Autism is often associated with compromised immune function, and environmental factors are increasingly suspected to play a role in the alarming recent increase in the disorder.

A new hypothesis for a principle cause of autism is an insufficient supply of cholesterol sulfate to the fetus during gestation, and to the infant postnatally. This could be related both to insufficient sun exposure and insufficient dietary sulfur, for both the mother and the child.

According to a paper in Medical Hypotheses, as reprinted on the website Green Med Info:

“A novel contribution is the theory that endothelial nitric oxide synthase produces not only nitric oxide but also sulfate, and that sulfate production is stimulated by sunlight. We further hypothesize that the sulfur shortage manifests as an impaired immune response, including an increased susceptibility to eczema and asthma. Proposed corrective measures involve increased dietary sulfur intake for both the mother and the child, and increased sun exposure.”

UV light from sun and sunbeds is the main vitamin D source for humans, and many health benefits of vitamin D have been identified. But since UV exposure has been suspected of causing skin cancer, may conventional health authorities warn against it.

A recent review of studies sought to review the health effects of solar radiation, sunbeds and vitamin D.  The researchers looked at data from different time periods for populations at different latitudes, with the aim at looking at the relative risk for cutaneous malignant melanoma associated with sunbed use, vitamin D and UV effects.  They found that increased sunbed use was not associated with melanoma.

According to the research:

“The overall health benefit of an improved vitamin D status may be more important than the possibly increased [cutaneous malignant melanoma] risk resulting from carefully increasing UV exposure. “

In fact, Ivan Oransky, the editor of Reuters Health, has previously noted that the real risk of getting skin cancer from a tanning bed is somewhere less than three-tenths of one percent — and even then, this is likely only from those who habitually overexpose themselves

UV light from sun and sunbeds is the main vitamin D source for humans, and many health benefits of vitamin D have been identified. But since UV exposure has been suspected of causing skin cancer, may conventional health authorities warn against it.

A recent review of studies sought to review the health effects of solar radiation, sunbeds and vitamin D.  The researchers looked at data from different time periods for populations at different latitudes, with the aim at looking at the relative risk for cutaneous malignant melanoma associated with sunbed use, vitamin D and UV effects.  They found that increased sunbed use was not associated with melanoma.

According to the research:

“The overall health benefit of an improved vitamin D status may be more important than the possibly increased [cutaneous malignant melanoma] risk resulting from carefully increasing UV exposure. “

In fact, Ivan Oransky, the editor of Reuters Health, has previously noted that the real risk of getting skin cancer from a tanning bed is somewhere less than three-tenths of one percent — and even then, this is likely only from those who habitually overexpose themselves

The most commonly used indicator of vitamin D status is serum 25(OH)D, but there is lack of agreement on the definition of optimal 25(OH)D and the cut-off for low vitamin D status. “Normal ranges” in U.S. laboratories vary between 20 and 100 ng/mL.  However, there is a growing consensus that the optimal range for 25(OH)D is higher than used to be believed.  Optimal levels may reduce risk of skeletal disease, insulin sensitivity, cancer, and many other ailments.  As many as 50% of breast cancer cases could be preventable with blood serum levels of 53 ng/ml.

It is extremely difficult to achieve and maintain optimal levels of serum 25(OH)D by diet alone — few foods are natural sources of vitamin D. and fortified foods contain only limited amounts.  The major source of vitamin D is sunlight exposure.  Sunlight exposure over most of your body, long enough to turn your skin somewhat pinker, may be the best amount.  When this is not possible, supplementation may be a necessary alternative.

According to an article in the Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine:

“… [S]cientists are generating a strong body of evidence to support a vitamin D paradigm shift … It is clear that sufficient levels of serum 25(OH)D are essential for optimizing human health … [S]ince we are experiencing a global epidemic of vitamin D insufficiency, it is … imperative that all individuals be encouraged to obtain vitamin D from either sunlight or supplementation.”

A new study has found that sunscreens could actually block your body’s natural defenses against solar radiation.  As it turns out, your skin contains sensors that detect radiation from the sun. These light receptors immediately prompt the release of melanin, your body’s form of sun protection, providing rapid protection against damage.

However, sunscreen coverage could block certain wavelengths of light needed to trigger these natural defenses.

According to the Daily Mail:

“Results revealed that the light receptors, called rhodopsin, became most active under blue and UV light, prompting melanin production within seconds … This helps prevents the damage responsible for the formation of malignant melanoma and other skin cancers.”

The reported incidence of melanoma has greatly increased in recent decades.  This increase has been commonly attributed to ultraviolet exposure.  But a new study examines whether the increase may actually be caused by the phenomenon of “diagnostic drift”.

