Wearing sunscreen at all times may increase cancer risk rather than lowering it.

Vitamin D is nicknamed the "sunshine vitamin" because the skin makes it from ultraviolet rays. Sunscreen blocks its production, but dermatologists and health agencies have long promoted them as necessary for the prevention of skin cancer. Now some scientists are questioning that advice. This is because of new data showing that vitamin D is important in the prevention and even treatment of many types of cancer. Four separate, recent studies have found that it helped protect against lymphoma and cancers of the prostate, lung and, ironically, the skin. The strongest evidence however is in colon cancer.

Many people aren't getting enough vitamin D. It's hard to do from food and fortified milk alone. So the thinking is this: Even if too much sun leads to skin cancer, which is rarely deadly, too little sun may be worse. No one is suggesting that people fry on a beach. But many scientists believe that "safe sun," 15 minutes or so a few times a week without sunscreen is beneficial to health. Dr. Edward Giovannucci, a Harvard University professor of medicine and nutrition, laid out his case in a keynote lecture at a recent American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Anaheim, Calif. His research suggests that vitamin D might help prevent 30 deaths for each one caused by skin cancer. "I would challenge anyone to find an area or nutrient or any factor that has such consistent anti-cancer benefits as vitamin D," stated Dr. Giovannucci. "The data are really quite remarkable."

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