ETS Tanning Bed Blog

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.