Health Tips For You

Taking sunbath is not any safer according the recent report. It only increases the risk of exposing your skin to harmful ultraviolet rays placing you at risk of developing skin cancers. The following is a article about 'tanning the skin' from Times of India.



There is no such thing as a safe tan, US and British researchers have found. They said in their review of published studies that tans and skin cancer both begin with DNA damage caused by exposure to ultraviolet rays light but many people, especially young, ignore or are unaware of this danger in a quest for a bronzed body.

“The signals in the cells that induce sun tanning appear to be DNA damage,” said Dorothy Bennett, a cell biologist at St.George’s, University of London, who wrote one of the papers.

“DNA damage is the first step in getting a mutation in cells that could lead to cancer, so there can’t be anything like a safe tan.”

The World Health Organization estimates that as many as 60,000 people each year die from too much ultraviolet light, mostly from malignant melanoma – deadliest form of skin cancer. The link between the skin cancer and damage from ultraviolet light from the sun or tanning booths is well known but the review published in the journal Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research suggests that even a little exposure is dangerous.

Another problem is the while genetic and other factors also contribute to skin cancer risk, mixed messages about the safety if ultraviolet confuses the public, Bennett added in a telephone interview.

Getting some sun shine is important because ultraviolet light spurs the body to produce Vitamin D. But people need far less ultraviolet exposure for this than it takes to tan, she said.

“A lot of young people don’t know about scientific evidence,” she said. “Anything that causes mutations in your cells increases your risk to cancer.”

Although more research is required, data suggests that indoor tannin beds, which are used mostly by young women, are linked to an increased risk of melanoma, and don not support that idea that tanning beds are safe.

In one of the three papers in the series published, Dr. David Fisher, dermatologist of the Society and Society of Melanoma Research, and colleagues from Massachusetts General hospital, Boston have explored the social issues and molecular mechanisms related to tanning caused by UV radiation.

Exposure to UV radiation for example, form sunbathing or using indoor tanning bed – affects the skin in a number of ways, including causing DNA damage, photo aging (damage to skin from chronic exposure to sunlight) and skin cancer.

The author says: “UV radiation exposure represents one of the most avoidable causes of cancer risk and mortality in man. Whereas genetic and other factors undoubtedly contribute importantly to skin cancer risk, the role of UV is incontrovertible”.