Would you like to know the truth about sunscreens and skin cancer?

Dr Briffa's blog article here refers to the fact that "interests that are not scientifically based seem to be driving the heavy reliance on sunscreens as the first line of prevention against skin cancer." - Unfortunately, those interests that are not scientifically based may well have led to the use of sunscreens blocking the manufacture of vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, which is linked to helping to prevent cancer...

Higher blood levels of selenium linked to lower skin cancer risks

Higher blood levels of selenium may reduce the incidence of skin cancer by about 60 per cent, according to a new study from Dutch and Australian researchers. Writing in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, the researchers report that the mineral was associated with reduced risks of both basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).
Read article at nutraingredients.com

UK Incidence of Malignant Melanoma Now Exceeds 10,000 Cases

BBC News reports that Cancer Research UK is warning people against 'binge tanning', as rates of malignant melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, continue to increase faster than any other cancer.

As weather forecasters predict a hot summer in Britain, Sara Hiom, Cancer Research UK's director of health information, says, "Most melanoma skin cancers are caused by over exposure to UV rays given off by the sun and sunbeds." People are advised to avoid getting burned in the sun, to cover up with clothing, to wear sunglasses and sunhats, and to apply high factor sunscreen.

Reminder: there is more and more research finding that certain groups of people are short of vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, so it would probably be best not to take avoidance of the sun too far. For example, see BBC News item

HRT 'doubles risk of deadly skin cancer'

Women who take hormone replacement therapy to cope with the menopause could be doubling their risk of deadly skin cancer, according to new research. It found those taking HRT for more than six months at a time are twice as likely to get a malignant melanoma. The same study shows taking the pill can also increase the dangers, although to a lesser extent. Women on oral contraceptives for more than six months were 28 per cent more likely to develop a cancerous mole.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

Children are to be banned from using sunbeds in tanning salons to reduce the risk of developing skin cancer.

Children banned from sunbeds to combat skin cancer risk
Article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"The measure follows concern that youngsters are damaging their health with their desire to look bronzed.

British children have the highest rate of skin cancer in Europe.

A report found that cases of melanoma - the worst type of skin cancer - had leapt four-fold in 20 years.

Although the trade body, The Sunbed Association (TSA), instructs members not to admit under-16s, a survey by Which? in April found that 170,000 children below the age of 16 use sunbeds, including some as young as eight.

Young people have a 75 per cent higher risk of developing fatal skin cancer if they use a sunbed, according to Cancer Research UK. The younger the user, the higher the risk."

Almost half of all new suncreams do not offer protection against harmful UVA rays, a new study has shown.

Almost half of new suncreens 'do not offer protection against harmful rays'
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Although the vast majority protect against UVB rays, which cause the skin to burn, many do not shield against UVA rays, which penetrate deeper into the skin and are responsible for aging.

Scientists have shown that both forms of sunray can lead to skin cancer.

Mintel, the market research firm, looked at more than 750 suncreams launched across Europe in 2007.

It found that fewer than half offered protection against both UVA and UVB rays.

The majority were missing UVA protection, the company found.

Products display their level of protection against UVB rays in the sun protection factor (SPF) number listed on the bottle.

But this "factor" does not shield against dangerous UVA rays.

Instead suncreams which also screen wearers from UVA show their level of protection through a star rating system.

Last night experts warned consumers to ensure that the suncream they bought offered both forms of protection."

You can also reduce skin damage/aging by cutting down on salt and salty food.

Thousands of patients are at risk because skin cancers are not removed properly by GPs, according to a new report.

GPs leave skin cancer patients at risk
Article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Potentially lethal cancers can continue to spread because parts of the tumours are left in half of cases, researchers believe.

The findings follow a government drive for more skin cancer patients to be treated outside hospitals. Of more than 100,000 operations conducted in the NHS each year, an estimated fifth are now carried out by GPs.

The report, compiled by the British Association of Dermatologists, found that guidelines by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence were frequently ignored."

Wearing sandals and flip-flops can put people at risk of developing skin cancer on their feet, doctors have warned.

Flip-flops linked to skin cancer
Telegraph article

Extracts:

"Specialists say that wearing open-toed footwear can increase the chance of getting lesions as the skin becomes exposed to intense sunlight, a key cause of skin tumours, or melanomas.

Cancer that affects the feet is known as "acral melanoma" and typically occurs on the sole of the foot, between the toes or under the toenails.

Research shows that only half of patients with foot melanomas survive, compared with four out of five people who develop cancer elsewhere on their legs.

One clinic has seen at least two patients with sun-related foot cancer in the past three months.

Anthony Kontos, head of the clinic at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, said patients often mistook skin cancer on the feet for bruising."

"Exposure to sun in childhood is the biggest risk factor for melanomas."

"Bob Marley, the reggae singer, died from a melanoma on his foot he believed was a football injury. The singer refused to have his toe amputated for religious reasons and died when the cancer spread."

Sun bed ban for under-18s is being considered to reduce cases of skin cancer.

Sun bed ban for under-18s to cut cancer

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Children under 18 may be banned from using sun beds in a move designed to reduce cases of skin cancer.

