Maxing Out: Too Much Running, Vitamin D, and Calcium?

Is it possible to get too much Vitamin D? Will you live longer if you don't run too fast or too far? And should you stop taking those calcium supplements your doctor has been hounding you about for decades?

Yep, as is often the case, new studies are coming out just to f--ck with your head suggesting that conventional wisdom about exercise and nutrition may be more complicated than previously thought.

Vitamin D-packed Mushroom Powder and other Shocking Discoveries (Plus Giveaway!)

A couple weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the "2011 Dole Healthy Lifestyle Summit" at the Four Seasons Westlake Village, sponsored by the Dole Nutrition Institute and the California Health and Longevity Institute. I had such a great time and came back with so much amazing information that  I immediately cranked out 7 Facebook status updates, 5 blog posts, and 183 tweets I totally freaked out and avoided writing anything at all.  But since I'm sincerely hoping to get invited to blogger events in the future, I thought it might be time to cough up something in the way of a Dole recap.

Now when I first got invited to the event, I swear it was called the "Dole Health and Happiness Summit." But then somehow the name changed! I wonder if the organizers saw me cutting a ginormous swath through the buffet table, swilling up all their pinot noir, cavorting sans swimsuit in the hot tub, making burdensome special requests of hotel staff, giggling inappropriately with the other attendees, and swiping extra free samples of everything in sight? I'm guessing a frantic inter-office email went out: "Change the summit name, ASAP! Crabby McSlacker is obviously WAY too into 'Happiness' and has totally forgotten about 'Health!' Who the heck invited her, anyway?"

Anyway, despite all the fun, I did actually learn a lot of interesting stuff about nutrition and exercise while I was there. Plus, seeing as we're just kicking off Crabby's Crass Cavalcade of Commercialism the wholesome holiday entertaining and shopping season, I thought a healthy food-related giveaway might be in order.

So wanna find out what the deal is with the amazing mushroom powder, enter the giveaway, and learn about some other things I picked up at the conference? (None of which were communicable, btw, so you can put away the antibiotics.)

Here's what we got:

Mushroom Powder: A Natural, Vegan, Kick-Ass Source of Vitamin D.

So what's the deal with the Vitamin D Mushroom Powder?

Well, there's been a lot of press over the years about how important Vitamin D is for health, yet deficiencies are widespread--even among folks who think they're getting plenty. (And say, have you been tested yet?)  Unfortunate health ramifications can include osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, MS, and diabetes.

Many folks who don't want to risk skin cancer with lots of sun exposure try hard to get enough Vitamin D through either their diets or by taking supplements. But if you're vegan or vegetarian, that gets tricky. Most natural and supplemental sources of D come from animals.  The Dole folks also try to scare even non-vegetarians away from conventional supplements with the "ick" factor: they're generally derived from "wool grease, yeast or fish livers."

Strangely enough, mushrooms, like people, are able to synthesize Vitamin D from light. The Dole folks tinkered around for a while, and came up with a way of flashing light on the shroooms, packing 'em full of boatloads of natural Vitamin D, and grinding them into a powder. Voila! A natural, non-animal source of Vitamin D.

 Mushrooms Seeing the Light

But how does the powder taste? Just fine, thanks! We had lots of food during the conference with the powder in it, and it was undetectable. However, if you add a whole bunch to something to make it detectable on purpose, it can either add a little savory mushroom flavor to dishes that could use it, or it has a chocolate-like flavor when combined with sweet ingredients.  Since the conference, I've put tons of the stuff in smoothies, soup, scrambled eggs, and coffee and it hasn't grossed me out once!

There are also a whole ton of other health benefits from mushrooms, but I got the sense that from a  marketing perspective, consumers prefer a simpler message. So Vitamin D it is.  Sadly though, while the plucky Dole Nutrition Institute research folks are enthusiastic about the product, it doesn't seem to have the usual behemoth Dole Brand backing.  This means outreach is charmingly grass roots.  They're talking to bloggers and having recipe contests! If you don't win a bottle in our giveaway, you can go to the Dole Depot to order, because the stuff isn't in stores.  Poor mushroom powder! It's so good for you, and could be a staple in vegan or vegetarian households, yet apparently it's not sexy enough for grocery stores.  I have to confess, I'm rooting for it.

What else did I learn at the summit?

Other Health and Fitness Bloggers are Way Better At Everything Than Crabby, But That's OK!