The study examined the diagnosis, mortality and incidence of all lesions reported as melanomas in a single area between 1991 and 2004.  The researchers found that while the annual incidence increased from about 9.4 to about 13.9 cases per 100,000 per year, the increased incidence was almost entirely due to minimal, stage 1 disease. There was no change in the combined incidence of the other stages of the disease, and overall mortality increased only a small amount.

According to the study:

“… [T]he large increase in reported incidence is likely to be due to diagnostic drift which classifies benign lesions as stage 1 melanoma … These findings should lead to a reconsideration of the treatment of ‘early’ lesions, a search for better diagnostic methods to distinguish them from truly malignant melanomas, re-evaluation of the role of ultraviolet radiation and recommendations for protection from it, as well as the need for a new direction in the search for the cause of melanoma.”

Most people in the U.S. have been practicing Daylight
Savings Time for as long as they can remember. More summer light and
theoretically less power consumption. But the sleep adjustment to the time
change can cause dips in production and health hazards as a result of fatigue.

Some researchers are suggesting that a key contributor to Alzheimer’s may be insufficient cholesterol in the brain.  Studies have shown that serum levels of cholesterol and the ability to synthesize cholesterol are inversely associated with mental decline in the elderly.

There are now indications that depletion of sulfate supply to the brain is another important contributor to Alzheimer’s.  Sulfate may be supplied to the brain principally by sterol sulfates like cholesterol sulfate, as well as their derivatives like vitamin D3 sulfate.  Both cholesterol sulfate and vitamin D3 sulfate are synthesized in the skin upon exposure to sunlight.

According to MIT senior research scientist Stephanie Seneff:

“This is why I believe that excess sunscreen use and excess sun avoidance are another principal causative factor in Alzheimer’s disease.”

She also pointed to cholesterol-depleting statin drugs and aluminum in flu shots as other contributing causes.

Studies have linked geographical variations in dental health and tooth loss to sunlight exposure. Dental caries were shown to be inversely related to mean hours of sunlight per year – people living in the sunny west proved to have half as many carious lesions as those in the much less sunny northeast.

Vitamin D, which is produced in your body in response to sunlight exposure, induces cathelicidin, which attacks oral bacteria.  Cathelicidin also fights other infections such as pneumonia, sepsis, and tuberculosis.

According to the Vitamin D Council:

“Use of vitamin D appears to be a better option for reducing dental caries than fluoridation of community water supplies, as there are many additional health benefits of vitamin D and a number of adverse effects of water fluoridation such as fluorosis (mottling) of teeth and bones.”

Scientists looking for a cost-effective way to reduce global mortality rates announced in July that they believe they’ve found it in the form of a supplement that could increase life expectancy by two years. Evidence of the benefits of vitamin D in reducing the risks of an array of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular problems, diabetes, and even Alzheimer’s has been building up for a long time. But now, these researchers say, they have convincing evidence that Increasing serum 25(OH)D levels from 54 to 110 nmol/l would reduce the vitamin D-sensitive disease mortality rate by an estimated 20 percent:

“Increasing serum 25(OH)D levels is the most cost-effective way to reduce global mortality rates, as the cost of vitamin D is very low and there are few adverse effects from oral intake and/or frequent moderate UVB irradiance with sufficient body surface area exposed.”

During Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s short life, he suffered from many of his era’s common illnesses — such as smallpox, typhoid fever, tonsillitis and upper respiratory tract infections.  But what finally killed him at the age of 25 is still a matter of debate.

Two researchers are offering a new theory as to the cause — vitamin D deficiency. In high-latitude Austria, Mozart probably got little of the vitamin from sunlight during the winter months.  This may have put him at risk for many illnesses.

According to Discovery News:

“… [M]ost of Mozart’s infections occurred between mid-October and mid-May. That’s the time of year when people in places as far north as Austria simply can’t make enough vitamin D from sun exposure. Plenty of studies in recent years have linked adequate vitamin D levels with lower risks for influenza, pneumonia, cardiovascular disease, cancers, autoimmune diseases and more.”

Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles are increasingly being used in sunscreens. In larger particle form, these compounds reflect UV radiation. However, in nanoparticle form, they absorb UV radiation, which releases reactive oxygen species — chemicals known to alter DNA.

Some previous studies had suggested that the effect might not be significant, because the nanoparticles might not penetrate below the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of your skin. But recent research suggests that the danger is very real.

According to one analysis, reported by Green Med Info:

“However, some recent studies suggest that nanoparticles may, under certain circumstances, breach that barrier. The majority of those studies have used animal skin models rather than human skin.”

The long-term ingestion of high flavanol cocoa could improve skin condition and provide protection against sunburn in women.

It is known that dietary antioxidants contribute to photoprotection and are important for the maintenance of skin health. A study found that women given a high flavanol cocoa drink were protected to some degree against sunburn.