The Department of Health confirmed that ministers were considering proposals to introduce an age limit, along with tighter regulation of the sun bed industry.

Another proposal being considered is a ban on coin-operated tanning salons, which campaigners say lead to over-use.

About three million people regularly use sun beds, while malignant melanoma rates have risen to 8,000 a year. With 1,800 deaths annually, skin cancer is the most common form of the disease among people aged 15 to 34."

Sunbed users are increasing their risk of developing a life-threatening form of skin cancer by three-quarters

Cancer danger among young using sunbeds

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Sunbed users are increasing their risk of developing a life-threatening form of skin cancer by three-quarters, experts have warned.

A report has established that using sunbeds from an early age increases the risk of malignant melanoma by 75 per cent. It was released by Cancer Research UK as part of the SunSmart campaign, which will focus this year on the dangers of sunbeds.

It comes after the British Association of Dermatologists called for under-18s to be banned from using tanning beds and for tighter controls on unmanned and coin operated booths.

Skin cancer is the fastest rising cancer in Britain, with cases increasing by almost half in the last decade. Almost 9,000 cases of malignant melanoma are diagnosed in the UK annually and more than 1,800 die from the disease each year."

Skin cancer is the fastest growing UK disease.

Skin cancer is fastest growing UK disease - Telegraph

Extract:

"Doctors issued a stark warning to holidaymakers yesterday as they revealed that skin cancer was now the fastest growing form of the disease in the UK.

Cases have "spiralled" in the past 10 years but thousands are still willing to risk getting a tan on holiday, experts at Cancer Research UK said.Skin cancer is just one of the "lifestyle cancers" that are on the rise as Britons risk their health by sunbathing, drinking too much and eating a poor diet.

The number of cases of the most dangerous skin cancer, malignant melanoma, has risen by 43 per cent in the last decade. In 2004 there were 8,939 cases diagnosed, compared with 5,783 in 1995, the Cancer Research figures showed.

Since the mid-1980s rates have doubled in women and tripled in men but a recent survey showed that even though most sunbathers knew the risks they still intended to get burnt on holiday."

"Other lifestyle cancers of the mouth, womb and kidney have all risen as alcohol consumption has increased and the obesity -epidemic has got worse over the past 10 years.

Mouth cancer, which is caused by drinking alcohol and chewing or smoking tobacco, has increased by 25 per cent in the last decade to 4,769 cases and womb cancer, which is linked to obesity, has risen by more than a fifth in 10 years. Smoking and being overweight increase the risk of kidney cancer, the number of new cases of which has risen by 10 per cent in the last decade to hit 7,044 cases in 2004.

Overweight and obese women are twice as likely to develop womb cancer due to hormone disturbances in their bodies, and cases have risen from 5,018 in 1995 to 6,438 in 2004.

Half of all cancers could be prevented with a healthier lifestyle, experts have said.

Lucy Morrish, statistical information manager at Cancer Research UK, who compiled the figures, said: "While incidence rates for some cancers have fallen over the past decade, others are rising and many of these could be prevented if people avoided excessive sun exposure, smoking and obesity and limited their alcohol intake.""

If only people were to be told the truth! - Obesity is the major factor in most cancers, and tragically the wrong information/advice has been given by doctors for decades and continues to be given. - Obesity is not caused by overeating; it is caused by fluid retention - and fluid retention can easily, rapidly and safely be reduced by eating less salt/sodium. - Dieting is unnecessary for losing excess weight; indeed, dieting is counterproductive and actually HARMFUL.

Because doctors have been telling people and continue to tell people that to lose weight you have to eat less/eat fewer calories, overweight people keep trying to do this. The result is that they are eating insufficient food and so as well as the excess weight being harmful in itself, their inadequate food intake reduces their immunity still further and so the bad advice causes a snowball of increasingly poor health is the doctors' patients/victims.

IF YOU ARE OBESE, PLEASE GIVE UP 'SLIMMING'! - AVOID EATING SALT OR SALTY FOOD AND EAT GOOD HEALTHY MEALS WITH PLENTY OF FRUIT AND FRESH VEGETABLES. - THIS WILL REDUCE THE FLUID RETENTION AND SO YOU WILL LOSE EXCESS FLUID AND THEREFORE LOSE EXCESS WEIGHT.

IF YOU HAVE GOOD REASON TO BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE FAT RETENTION TOO, THEN DO NOT EAT A LOW FAT DIET (HARMFUL AND KNOWN TO LEAD TO MANY CASES OF DEPRESSION). - TO REDUCE FAT RETENTION, YOU NEED TO INCREASE YOUR INTAKE OF CALCIUM, MAGNESIUM AND VITAMIN D. - See http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/search/label/calcium and BBC webpage about calcium from The Truth About Food series of programmes

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Many sunbeds emit dangerous levels of cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation.

Warning over the rising risk of sunbeds - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Sunbed users are being warned that four out of five of the devices emit dangerous levels of cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation.

More than 80 per cent of sunbeds transmit UVB, the most damaging type of UV ray, at levels above European and British standards, a study has found. Researchers discovered a huge rise in sunbed use and a growing danger linked to the use of increasingly high-strength, stand-up booths and sunbeds.