 

The conference was a bit humbling, but the awesome bloggers who attended were so warm and approachable that I mostly managed to forget how much they all seemed to outclass me in terms of blogging, tweeting, networking, taking photos, demonstrating cooking skills, building marketing empires, and running marathons.  (Seriously, two attendees ran marathons right after the conference was over.) 

For much better coverage of the conference and great pictures, check out several great posts by Meghann at Meals and Miles, starting with The Test Kitchen, Monica's awesome posts at Run Eat Repeat including the Dole Healthy Lifestyle Summit, and two excellent reports by Kristin at Iowa Girl Eats.

Kristin (Iowa Girl) and Crabby,
Eating For the Thousandth Time That Day

Tina also has several great posts about the summit at Carrots and Cake, and just as I was about to post, I found Jenn and Tish showed up at Fit Bottom Girls with another fab recap!

 Knowing Jen & Tish would be there I even went to yoga...!

Perhaps the most fascinating (to me at least) coverage of the summit was by Lorrie from The Token Fat Girl, summing up what it's like to feel insecure and out of place at these sorts of things. I could relate! But she seemed so charming and friendly I had no idea she felt that way at the time.

Not All Big Food Companies Are Out to Poison Consumers, Ravage the Environment and Create a Nation of Junk Food Addicts!

So after a spending a couple of days in luxurious accommodations, enjoying personal wellness consultations, spa services, delicious cuisine, fine wine, and the company of a surprising number of PR and Dole folks, all of whom seemed to be incredibly helpful, brainy, inquisitive, funny, warm, and just generally awesome...the question arises: can one really be objective about the company hosting such an enjoyable event?

Probably not! And yet there seemed to be genuine evidence all around, both in terms of Dole products and company values, that made me question how easily I tend to mindlessly stereotype any large, well-known food purveyor. I tend to think if it's Big and Successful, it's must be doing something nasty to get that way.

Yet from the subsidized company cafeteria which serves incredibly healthy food, to the fitness centers employees use, to the decision to use BPA-free plastics in their packaging, to the reduction of added sugars whenever possible... it really does seem like the Dole folks are trying to be positive force for health.

They specialize in fruits and vegetables, two things I am heartily in favor of.  Some of it, true, is packaged and processed. Would I personally buy their yogurt-covered Real Fruit Bites myself? Eh, probably not; they didn't rock my socks off, and I'm a health blogger who lives a couple blocks from Whole Foods with plenty of healthy snack and dessert options. But I also tried their Apple/Pear Fruit Crisp with a bit of nonfat vanilla yogurt on top, and wow, an excellent alternative to pie with a fraction of the calories, fat, and sugar.  I'd buy that with my own money!

I'm guessing that Dole's packaged products would particularly handy for busy families.  If you're a harried parent of 4 kids with a full time job living in an under-served community looking for a candy substitute with a long shelf life that will actually get eaten and not thrown in the trash? They've got what you're looking for. Their prepared salad kits win health awards; they were highlighting a gizmo that turn bananas into an ice-cream like dessert without adding fat or sugar...  they've got innovative packaging ideas that mean frozen blueberries that thaw into the consistency of fresh, bananas you buy by the bunch but that will ripen over time.  Not everyone has the time or funds to go to fancy specialty food stores and prepare time consuming complicated healthy meals from scratch.

Or maybe that's the 50 minute Swedish massage talking.  Who knows!

Farro, Ripe Bananas, Muscle Zappers, Smoothies in a Bowl, and other Miscellaneous Things I Happen to Remember

Besides the official presentations, there were also lots of opportunities to compare notes with other nutball health fanatics healthy living enthusiasts. There were some great tips from bloggers as well as the brainy folks at the Dole Nutrition Institute (who have a very informative nutrition website, btw). Had I taken better notes, I would have a lot more, but hell, this post is getting long anyway.

• Farro was a whole grain I'd been meaning to check out because it's really good for you; they served it at one of our meals and it was delicious!
• Ripe bananas actually contain as much resistant starch as greenish ones. (If you've been following the whole resistant starch thing that the Prevention Magazine folks have been pushing then hooray! If not, then never mind.)
• If you pour your big ol' green smoothie in a bowl and eat it with a spoon, it takes longer and you feel more like you've had a "real" meal.
• There's a contraption you can wear that zaps your muscles and makes them contract involuntarily; I got to try it and it was trippy! If I ever test one out for real, I'll be sure to let you know.
• Future generations may not be as hopelessly screwed-over as one would expect by the proliferation of junk food! There is a program called Teaching Gardens bringing gardening, cooking classes, and an appreciation of whole foods to schools nationwide.

