WE MIGHT be in the middle of the British winter but I鈥檓 already thinking about summer. As a parent, the arrival of summer has its own rituals: stocking the freezer with ice lollies, unearthing the paddling pool 鈥� and bracing myself for the usual onslaught from the sunshine police.
First come the newspaper articles claiming we must not only cover up our flesh, but that we must do so with special, tightly woven fabrics, and preferably stay indoors between 11 am and 3 pm. Then come the letters from school insisting that all pupils wear hats and be lathered in sun cream.
But the tide seems to be turning. The UK鈥檚 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) thinks we need to change our attitude to sunshine. Sunlight is essential for our skin to make vitamin D, so it has health benefits as well as risks, according to the . Having weighed all the evidence, the authors conclude that as long as people don鈥檛 get sunburned, we should be actively trying to soak up the rays.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 revolutionary,鈥� says of Boston University, a long-time proponent of the benefits of sunshine.
The UK鈥檚 sun phobia was triggered by rising rates of skin cancer in Australia, a nation that gets a lot more UV than these shores. But then came a resurgence of rickets among UK children, especially in people with darker skin. Vitamin D is needed for strong bones, so children who don鈥檛 make enough become bow-legged.
But rickets is only the earliest and most obvious sign of vitamin D deficiency. It also causes problems with the immune system, possibly leading to the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis in later life, and makes us more susceptible to cancer. So although skin cancer rates are higher in those who get more sun, other kinds of cancer are lower, including colon, breast and prostate cancer.
Because of this research, I have been among those who flout the advice, even for my children 鈥� while making sure we don鈥檛 get burned, of course. I cheered in 2010, when several doctors鈥� groups , although they still recommended that people should limit their daily exposure to 鈥渁 matter of minutes鈥�.
The latest NICE guidance goes further, saying that for adults, the chief constraint should be avoiding sunburn. For children the authors are more cautious. On the one hand they say children should stay in the shade when UV levels are high. On the other, however, they talk about explaining to children that sunshine has benefits as well as risks and that skin type affects how much sun you can take. The guidelines specifically warn against cancer scaremongering, saying that: 鈥淎 skin cancer prevention campaign should also mention the risk of underexposure鈥�.
鈥淎t least,鈥� says Julia Pakpoor, a vitamin D researcher at the University of Oxford, 鈥渢hey are a step in the right direction.鈥� Schools, please take note.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淪oak up the sun, just don鈥檛 get burned鈥�
