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0 pointsjackalope13y ago0 comments

I baked like a lobster once after spending too much time on a boat without any sunscreen. I was extremely concerned about the cancer risk and was surprised to come across this in the wikipedia article on sunburn:

...if sunscreen penetrates into the skin, it promotes indirect DNA damage, which causes the most lethal form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma. This form of skin cancer is rare, but it causes 75% of all skin cancer-related deaths.

So, while the sunburn you get without wearing sunscreen technically causes more cancer, it is of the mild and nonfatal kind. Now I'm left with one more dilemma added to good vs. bad cholesterol, omega-3 vs. omega-6, natural vs. alkali-processed cocoa, etc.

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raverbashing13y ago

Having your skin burned by sun rays (with a certain frequency) is worse than using sunscreen. And it is certainly not only 'mild cancer'

Constantly damaging a tissue (mechanical, chemical, radioactive damage) is a trigger for cancer

Not to mention the Ozone layer hole (in the southern hemisphere)

beagle313y ago

And yet, athletes who constantly subject their body to mechanical damage, have a much lower incidence of cancer than the general population. Yes, there are a lot of confounding factors and it is hard to tell what causes what.

But there is also a lot of evidence for hormesis - the idea that small amounts of bad stuff is good for you; a small amounts of alcohol daily is better than no alcohol at all, and better than exactly same cumulative amount consumed weekly. And I assume the same thing goes for sun, and mechanical damage, although I'm not familiar with the literature.

raverbashing13y ago

The hormesis idea is nice, but it doesn't work if the damage is too much.

So I suppose a moderate dose of sunbathing is beneficial (and not only because of Vitamin D)

There are some cases where cancer is believed to be caused by repeated damage to a tissue, example (search for 'hot beverages') http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/type...

guard-of-terra13y ago

Even in the same age range? I imagine most athletes are in ages 16-35, where getting cancer is pretty rare (save for some inherited ones) and should be equal for all occupations and lifestyles.

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illuminate13y ago

" I was extremely concerned about the cancer risk and was surprised to come across this in the wikipedia article on sunburn:"

This sounds like you're reading the article incorrectly perhaps? The sunscreen isn't causing DNA damage in and of itself, it prevents one form of severe harm and leaves others intact. Don't go in the sun unclothed if you want to avoid cancer.

"Now I'm left with one more dilemma"

It's not a dilemma. It's always a bad idea to get long exposures of sunlight if you can avoid it.

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0 pointsjackalope13y ago0 comments

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raverbashing13y ago

Having your skin burned by sun rays (with a certain frequency) is worse than using sunscreen. And it is certainly not only 'mild cancer'

Constantly damaging a tissue (mechanical, chemical, radioactive damage) is a trigger for cancer

Not to mention the Ozone layer hole (in the southern hemisphere)

beagle313y ago

raverbashing13y ago

The hormesis idea is nice, but it doesn't work if the damage is too much.

So I suppose a moderate dose of sunbathing is beneficial (and not only because of Vitamin D)

There are some cases where cancer is believed to be caused by repeated damage to a tissue, example (search for 'hot beverages') http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/type...

guard-of-terra13y ago

Even in the same age range? I imagine most athletes are in ages 16-35, where getting cancer is pretty rare (save for some inherited ones) and should be equal for all occupations and lifestyles.

1 more reply

illuminate13y ago

" I was extremely concerned about the cancer risk and was surprised to come across this in the wikipedia article on sunburn:"

"Now I'm left with one more dilemma"

It's not a dilemma. It's always a bad idea to get long exposures of sunlight if you can avoid it.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse