Women who sunbathe have a better life
expectancy than those who avoid the sun,
despite an increased risk of skin cancer.
A new meta-analysis published in the
Journal of Internal Medicine looked at the data
on almost 30,000 Swedish women followed for
20 years and found that more sun exposure
was related to a decrease in heart disease and
non-cancer/non-heart disease deaths.
“We found smokers in the highest sun
exposure group were at a similar risk as nonsmokers
avoiding sun exposure, indicating
avoidance of sun exposure to be a risk factor
of the same magnitude as smoking,” said
lead author Dr. Pelle Lindqvist. “Guidelines
being too restrictive regarding sun exposure
may do more harm than good for health.”
The study could not determine whether
vitamin D intake was related to the
‘sunbather paradox’.