Oh, and if I Ever Become a Powerful CEO of a Multinational Corporation I'm Going Straight to CHLI for an Executive Physical and Then I'm Going to Have a Massage and Perhaps Become Immortal

We got a tour of the California Health and Longevity Institute, and wow, who came up wit the incredible idea to combine medical services, nutrition, fitness and wellness services, cooking classes, weight loss packages, and then put it all in a freakin' Four Seasons Spa??? You can get physicals, serious medical treatment, cosmetic and dental work, and tweak your lifestyle with all kinds of consultants and coaches. Never before have I toured a medical suite and found myself not wanting to leave! Well, not unless heavy sedation with euphoria-inducing controlled substances was involved.  And hey, for reality tv show buffs, apparently Extreme MakeOver Weightloss Edition is filmed there. I got a consultation with exercise specialist Laurie Streff, who was awesome. (And yes, Laurie, I'm still doing my intervals, I swear!)


And Now, Finally, To The Giveaway!

Five count 'em, five, people can win a container of Portobello Mushroom Powder by leaving a comment indicating that you'd like some by Thursday November 17th. The Random Number Generator will pick the winners among those interested.  Kind enough to leave a comment, but don't really want a bottle? Well, in order to keep from hurting the mushroom powder's feelings, there's no reason to go out of your way to say so.  I'll just draw from comments that mention wanting to try it. (And hey, maybe a stocking stuffer for the vegetarian in your life?)

Sadly, due to food shipping issues, this one is U.S. only. (But remember, we still have Jillian's  BodyMedia Fit Armband giveaway going, also until Thursday night the 17th, and anyone can enter that one). Both drawings will happen Friday the 18th, so be sure to check back to claim your prize.

Wow, the post lasted almost longer than the conference!  Want some mushroom powder, or have any thoughts about corporate-sponsored get always, packaged food, fruits and vegetables, or anything else?

Fall Colors, an Apology, and a Quick Health Reminder

Photo: harold.lloyd

So the Lobster and I are back from our brief New England Fall Foliage tour, and though we were too lazy to take pictures, we had a great time!

Er, well, most of the trip, anyway. Perhaps not the night when we'd settled down in our lovely campsite by the pretty pond, finished dinner, and were just preparing for a peaceful night's sleep in our trusty campervan when...

BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!!

Our propane alarm went off, warning us of a potential gas leak.

Did I mention this was a completely deserted campground inside a beautiful state park miles from anywhere that promised awesome hiking, and that it was already paid for and nonrefundable?

We carefully considered our options: we could mute the frantic bleating sound, assuming it was only a false alarm (albeit the first one ever in seven years). Of course there would be small chance we might asphyxiate in our sleep, but as far as accidental death goes... that's really not an unpleasant one, right?

Nighty Night, Sleep Tight!

(Photo: O Pish Posh)

Much better to go to sleep inhaling propane than be wide awake and meet up with a huge hungry grizzly bear, or fall off a cliff or something.

Warning: Hurts More Than Falling Asleep.

(Photo:fdecomite)

Plus, if we never woke up, then we wouldn't have to unpack and clean the van again on our return!

But on balance, we decided it was probably worth hauling our sleepy asses back out of the lovely forest and onto the highway in search of a motel. And instead of hiking the next morning, we'd attempt to find an RV repair shop, one of our perennial favorite road-trip amusement stops.

As it turned out, the reason no one else was in our pretty campground even though it was the height of fall colors? All the leaf-peeping tourists were crammed into every motel room within two hours of us. After numerous "No Vacancies" we finally found a room at "America's Best," which we later learned must be short for the less well-known "America's Best Shithole" motel chain.

To be fair, as far as shithole motel rooms went, it probably was one of the best bets out there. To summarize:

Downsides: grease, grime, cigarette-burned bedclothes, rusted metal fixtures, water-stained ceilings, odd unidentifiable smears on doors and walls, a tiny lumpy double bed, funky moldy/garbagey smells, tattered carpet and drapes, peeling wallpaper, banged-up furniture, cobwebs, missing coffee-maker, cracked mirrors, and a couple of curious houseflies.

