ETS Tanning Bed Blog

When I was a kid, we played outside every day from about April to November and if it wasn't too cold in the winter, our mothers sent us out in the snow. Today, kids are inside playing video games, watching movies, surfing the Internet and simply not getting the sunlight and vitamin D they need to maintain their personal health.

While I don't want to turn this into a story about how I had to walk ten miles to school (it was actually only eight), I think this downturn in sun exposure could translate into a downturn for our children's health.

For instance, did you know that rickets is actually making a comeback ? Rickets?! Yes, the same disease that plagued mine-working children during the Industrial Revolution in sun-starved Britain . That rickets.

In the early 1920s, it was Johns Hopkins researcher Elmer McCollum who discovered the connetion between rickets and vitamin D. In fact, it was McCollum who "discovered" vitamin D by curing rickets after heating cod-liver oil (a commonly-believed cure at the time), which destroyed its vitamin A properties, but left an unknown nutrient. McCollumn named it D, since vitamins B and C had recently been discovered.

Although most of our milk products, and even eggs, are fortified with vitamin D, it doesn't seem to be enough to stop this previously eradicated disease. Another alarming statistic cited in the article linked above (Vitamin D Levels in Kids are So Low that Rickets is Back with a Vengeance) is that kids' bones are developing normally, but are significantly softer.

The consequence of lower vitamin D is more breaks. Forty-six percent more girls are breaking their arms than compared to 40 years ago and 32 percent more boys. Scientists and doctors believe this may be the result of widespread vitamin D deficiency, which has been brought about because of reduced sun exposure.

With kids either staying inside or being constantly lathered with sunscreen, they're simply not getting the sun exposure they need. And truthfully, it's not that much - just 10-15 minutes of direct sunlight 2-3 days per week to get those all-important UV-B rays. By increasing a kid's vitamin D levels, we can reduce rickets, and even prevent future diseases from occurring when they're adults.

In past posts, we've talked about how you can tan naked to eliminate tan lines , and to make sure you're getting a healthy-looking tan all over.

What we haven't talked about is how to protect your. . . uh, personal areas while you're spending time in a tanning bed.

Why? Well, apparently, over-exposure to UV rays can actually cause sterility. And because the tip of the male penis is actually mucosal membrane, like human eyelids, and not the same kind of skin as the back of your hand, it can actually become discolored or disfigured if it's damaged.

Similarly, the eyelids, nostrils, lips, and inner ear do not contain pigment, and are not meant to hold color, so it's important to keep them protected. You can apply SPF lotions and lip balms to the appropriate areas, but what should you do about other areas that you just shouldn't apply lotion to?

There are commercial products available to cover a man's penis or a woman's nipples, or you can just use a piece of nylon/lycra. Cotton actually only blocks 6 - 9% of UV rays, which means you can still get burned.

It's also important for women who have chemically-treated hair to keep their hair covered while they're tanning, because your hair can actually change color inside the tanning bed.

While I have yet to meet anyone who has suffered from any of these ailments as a result of nude tanning, the mental image of discoloration is enough to send almost anyone running to cover up with these types of products.

Yet another personal health study has been published linking vitamin D deficiency to colon or colorectal cancer. According to the scientists at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, "vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of developing colorectal polyps and cancer ."

And while this isn't necessarily new news, it's one of the first studies to measure the impact of vitamin D supplements as opposed to simply measuring the outcome of a vitamin D deficiency or measuring vitamin D levels retroactively. More importantly, it's also one of the first studies to propose a genetic reasoning for why certain individuals may respond more or less favorably to vitamin D based therapies.

The personal health study followed 50 colorectal cancer patients, each of whom received 2000 IU (International Units) of vitamin D every day. Every patient saw their vitamin D levels go up, but those undergoing chemotherapy saw a significantly slower increase –– meaning there could be genetic changes occurring in the vitamin D metabolizing proteins.

They're not the only ones who say so.

According to an article on the Vitamin D Council website, in 1985, Cedric and Frank Garland found that increased sunlight and vitamin D reduced the likelihood of colon cancer . In 1989, the Garlands further found that vitamin D deficiency –– as created by air pollution and haze –– played a major role in colorectal cancer.

By understanding those genetic changes, the scientists at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute hope to improve patients' responses to vitamin D therapies, which are quickly becoming a popular chemotherapy alternative or complimentary therapy.

I'm no scientist, but it sounds like vitamin D just scored another major point on the critical vitamin board.

I'm definitely not a regular reader of the American Journal of Respiratory and Clinical Care Medicine and I'm going to guess that neither are most of my readers. However, next month's issue of the journal has a compelling article connecting vitamin D deficiencies with increased or aggravated asthma symptoms.

And while the article title, Serum Vitamin D Levels and Markers of Severity of Childhood Asthma in Costa Rica , may not suggest it's the most compelling nighttime reading, anyone looking for more proof about the health benefits of vitamin D should definitely check it out. Personally, I'm a collector of this kind of information. If you're a tanning salon owner with curious or conscientious customers, you should be too.