The number of private sunbeds rose by 30 per cent from 1997 to 2005, according to the study in the British Journal of Dermatology.

The study, which compared the use of sunbeds in parts of Scotland in 1997 and 2005, showed a big increase in health risks. While the 1997 study showed the cancer risk to be equal to the UK summer sun, the average unit now carries the same risk as the midday Mediterranean sun.

Users were ignorant of the risks. Asked about the dangers of sunbeds, almost half did not cite skin cancer.

Last month, a mother of two children, died from skin cancer after using a sunbed twice a day for seven years. Zita Farrelly, from Salford, died at 29, three days after her daughter's first birthday."

EU bans misleading 'sunblock' labels

EU bans misleading 'sunblock' labels - Telegraph

Extract:

"The European Commission is to ban creams that are described as offering total protection from the sun.

It fears that sunblocks which say they offer "100 per cent protection" or other similar claims lull customers into a false sense of security.

No sunscreen can deliver total protection from the effects of the sun, which include premature ageing and skin cancer.

By next summer, all sun creams will have to display the sun protection factor rating as well as whether they offer low, medium, high or very high protection from ultraviolet light.

Meglena Kuneva, the EU consumer affairs commissioner said: "Consumers need clear, accurate information on sunscreen products.""

You can reduce your sensitivity to the sun by cutting down on your intake of salt and salty food - especially if your skin is thin/fragile.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...(o:

Melanoma is on the increase in Britain

Cases of skin cancer more than triple - Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Deadly cases of skin cancer are rising dramatically across Britain as people spend more time outdoors, experts have revealed.

The incidence of malignant melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer, has soared by almost 20 per cent in two years in the warmest parts of the country.

Dr Sandeep Cliff, a consultant dermatologist, said that Britain's culture had not adjusted to cope with increasingly hot summers. The doctor from East Surrey Hospital, in Redhill, said: "We get one hot day and everyone gets half-naked. In other countries which are used to the sun, they cover up and avoid the mid-day sun."

Government figures show malignant melanoma is the UK's fastest growing cancer, with rates tripling in the three decades to 2003, the latest year for which national statistics are held.
But a conference of the British Association of Dermatology (BAD) will learn this week that since 2003 the rise in skin cancer cases has been even higher. The latest research shows that in Cornwall there has been an increase of 18 per cent in the number of cases between 2003 and 2005.

Researchers say the West Country is particularly vulnerable to skin cancer as its naturally fair-skinned population struggles to cope with increasingly hot summers."

If you are obese/overweight, your skin is likely to be overstretched and thinner than normal and so you will be more sensitive to the sun. - You would find it helpful to reduce your intake of salt and salty foods because this would reduce the fluid retention which has caused your excess weight, and your skin would become less overstretched/vulnerable/fragile/sensitive to the sun.

It may well be that the increasing incidence of obesity is a contributory factor in the rise of melanomas.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...(o:

Young mother dies of melanoma caused by use of sunbed

Mother dies after seven years of sunbed use - Telegraph

Extract:

"A young mother has died of skin cancer after using a sunbed twice a day for seven years.

Zita Farrelly, 29, died three days after her daughter's first birthday.

The mother-of-two, from Salford, Greater Manchester, started using sunbeds when she was 14. She gave them up seven years later but last August found a mole on her leg and was diagnosed with the skin cancer melanoma.

Doctors told her they believed her cancer was caused by the amount of time she spent on sunbeds. Despite chemotherapy she died nine months later. Her boyfriend and aunt are now warning others about the use of sunbeds.

Phil Burtwistle, who is caring for their children, Phebie, one, and seven-year-old Caldhan, said sunbeds had "destroyed the family's life"."

Sunscreen is inadequate as protection from sun damage to the skin.

Experts warn against reliance on sunscreen - Telegraph

Extract:

"Using sunscreen is no substitute for covering up, doctors warned yesterday.

Protective clothing and hats are the still the best way to guard against skin cancer and the ageing effects of the sun, said experts writing in The Lancet medical journal.

Dr Stephan Lautenschlager, a skin specialist at Triemli Hospital in Zurich, and his colleagues carried out a review of sun protection strategies around the world.

They concluded: "Wearing sunprotective clothes and a hat and reducing sun exposure to a minimum should be preferred to sunscreens. Often this solution is deemed to be unacceptable and sunscreens could become the predominant mode of sun protection.

"Nevertheless, sunscreens should not be abused in an attempt to increase time in the sun."

Sunscreens had been shown to protect against sunburn and less serious forms of skin cancer, said the experts. However, there was no conclusive proof that they prevented the potentially deadly melanoma skin cancer.

The condition affects more than 8,100 men and women in Britain each year and causes almost 2,000 deaths."

There are many prescription drugs that tend to cause sun sensitivity, e.g. HRT, and 'slimming' also makes you more sensitive to the sun because it makes your skin thinner and weaker. - Lessen the strain on your skin by giving up 'slimming'/dieting forever! - You can easily lose a lot of excess weight by reducing your salt/sodium intake.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)