Upsides: No gunfire, prostitutes, drug-dealers, drunken screaming neighbors, rodents, arachnids, vipers or cockroaches. Plus, the toilet, while grimy, actually flushed and the shower had hot water. And it was cheap!

The Happy Ending: Van got fixed the next morning, our hiking and touring resumed that afternoon, and we consoled ourselves over our temporary misfortune with a Special Road Trip Treat: cheeseburgers!

So Sorry!

Alert readers may notice a bit of blogging laziness lately, as I gear up for the Cranky Fitness Big-Ass Giveaway and Cross Country Road trip. I've been terrible about answering emails, commenting at my favorite blogs, and doing much in the way of extensive health and fitness research. Again, thank goodness for helpful co-bloggers! And I swear that once I get settled on the west coast I'll start doing researchy posts where I try to dig up and report on actual useful information. Or barring that, at least I'll scout around and find some soccer players in their underwear, Sarah Haskins videos, or cute Lolcats.

And now for the promised health reminder:

Summer's Over, How's Your Vitamin D?

Many people, especially those in northern latitudes, don't get nearly enough vitamin D during the winter. (And we don't mean northern latitudes like Fairbanks, we mean northern like Boston and San Francisco.) Consider supplementing with some D-3, or get a few minutes of early morning or late afternoon sunshine without sunscreen. Perhaps sometime this winter, Cranky Fitness will sponsor a clothing-optional blogathon for Vitamin D awareness!

Outside is Better, But Maybe the Window's Open?

(Photo: kindofindie)

So send in your pictures of yourself blogging naked in the winter sunshine and we'll... well, I'm not sure what we'll do, besides giggle, but it will be arguably good for your health and may boost our pageviews.

Or, a more practical idea: next time you have a physical, ask to have your Vitamin D blood levels tested. Sure, depending on your doctor you may end up feeling like a high-maintenance hypochondriac, but screw it, it's worth it to get a number and have some clue if you're deficient. Some folks do all the right things and still somehow end up low.

(Bonus: if you take the test and find out your blood levels are great, it's an awesome smug feeling!)

Wait, I Forgot, Why Do We Care About Vitamin D?

It's the new hip nutrient (acai berries are so last year), and it seems to be linked to lowering risk of all kinds of health problems. It appears Vitamin D lowers risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, autoimmune diseases like M.S., diabetes, and Alzheimer's.

Thanks for your patience! Any thoughts on fall foliage, crappy motels, interrupted vacations, vitamin D, or nude blogging?

Oh Boy, Another Exciting Vitamin D Lecture!

Photo: Leo Reynolds

So since the last post I wrote was about dead whales, I'm thinking it's probably time to return to a health-related topic. Perhaps even remind you about a crucial nutrient you may not be getting enough of?

But useful information is so boring! So at the end of this post I'll be sure to educate you about one method of getting Vitamin D post a beefcake photo of a nearly nude Italian mens soccer team. Because that's just the kind of informative public service pathetic pandering you've probably come to expect here at Cranky Fitness!

And yeah, I know we've posted about Vitamin D many times before, because, well, it's good for you. But lately the research on just HOW good it is for you keeps piling up. (Or put, another way, the evidence about how screwed you are if you don't get enough D is getting scary). Yet unfortunately, most people either haven't gotten the message about how crucial Vitamin D is, or they've blown it off because we get 97,000 other health warnings every week and it gets hard to pay attention to them all.

However, as it happens, both Women's Health and Health Magazine, two magazines I like to steal information from read, did round-ups on Vitamin D this month. So I thought, heck, with so much information on hand, I'd stick a bunch of it all in one place.

Because as the Women's Health folks point out, over 2,000 genes are regulated by vitamin D. Apparently D is one bossy vitamin! Michael Holick, a Vitamin D expert from Boston University, adds that "it affects cell death and proliferation, insulin production, and even the immune system."

Here are some specifics; most of it comes from the Health Magazine Vitamin D article. (And sorry I don't have links here to the actual studies. That would require a lot of additional googling and I'm too busy because I have, like, 6 glasses of milk to drink and a big honking plate of salmon to eat! And I better hurry because I think I need to do work in a few hours of nude sunbathing before it gets too dark. Or something like that. I may have read it all a little too fast. But anyway, Health Magazine is pretty reliable about fact-checking their research, so I'm trusting 'em on this.)

