UniSci - Daily University Science News
Home Search
 

clear.gif (52 bytes)


Sunlight Associated With Reduced Risk Of Breast Cancer

Sunlight is associated with a reduced risk of breast and colon cancer, finds research in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The authors used death certificates to glean the numbers of deaths from five cancers between 1984 and 1995, across 24 US states. They aimed to assess the impact of residential and occupational exposure to sunlight on the likelihood of dying from breast, ovarian, colon, prostate and skin cancer.

As expected, the authors found that there were higher numbers of deaths from skin cancer the sunnier the area of residence, but death from the other four cancers was significantly lower in very sunny climates.

Working outdoors in a very sunny environment was also associated with fewer deaths from breast and colon cancer. And the geographical areas of greatest sunlight showed the strongest relationship. This finding was independent of the amount of physical activity required for the job.

The risk of death from all cancers, except skin cancer, grew stronger with increasing socioeconomic status.

The authors cite research, which has suggested a plausible explanation for the protective effect of sunlight. Laboratory experiments show that vitamin D seems to retard the speed of cancer cell division, including breast and colon cancer cells.

(Reference: Sunlight and mortality from breast, ovarian, colon, prostate, and non-melanoma skin cancer: a composite death certificate based case-control study 2002; 59:25762)

(Editor's Note: The full article is available at this URL.)

04-Apr-2002

 

 

 

 

clear.gif (52 bytes)

Add the UniSci Daily Java News Ticker to Your Site or Desktop.
Click for a demo and more information.

 

HOME | ARCHIVES | ABOUT | PIOs | BYLINES | WHY SCIENCE | WHY UNISCI | PROSTATE | POLIO

Copyright © 1995-2002 UniSci. All rights reserved.