Sun, Sunscreen and Your Skin - the Low Down

Every year the Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases their annual guide to sunscreens,¹ and this year's data again shows that you must be very cautious when choosing sunscreen to apply to your skin.

LOOK OUT FOR THESE

1. Oxybenzone This is one of the most troublesome ingredients found in the majority of sunscreens.Oxybenzone is believed to cause hormone disruptions and cell damage that may provoke cancer.

2. Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A palmitate) Sunscreen products may actually increase the speed at which malignant cells develop and spread skin cancer because they contain vitamin A and its derivatives, retinol, and retinyl palmitate.

3. Fragrance Beware of products that contain synthetic fragrance, as this term describes any number of harmful chemicals that do not have to be listed individually on the label.

WHAT TO CHOOSE

• Avoid Spray Sunscreens

• Protects Against Both UVA and UVB Rays: SPF only protects against UVB rays, which are the rays within the ultraviolet spectrum that allow your body to produce vitamin D in your skin.  But the most dangerous rays are the UVA rays. Make sure your sunscreen protects against both.

• Avoid Sunscreen Towelettes or Powders: Dubious protection

• Avoid Spray Sunscreens: Contain toxic particles that can be inhaled

Does Your Sunscreen Offer UVA Protection?

Even a sunscreen that claims to be "broad spectrum" may not provide adequate UVA protection. As EWG reported:⁵

"After a 34-year process of reviewing sunscreen safety and efficacy, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has implemented enforceable rules on sunscreen marketing and UVA protection. The FDA allows American sunscreen makers to claim their products are 'broad spectrum,' even though many offer much poorer UVA protection than sunscreens sold in other countries.

Based on the products in our 2014 database, EWG estimates that about half of all beach and sport sunscreens could not be sold in Europe because they provide inadequate UVA protection."

So, look for a sunscreen that contains the minerals zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.

Use Sunscreen When Absolutely Necessary

If you work in the outdoors, are planning a trip outdoors, or if you need to protect sensitive areas of your face (like around your eyes), safe sunscreen is certainly recommended. But if you apply sunscreen every time you're out in the sun, you'll block your body's ability to produce vitamin D.

Optimizing your vitamin D levels may reduce your risk of as many as 16 different types of cancer, including pancreatic, lung, ovarian, breast, prostate, and skin cancers.

Studies show melanoma mortality actually decreases after UV exposure. Moderate exposure to sunlight, particularly UVB, is protective against melanoma (the deadliest form of skin cancer) due to the vitamin D your body produces.

>>  That being said, you NEVER want to BURN!

5 Top Sunshine Tips

Spend some time outdoors in the sun regularly, but do so with some commonsense precautions:

• Expose your skin to sunlight for short periods daily
• If you're in the sun for longer periods, cover up with clothing, a hat or shade
• Shield your face from the sun daily using a safe sunscreen or a hat.
• Consider the use of an "internal sunscreen" like astaxanthin to offer additional protection.
• Consume a healthy diet full of natural antioxidants. Fresh, raw, unprocessed foods deliver the nutrients that your body needs to maintain a healthy balance of omega-6 and omega-3 oils in your skin, which is your first line of defense against sunburn.

Thanks to Dr. Mercola for a comprehensive look at Sun, Sunscreens and Skin diseases.

Do Statins and Aspirin Play a Role in Cancer Prevention?

What are Statins?

• Statins are a type of drug that blocks the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which the body needs to make cholesterol
• Statins help to treat and prevent heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol
• Research suggests that statins may lower the risk of certain cancers such as colorectal and skin cancers. This is because statins work against cellular functions that may help control tumor initiation, tumor growth, and metastasis
• Two cardiovascular clinical trials have demonstrated a significant reduction in skin cancer among patients taking lipid-lowering drug

According the National Cancer Institute..

Animal research and ongoing observation of people who take statins suggest that these drugs may lower the risk of certain cancers, including colorectal and skin cancers. Statins' known benefits in preventing cardiovascular disease, along with years of strong evidence that these agents are relatively safe, have led researchers to explore whether statins have the potential to prevent cancer. People should not take statins for cancer prevention outside of a clinical trial.

Specifically, statins reduce (or block) the activity of the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase and thereby reduce the levels of mevalonate and its associated products. The mevalonate pathway plays a role in cell membrane integrity, cell signaling, protein synthesis, and cell cycle progression, all of which are potential areas of intervention to arrest the cancer process.

Potential Side Effects

Although generally well-tolerated, statins have been associated with muscle pain (myopathy) and liver toxicity (hepatotoxicity). People who take statins should be monitored by their health care providers for these reasons.

Clinical Trials

NCI's Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Consortia initiated a trial for people at increased risk for colorectal cancer who also have been found to have aberrant crypt foci (ACF), in 2005.  ACF are clusters of abnormal cells in the lining of the colon and rectum that have been associated with the development of colorectal tumors. Using existing technology, ACF represent the earliest stage of detectable risk for colorectal cancer.