So why should you try hard to get enough vitamin D? Because it can:

Lower Your Heart Disease Risk
People with the highest D levels had up to a 50% lower risk of heart disease, while those with the lowest had a 62% increased risk of heart attacks or strokes. It's thought that vitamin D helps lower blood pressure and regulates hormones affecting blood vessels and heart muscles.

Help Prevent Cancer
A vitamin D researcher at UCSD, Cedric Garland, says “we could prevent 150,000 cases of cancer annually if we could just increase vitamin D to optimal levels.” Research suggests sufficient vitamin D reduces risk of breast, colon, prostate, and ovarian cancers. For example, women with high D blood levels had a 50% lower risk of breast cancer than those with the lowest blood levels.

Cut Risk of Multiple Sclerosis and other Autoimmune Disorders
In a study out of Harvard University, researchers found a 40% lower risk of MS in women who took a daily supplement of at least 400 IU of vitamin D. There is also research to suggest that vitamin D might lower risk of other autoimmune disorders too, like rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and Crohn’s disease. And vitamin D might even lower inflammation in healthy folks as well.

Fight Colds and Flu
One study indicated that women who took 800 IU of vitamin D daily were three times less likely to develop colds or the flu. And women who got 2,000 IU reported even fewer symptoms.


Improve Mental Health and Brain Function
Raising vitamin D levels seems to increase serotonin, which helps regulate mood and fights seasonal affective disorder. It also seems to help neurological function, keeping your brain sharp as you age as opposed to a big mushy mess.

Assist with Appetite Regulation
Low levels of D mess with leptin levels, which in turn screw up your "I'm full" signals--which can lead to Serious Cupcake Abuse. It's somewhat of a vicious cycle, because overweight folks have more difficulty using vitamin D, because excess fat can absorb vitamin D, making it unavailable.

Build Strong Bones
You need vitamin D to absorb calcium and phosphorus, which will help prevent osteoporosis and bone fractures. And you don't want either of those or you're going to have to go on TV like poor Sally Field and talk up medications like Boniva. (Perhaps if she'd been the "Walking Nun" or the "Running Nun" or the "Jumping Nun" instead of the "Flying Nun" she'd have higher bone density? OK, now all the young folks who never watched Sally Field in the Flying Nun probably think I'm having a psychotic break from insufficient vitamin D. But I swear, it was a real show.)

See? I didn't make it up.

So, You Think You're Getting Enough D?

Most people aren't getting enough for optimal health, especially those living in northern latitudes who can't get enough from sunshine.

Sure, the RDA is only something like 200-400 IU, depending on how old you are. But the National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends 400 to 800 IU if you're under 50, and 800 to 1,000 IU if you're older. But many experts are raising the bar even for younger folks, and suggesting up to 2,000 IU for optimal health. (On the other hand, other sources like the Mayo Clinic consider 2,000 as an upper limit, because taking too much Vitamin D can cause health problems).

Probably the best thing to do is get your blood levels measured and find out if your levels are low, normal, or awesome. Apparently more than 75% of us lack the awesome amounts that help fight disease. Then once you know where you stand, adjust accordingly.

Apparently those of us who live at latitudes above 37 (hello, Minneapolis, Boston, and San Francisco!) are at more risk of deficiency. However, the UCSD expert guy interviewed in Health thinks “every woman should consider getting checked.” (Why not men? I missed that part. Perhaps because the expert figured all the men were off reading Men's Health instead?)

So How Do You Get More Vitamin D?

Eat!
Good natural food sources are oily fish like salmon, sardines, and tuna. There are also lots of fortified foods like milk, fruit juices, soy milk, and some cereals and yogurts.

Take a supplement
Normally, experts are all "Don't take pills, just get all your nutrients from real food" but in this case, the advice seems to be much more supplement friendly. Perhaps because lack of D is such a big deal. Make sure it's D-3, which is metabolized much more easily than D-2.

Get some sun
Yeah, skin cancer is definitely a concern. But more experts seem to be suggesting that the health trade-offs might favor a bit of sun exposure, especially if you're careful. So you should go easy, avoiding midday sun, and keep it to 10 minutes or less per day.

And, um, sunscreen or clothing will interfere with the process, so you may want to bare some skin!



(And yeah, this Italian soccer team is in the locker room where it's hard to absorb much vitamin D... but let's just pretend they're going outside dressed like that, ok?)

