunscreens and after-sun products and found that 27% of them had high levels of the chemical benzene. These levels were three times the emergency FDA limit of 2 parts per million (ppm). Sunscreen absorption does occurs, and the chemicals of sunscreens have been found in the blood. Long-term exposure to benzene has been shown to cause cancer in humans. Valisure is currently petitioning the FDA to remove these products. In the past, Valisure has succeeded in getting the FDA to remove other medications they’ve found to have harmful levels of chemicals, so there is good precedence that they will succeed here.

Additionally, the chemicals in sunscreen may be harmful to other forms of life, including marine life. A committee established by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has reviewed these potential environmental hazards and they’ll be setting out over the next 2 years to consider the implication if people stopped using sunscreen.

Stopping using sunscreen isn’t the answer because of the direct link between sun exposure and skin cancer. For instance, Medscape reports that five blistering sunburns between the ages of 15 to 20 years old increases melanoma risk by 80%. They recommendation utilizing shade, sun-protective clothing and sunscreen. However, I would revise this with the addition of the use of more natural forms of sunscreen that utilize zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which utilize safer chemicals. There are downsides of more natural forms of sunscreen, such as having to apply it more frequently, not being as water proof, the presence on the skin is more noticeable, and with some brands the whitish color to the skin can be unappealing. But, your health is worth it to use healthier forms of sunscreen.

Medscape goes on to say that using sunscreen with “an SPF 15 every day can lower your risk of squamous cell carcinoma by around 40% and melanoma by 50%. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher.” Sunscreen should contain UVA and UVB protection. A few years ago you would be able to find sunscreen that was only UVA protective but by now they all should be dual protective; nonetheless, check the labels.

Unfortunately, Vitamin D absorption requires you to absorb UVB sunrays. How much sun is enough for Vitamin D absorption but preventative of skin cancer is not established, but here’s what skincancer.org says about it: 1) you still absorb some UVB with sunscreen. SPF 15 filters out 93% UVB rays, SPF filters out 97% UVB rays, and SPF 50 filters out 98%. 2) Proponents of unprotected sun exposure recommend no more than 10 to 15 min of exposure 2-3 times a week followed by good sun protection. Both of these combined, skincancer.org states will allow you to produce all the Vitamin D your body can produce. They do state, however, that DNA damage due to the sun occurs within just one minute of sun exposure. They propose to get your Vitamin D from a combination of high level Vitamin D foods instead, such as fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, tuna, cod liver oil) and low level Vitamin D foods, such as egg yolks, beef liver, cheese, and fortified foods.

You do have to be careful with supplementation. Your body stores Vitamin D and doesn’t readily let it go so ingesting too much can lead to toxicity. Furthermore, many companies remove the Vitamin D in cod liver oil so you have to make sure this hasn’t been done. Check the label to see how much Vitamin D is in your cod liver oil but skincancer.org state that one tablespoon has 1360 IU of Vitamin D.

Lastly, everyone should be having their Vitamin D blood levels checked every one to two years (and more frequently when you’re titrating your blood levels) because of how important it is to your immune and musculoskeletal systems. Functional medical doctors like to see that adults maintain a blood level around 80 ng/mL and believe that over 100 ng/mL is too high.

In the end, get outside to enjoy the sun safely, get checked for skin cancer regularly, and keep an eye on your Vitamin D levels while making sure to eat plenty of foods with Vitamin D.

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