London - Too little sunshine can kill you, a leading researcher has claimed.
Richard Weller, an Edinburgh University dermatologist, says that far from being something to be scared of, regular exposure to the sun is good for us.
His research suggests it lowers blood pressure – and so cuts the risk of potentially deadly heart attacks and strokes.
And with other studies showing people with the most common form of skin cancer actually live longer than the average person, he says that those being diagnosed with the disease should be “congratulated”.
Writing in New Scientist magazine, he says the wider benefits of sunlight should no longer be ignored. Dr Weller says that although the benefits of sunlight are often attributed to vitamin D, a gas called nitric oxide is also important. Made when the sun hits our skin, nitric oxide lowers blood pressure when it enters the bloodstream. Although the reduction is small, it could “make a big difference”.
Dr Weller writes: “High blood pressure is the world’s leading cause of premature death and disease because it leads to stroke and heart disease. Even a small reduction in blood pressure across the whole population will reduce overall rates of stroke and heart attack.”
The theory could explain why the blood pressure of Britons tends to be lower in the summer than in the winter and why people who live close to the equator have lower blood pressure than those at higher latitudes. Further evidence comes from long-term studies of regular sunbathers.
A study of 30 000 Swedish women found the more they had sunbathed, the more likely they were to be alive 20 years later.
In fact, those who did the most sunbathing were twice as likely to still be alive as those who had avoided the sun completely.
And an analysis of Danes found that those who had been diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer, the most common form of the disease, were less likely to have a heart attack than the rest of the population. They were also less likely to die during the 26 years of the study.
This type of skin cancer is often caused by long-term exposure but it is usually easily treated even if disfiguring.
Cancer Research UK said too much sunlight clearly raised the odds of developing skin cancer, including the most deadly type.
However it said people need not shun the sun, but enjoy it without getting burnt.
Daily Mail