Does Crabby Get Enough D?
I don't know! I sometimes skip the sunscreen on my legs on early morning runs (even though that exceeds the recommended 10 minutes, but whatever). I also drink a lot of milk and take a Vitamin D supplement. So I hope I'm ok.

Do you folks worry about D, and if so, do you do anything about it?

Office workers can get skin cancer?

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, at this time of year the sun coming out behind the clouds is a Big Deal. People stop talking and stare in disbelief. They find sudden, unconvincing excuses to get outside.




Me, being a virtuous little worker bee, I try to keep typing while I hitch my chair a bit closer to the window in an attempt to soak up some rays. Turns out that's a bad idea. Who knew?

When the temperature is hovering around freezing, it's hard to go outside without wrapping self in layers and layers of clothing.

If the point of going outside is to soak up rays, this presents a problem. But it's even worse trying to get sunshine through glass.


It seems that's dangerous.


Unfair! I want to complain.

Here's the prob:
UVA = the bad stuff, the stuff you're supposed to put on sunscreen to
get away from.
UVB = the rays that cause skin to make vitamin D.

UVB rays are absorbed by plain ole glass.
UVA rays are transmitted just fine.

So sitting by the window soaking up rays can be a bad idea.

According to Dr. Mirkin, "since 1940 the greatest increase in melanomas has occurred in office workers, not in people who work outdoors. FDA researchers believe that low vitamin D levels may be responsible (Medical Hypothesis, January 2009)... Indoor office workers get up to nine times less UVB than people who spend more time outdoors.... So being indoors and exposing skin to the sun mostly through window glass reduces exposure to UVB that causes skin to make the vitamin D that prevents cancer, and increases relative exposure to UVA that destroys vitamin D in the skin and therefore increases cancer risk."

Well damn! A winter like this one, any sunny day that comes along has me glued to the window drinking in the sunshine without going outside and shivering me timbers off.

And even getting outdoors doesn't always help you get vitamin D at this time o' year. If you believe this study, above a certain latitude (52 degrees north) in winter, there "is not enough ultraviolet light of the appropriate wavelength for the body to make vitamin D on the skin." 52 degrees north translates roughly to cities such as Calgary or Birmingham. (No, not the one in Alabama.)

Put this one into the One More Thing to Worry About category. I was hoping I could find a study that proved using sun lamps let your body make vitamin D, but alas. So I'm turning to fish instead. Specifically herring. (Milk? Don't talk to me about milk. Okay, mostly because it makes me sick. But also, consider this: 3 ounces of herring would get you 1383 IU of vitamin D, while 8 ounces of fortified milk has 100 IU of vitamin D. Plus, herring is high in omega 3s. Take that, milk.)

Do you have any other ideas for getting sunshine/vitamin D/an early spring? Preferably ones that don't involve robbing a bank and hijacking a plane to Maui.

Photo credit: D'Arcy Norman

Well... unless it's a foolproof plan.




Non-Maui photos courtesy of substack.

Beyond the ABCs of vitamin lore

[By Merry]

For some reason this flickr photo makes me want to sing "Let the sunshine in!" ...

This is a rant.
It is only a rant.
If this had been a real, informative post, it would have been written by Crabby.
It is only a rant. Please remain calm.

Okay, yes, I get it that vitamin D is important. Hell, it's a vitamin. They're all important from a basic building-block-of-life point of view; that's why they get named after letters of the alphabet. Fine. No problem.

What makes me cranky is the sudden onrush of articles about how essential it is to get outdoors in the sunshine, stop and smell the roses (check first to be sure there's no bee visiting the rose first), and soak up some rays. SOME rays.

Two Points:

1 - Every which way you look, someone is warning about the evils of too much sun.

2 - You need vitamin D, which you can only get from sunshine or supplements, i.e. from putting some effort into ingesting the stuff. You really can't get all the vitamin D you should have just from regular (un-fortified) food. "Vitamin D is found naturally in very few foods."

But...

On one hand, the argument against supplements is that you can overdo. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, so, like overdoing the vitamin A, it's possible to get too much of a good thing.

And on the other hand, we've all been warned for years that if you venture out in the daytime hours, you'd better be slathered in the greasy stuff. The problem with sunscreen is that if you wear the stuff, it almost invariably blocks the synthesis of vitamin D on your skin.

Technically, to make vitamin D you have to sweat. As the sun's rays hit the sweaty skin, vitamin D is synthesized in the sweat and then absorbed into the skin. Then the liver and the kidneys get into the act and finally you have the vitamin D that helps build bones and do a whole lot of other good things too.

