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Sun Exposure Prevents
Prostate Cancer
The Lancet, Vol.
358, August 25, 2001, pp. 641-42 (research letter)
STAFFORDSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM. British researchers have confirmed that exposure
to sunlight helps prevent prostate cancer. Their study involved 210 men
diagnosed with prostate cancer and 155 men with an enlarged prostate, but no
prostate cancer (controls).
The men were
interviewed in order to estimate their lifetime sun exposure. Men with the
lowest exposure were found to have a three times greater incidence of prostate
cancer than did men with a high lifetime exposure. Sunburns in childhood were
found to be particularly protective with men having had one or more childhood
sunburns being six times less likely to develop prostate cancer than men who had
not experienced childhood sunburns.
A history of regular foreign holidays, presumably in sunnier climes, also had a
protective effect with men having had such holidays having a 60 per cent lower
risk of prostate cancer. Regular sun bathing was also found to be protective.
The risk of prostate cancer was not associated with skin type, hair colour or
eye colour, and the associations with sun exposure were not affected by
including occupation, vasectomy or dietary factors in the analysis.
The researchers are not sure why sun exposure is protective, but speculate that
vitamin D and parathyroid hormone may somehow be involved. Editor's
Note: Excessive sun exposure has been linked to an increased risk of certain
non-melanoma skin cancers.
These cancers, however, are rarely fatal whereas prostate cancer often is. So on
balance, cultivating a healthy suntan is still a good idea.
Luscombe, Christopher J., et al. Exposure to ultraviolet radiation: association
with susceptibility and age at presentation with prostate cancer. The Lancet,
Vol. 358, August 25, 2001, pp. 641-42 (research letter)
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