Australia might be a sunburnt country but its residents continue to get sunburnt themselves and risk developing skin cancers, as confusion reigns over vitamin D and sun safety.
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A new study has found many media reports often give unsafe exposure advice, encouraging people to abandon sun safety messages and glorifying sun exposure for the sake of vitamin D.
Advice about dangerous fads such as obtaining a “gentle pinking” were also uncovered as researchers at UNSW and Notre Dame University analysed 211 articles published in Australian newspapers from 2000 to 2017 containing the terms ‘skin cancer’, ‘vitamin D’ and ‘melanoma’.
They found conflicting advice and glaring inaccuracies about safe sun exposure and the need for vitamin D supplements.
Some 30 to 50 per cent of Australians are deficient in Vitamin D, which is essential for a healthy immune system and healthy bones. Vitamin D is made naturally in the body in response to exposure to sunlight, and is also found in some foods, meaning it is important to balance safe sun exposure and adequate vitamin D intake.
The research, published in the Australasian Journal of Dermatology, found almost 60 per cent of articles reported that Australians were not getting enough time in the sun, causing vitamin D deficiency.
Getting sun on your skin to form vitamin D is really important for the immunity of your skin and your general immunity … but your skin shouldn’t go pink or the sun has stopped being a friend to protect your immunity and will start to kill your immunity
- Dr Ian Holten
Only a third of articles highlighted the negative effects of too much sun exposure or mentioned UV levels when advising times to consider sun protection, and most failed to mentioned geographical variance.
“Articles often gave unsafe sun exposure advice, such as advising obtaining ‘a gentle pinking’, suggesting people would ‘tolerate higher than currently recommended exposure levels and their health would benefit’,” the authors wrote.
“Many articles encouraged abandoning sun safety messages and glorified sun exposure using sensational headings and using negative language to describe sun safety.”
Sun exposure is the cause of roughly 99 per cent of non-melanoma skin cancers and 95 per cent of melanomas in Australia, according to the Cancer Council. But vitamin D is essential for bone and musculoskeletal health.
The authors also found that print media tended to overemphasise pilot or preliminary study results.
According to the Social Health Atlas, there were 129 men and 125 women diagnosed with skin cancers in Ballarat from 2006 to 2010. Ballarat’s rate of melanoma is higher than the national average, and the rate per 100,000 people is clearly higher than Bendigo.
In 2017, 2993 Victorians were diagnosed with melanoma and 270 died from the disease. Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common cancer in Victoria, with doctors treating more than 92,000 cases a year.
Ballarat plastic surgeon and skin cancer expert Dr Ian Holten said managing the need for sun exposure for vitamin D and to avoid skin damage was a “tricky balance”.
“Getting sun on your skin to form vitamin D is really important for the immunity of your skin and your general immunity … but your skin shouldn’t go pink or the sun has stopped being a friend to protect your immunity and will start to kill your immunity,” he said.
During summer, people with fair skin need about 10 to 15 minutes of sun early in the day. After that sun protection is needed including good quality sunscreen.
Dr Holten said if you do have sun-damaged skin, the damage can be reversed and it’s never too late to wear good sunscreen. And if you notice a sun spot, mole or freckle change it’s vital to get it checked as soon as possible.
“Early detection, even of nasty ones, is the key,” he said.
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