According to the research, which was done across a number of schools and hospitals including Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, low vitamin D levels in children is linked to several indicators of allergy and asthma severity, including increased steroid dependence and hospitalization.

The study followed 616 Costa Rican children with asthma, tracking both their vitamin D levels and the severity of their asthma symptoms. They found that a disproportionate number of those children (175) had insufficient vitamin D levels; those same 175 also tended to have the most aggressive forms of the condition.

The end result? More vitamin D = Good for asthma sufferers.

If you're an asthma sufferer, this could be yet another reason to stay on top of your vitamin D intake. And if you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that indoor tanning is a great source of UV-B rays, which are useful for creating vitamin D in the body.



Original article citation:
Brehm, John M.; Celedón, Juan C.; Soto-Quiros, Manuel E.; Avila, Lydiana; Hunninghake, Gary M.; Forno, Erick; Laskey, Daniel; Sylvia, Jody S.; Hollis, Bruce W.; Weiss, Scott T.; and Litonju., Augusto A.; Serum Vitamin D Levels and Markers of Severity of Childhood Asthma in Costa Rica, Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 2009; 179: 765-771.

If you're like me, you've been following the swine flu outbreak with cautious interest, you're aware of it, know how to keep yourself safe, but you certainly aren't in a panic. Basically, I know it's out there, I'm practicing good hygiene (frequent hand washing, avoiding shaking hands or touching people, avoiding groups and public gatherings), but I'm not letting it run my life.

That doesn't mean my ears don't perk up when I hear a swine flu story on the news or see a mention of it in my news reader. This week, I stumbled across this great Seattle article on the link between vitamin D deficiencies and weakened immune systems .

In the article, 'Low vitamin D Increases Flu Risk,' the author says that because vitamin D is crucial to the immune system, it's even more important now, in the midst of a potential flu epidemic.

The author, Kathleen Jade, says, "Studies have shown that children with vitamin D deficiency are predisposed to respiratory infections, especially viral infections rather than bacterial (Walker, 2009). In adults, studies show that higher vitamin D levels in the blood are associated with lower levels of upper respiratory infections (Ginde, 2009)." And guess what? Swine flu is a respiratory infection.

If you're concerned about your immune system because of potential swine flu cases in your area, consider boosting your vitamin D intake. Just 5-10 minutes of UV-B ray exposure a few days a week is all you need. This is why it's especially important in the winter — prime cold and flu season — for you to look to indoor tanning as a possible source of vitamin D.

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a high percentage of critically ill patients also suffered from vitamin D deficiencies.

Now, I'm all about vitamin D and its incredible health benefits (bone health, immune boosting, etc), but I'm a little concerned about the quality of this study.

First, it only followed 20 male and 22 female patients, making a total of 42 study participants - not exactly comprehensive research. And although the study found that only 7 percent of those individuals (3 of them) had sufficient vitamin D levels, it didn't do the best job of addressing the implications of that or acknowledging why these people were vitamin D deficient.

In the article, the author states "this study cannot establish causality between hypovitaminosis D and adverse outcomes," but he does concede that vitamin D deficiency in critically ill patients could result in potentially worse outcomes than for those whose vitamin D levels are fine.

We believe in and support the research being done by Drs. Lee, Eisman, and Center, and other vitamin D researchers. But I'd love to see further research on this along with suggestions on how we can get vitamin D to critically ill patients.

Because most critically ill patients are typically hospitalized or in care, they're most likely not getting that daily dose of sunlight or UV-B rays that is so critical to vitamin D creation in the human body. One way to do it may be portable face lamps or even lightweight, indoor tanning systems.

Face lamp and indoor tanning systems are commonplace in the medical systems of Nordic countries like Norway and Finalnd, so why aren't we using them here?

Last month, USA Today published an interesting article covering the relationship between skin types and vitamin D absorption .

While dark-skinned or darker-skinned individuals always thought themselves to be safe when it came to sun exposure, it seems they may now have to worry about being too safe. You see, darker-skinned people tend to absorb sunlight and synthesize vitamin D at a much slower rate than light-skinned individuals.

According to Boston University professor Michael Holick, it's why African-Americans have higher rates of prostate cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer than the general population.

What about tanning?

While the article suggests increasing vitamin D intake, they promote supplements rather than sunlight or indoor tanning exposure. According to the article, a dark-skinned individual may need as much as 2 hours of sunlight every few days in order to get enough vitamin D, but they don't acknowledge UV-B exposure attainable through regular indoor tanning.

So, while the mainstream media continues to tout the benefits of vitamin D, they're still not acknowledging indoor tanning as an acceptable source of the critical vitamin. If you see an article like this in your paper, please send it in to this blog and remember to write a letter to the editor, reminding them of the UV-B benefits of indoor tanning.