Patients diagnosed with stage I or II colon cancer are eligible for this trial after they have undergone surgical treatment (resection) to remove their primary tumor. Patients may also have received post-surgical (adjuvant) therapy. Study participants will be stratified (categorized) according to whether or not they have a family history of colorectal cancer, whether they regularly take aspirin and at what dose (none, 81 mg, or 325 mg), and whether they received prior adjuvant therapy. They will then be randomly assigned to take either rosuvastatin (Crestor) or a placebo pill daily for 5 years.

Participants will have physical exams every 6 months during the 5-year study period and will undergo complete colonoscopies within 180 days before randomization, and at 1, 3, and 5 years afterward. Doctors will follow the participants for the development of adenomatous polyps, the incidence of metachronous colorectal cancers, and the recurrence of their primary colon cancer.

“We’re also very interested in aspirin because we know that it has some benefit in preventing colorectal polyps and cancer. So, this study is designed to accept people who currently take aspirin as long as they agree to continue their aspirin over the course of the study,” added Dr. Bruce Boman (Protocol Chair), National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project.

And what about Aspirin?

Like statins, aspirin is widely used to protect the heart. The long-term use of aspirin has been shown to provide protection against the development of colorectal polyps and cancer. Since statins and aspirin are often used together, researchers are interested in exploring their ability, when combined, to prevent colorectal polyps and cancer. A recent case-control study examined the effects of a daily statin and low-dose aspirin, individually and together, on the development of colorectal tumors. The researchers found that using both drugs together reduced colorectal cancer risk more than the use of either drug alone. Consequently, one of the secondary endpoints in the NSABP-P-5 trial is to see if the combination of rosuvastatin and aspirin has either additive or synergistic effects.

For More Information

Call NCI’s Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237). The toll-free call is confidential.

Think Twice Before you Lay on a Tanning Bed

Ten years ago, I tried a tanning bed ONCE, at the encouragement of a teenaged niece. I am sightly claustrophobic (thankfully) so didn't repeat the experience.  I also wasn't sure I felt safe in the first place. 6 years later, I had a small spot on my chest that turned out to be Squamous Cell Cancer.  Thankfully I caught it very quickly and had it removed.

UV light is not something to mess with.  In my opinion companies that offer tanning bed services are in fact socially and morally irresponsible in light of the prevalent data about the dangers.  To me, they are no better than Cigarette companies who promote and make their wealth from selling a product that has no Benefits, and a rather long list of Risks!

Well, chances are you know someone who has used a tanning bed, or you may have tried it yourself. Please read this article and pass it on to anyone who may be deterred from repeating the experience, or trying it for the first time.

We need to take care of each other.

The following article appeared on NPR's health blog.

Use Of Tanning Beds Common, Despite Cancer Risks

by Scott Hensley

May 10, 2012

Ed Andrieski/APJodi Duke, a 35-year-old melanoma survivor living in Aurora, Colo., shows the scar left on her arm from melanoma. She used tanning beds as a teen and advocated for a bill to regulate tanning in the state that failed in 2007.

Who's really hooked on tanning beds?

Odds are she's young, white and lives in the Midwest.

Figures just published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report paint a detailed picture of indoor tanning habits across the country.

Overall, in 2010 about 5.6 percent of adults used a tanning bed, or other device that blasts UV rays at skin to darken it. Tanning sprays didn't count.

But the most likely adult users, as you might have guessed, are women between 18 and 25. Around 30 percent of white women in that age group had used an indoor tanning machine of some sort in 2010.

"I am astounded" by the results, Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, told the Associated Press.

People who go in for indoor tanning tend to do it quite a bit.  About 58 percent of white women who tanned indoors did it 10 times or more in a year.  For white men who tanned indoors, the comparable figure was 40 percent.

Indoor tanning equipment that exposes a person to UV rays (not tanning spray) carries the risk of skin cancer. The frequent tanning sessions found in the survey increase the risk.

"What tanning beds are doing is concentrating the same kind of rays that we get from the sun; so, you're getting a much bigger dose" than you would from the same amount of time outdoors, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Dr. Allan Halpern, told Shots when we talked to him about an earlier study on the risks of indoor tanning.

Melanoma, a type of skin cancer, is on the rise. And the increase in melanoma is greatest among young women, a point the researchers say could be related, in part, to tanning bed use.

"Indoor tanning is particularly dangerous for younger users because indoor tanning before age 35 years increases the risk for melanoma by 75%," wrote the researchers, who are from the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

~~~

~ Be Well. ♥

Dark Green Leafy Vegetables (Organic)

Mom said 'Eat Your Veggies'..and we pouted. But Mom was wiser than we ever suspected!

 

Spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, leaf lettuce, mustard greens, collard greens, chicory, dandelion and Swiss chard are excellent sources of fiber, folate and a wide range of and flavonoids.

Carotenoids are a group of phytonutrients that lend the red, orange and yellow hues to fruits and vegetables...beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, etc..  Carotenoids are present in all living organisms, but humans are not able to make them and must get them from food.

Carotenoids seem to prevent cancer by acting as antioxidants. Some laboratory research has found that the carotenoids in dark green leafy vegetables can inhibit the growth of certain types of breast cancer cells, skin cancer cells, lung cancer and stomach cancer.

The Second Expert Report noted probable evidence that foods containing folate decrease risk of pancreatic cancer and that foods containing dietary fiber probably reduce one’s chances of developing colorectal cancer.