To keep all the experts happy, you'll need to make sure you either a) get just the right amount of vitamin D through supplements or b)get outside for 20 minutes or so in the early morning or late afternoon without sunscreen, but to make sure you don't get skin cancer, you have to remember to use the greasy stuff if you're going to be out during the main part of the day.

It's a lot to remember. Complicated. In reality, I'll probably guard against the sun most of the time, but occasionally I know I'll forget and go out with unprotected skin, which will then allow me to get some vitamin D into my system. And of course supplement with vitamin pills. Since I forget to take them on a regular basis as well, this means I won't have to worry about overloading my system with the D stuff.

Sigh. One more thing to keep track of when I'd rather be off having fun in the sun or becoming a slug in a hammock.

Okay. Rant done.

Do you make a point of taking vitamin supplements or making sure you get juuuuust the right amount of non-sunscreened exposure? I would think for people in the more northern climes *cough* Canada *cough*, it would be really challenging to get all the vitamin D the experts say you should have without resorting to hitting the vitamin bottle or taking the odd vacation to Cancun in December. And January. February, too.

What do you do?

Fun in the Sun?

[By Crabby]

I hate sunscreen. Anyone else?

I hate the sticky ickyness of it. I hate when it runs in my eyes. I always get too much of it on my clothes, and not enough of it on my skin. I hate having to put it on for a morning run, then, after showering, having to put it on all over again.

Of course there's been some research about the anti-cancer properties of Vitamin D, and some folks are recommending a little bit of sun exposure without sunscreen. But no one seems to be saying this is license to skip the sunscreen entirely.

Nope, Not A Smart Move
(Photo credit: genosfear)

Does anyone else old enough to remember "tanning," as an intentional activity, guilt free? It made going to the beach and taking a nap feel like an accomplishment! You got "credit" for flopping down on a towel in the sand and absorbing rays, because you were improving your appearance which would make you more popular. How cool was that?

Sigh.

Then we found out we weren't supposed to tan on purpose.

I know some people still do. If you are one of those people who goes without sunscreen or burns your skin on purpose, can I pass on a message from a good friend of mine who did that too when she was younger? She has melanoma now. She says: "Don't."

Off course we keep hearing that theoretically there is a pill on the way, but I've been hearing this for ages now. Could we hurry up with the sunscreen pills, please scientists? That and the jet-packs we were all supposed to be flying around in by now?

Like many people, I make myself wear the sunscreen even though I hate it. The brand I use is supposed to quite effective. I use a spray version for my legs 'cause I'm lazy, and a lotion for the rest of me that tries to be somewhat less oily and gooky. At least it calls itself "dry touch." Still feels slimy to me, but somewhat less so than the others.



This is a popular and well-reviewed sunscreen. I won't chase down all the links, but part of the reason I've come to use it is that health magazines and dermatologists seem to recommend it pretty often. For example, in this compilation of product review sources, my brand comes in at #1.

But according to the Environmental Working Group, which has put together a database of cosmetic ingredients and their safety, I might as well be smearing rat poison all over me instead.

They say my sunscreen is NOT recommended because it contains ingredients linked to:

• Cancer
• Developmental/reproductive toxicity
• Allergies/immunotoxicity
• Neurotoxicity
• Endocrine disruption
• Persistence and bioaccumulation
• Organ system toxicity
• A few minor things like skin irritation, and
  
• Biochemical or cellular level changes.

That is a scary list.

How seriously should I take this, does anyone know? Is the Environmental Working Group mainly an advocacy group, or is it a bunch of serious, well-respected scientists that we should be paying way more attention to?

Because, damn, it they're right, I should probably switch from my easily available, everybody-recommends-it brand of sunscreen to one of the obscure brands that makes their "safe and effective" list. Even though my local drugstores don't stock them and they're probably slimy.

Here's where my distrust of advocacy groups and "stuff you read on the internet" collides with a similar distrust of our governmental regulatory process. The quaint notion I used to have that "if something were really dangerous they wouldn't let companies just sell it in the stores" has, alas, been tested too often. Now I believe: hell yeah, they will, if it's good for business.

So throw in some anxiety, wishful thinking, laziness, and frustration, and you end up with me not knowing What The Hell to Think.

If anyone has any thoughts or info on this, please help!