According to the study, as reported in Green Med Info:

“The ingestion of high flavanol cocoa led to increases in blood flow of cutaneous and subcutaneous tissues, and to increases in skin density and skin hydration … Evaluation of the skin surface showed a significant decrease of skin roughness and scaling in the high flavanol cocoa group”.

A recent study described the effects of the sun on the human genome as it relates to lifespan. Researchers found that people conceived and born during the peaks of approximately 11-year solar cycles lived an average of 1.7 years less than those conceived and born during non-peak times.

Even the relatively small amount of increased energy at solar peaks apparently modifies the human genome and epigenome, and causes changes that predispose people to various diseases.

According to the study, as reported by Green Med Info:

“It is likely that same energy increases beneficial variety in the genome which may enhance adaptability in a changing environment … How solar energy affects the genome is still not clear. The mechanism could be quantum mechanical (direct effects at a distance) similar to photosynthesis, or mediated by maternal hormones, chemokines or cytokines. The hypothesis is that specific wavelengths of UVR, experienced at critical times in development as at conception or early gestation, and with specific intensity or rate of change, modulates the expression of human diseases.”

Many recent studies have suggested that vitamin D may be associated with reduced breast cancer risk. However, most studies have evaluated only the impact of dietary vitamin D.

A new study examined the associations among ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, factors related to cutaneous vitamin D production, and breast cancer risk. The study found that time spent outdoors during all four periods of life examined was associated with reduced breast cancer risk — the teen years, 20’s-30’s, 40’s-50’s, and 60’s and above.

According to the study in the American Journal of Epidemiology:

“Sun protection practices and ultraviolet radiation were not associated with breast cancer risk. A combined solar vitamin D score, including all the variables related to vitamin D production, was significantly associated with reduced breast cancer risk.”

Pigments in your skin can serve many functions.  One such pigment is melanin, which absorbs UV light. Melanin’s abilities derive from complex structural and physical-chemical properties. Some of its abilities are well-known to clinicians and researchers — but some intriguing puzzles remain. Neuromelanin can have both positive and negative effects in Parkinsons; melanin reduces DNA damage, but can promote melanoma.

Research indicates that a little known facet of bird physiology may help resolve melanin paradoxes. One of the many unique adaptations to flight exhibited by birds is the pecten, a strange intra-ocular organ that becomes enlarged and heavily melanized in birds fighting gravity, hypoxia, thirst and hunger during long-distance migration.

According to a study as reported by Green Med Info:

“The pecten may help cope with energy and nutrient needs under extreme conditions, by a marginal but critical, melanin-initiated conversion of light to metabolic energy, coupled to local metabolite recycling. Similarly in Central Africa, reduction in body hair and melanin increase may also have lead to ‘photomelanometabolism’ which, though small scale/ unit body area, in total may have enabled a sharply increased development of the energy-hungry cortex and enhanced human survival generally.”

It has long been thought that animals are unable to to utilize light energy directly. This may be far from the truth after all.

Sunlight causes your skin to produce vitamin D — a fact that, ironically, means that sunscreen campaigns may have made millions of people chronically short of the vitamin, and put them at a greater risk of skin cancer, rather than reducing their risk.

Research shows that a very low level of vitamin D is a major risk factor for melanoma. This flies in the face of the idea that it is too much sun that increases your melanoma risk.

According to Professor Angus Dalgleish, writing in the Daily Mail:

“Research shows that a large percentage of people in the UK are deficient in vitamin D partly because we can’t make any from the sun for about six months of the year … I’d like to see all other cancer units automatically checking their patients’ blood levels. It’s cheap and quick and I guarantee they would be amazed at just how low many were.”

The Environmental Working Group’s 2011 sunscreen guide can help you determine which sunscreens are unsafe. The group recommends juste 20 percent of the 600-plus sport sunscreens it evaluated.

For a product to score high marks, it needed to be free of potentially harmful chemicals. Unsurprisingly, their list of products to avoid list contains some popular brands.

According to Yahoo News, companies with sunscreens that scored poorly include Aveeno, Banana Boat, CVS, and Neutrogena. For more information, and to see which products EWG approved, you can click on the Yahoo link below.

Time Magazine also recounts some of the Environmental Working Group’s advice:

“Avoid oxybenzone and retinyl palmitate. Many effective products contain one or both compounds — oxybenzone and retinyl palmitate — that the EWG specifically suggests avoiding. Oxybenzone is an endocrine disrupter, the EWG says, and retinyl palmitate is a form of topical vitamin A that some animal studies suggest may be linked to an increased risk of skin cancer.”

As understanding of Vitamin D increases, it is becoming apparent that its most active form, Vitamin D3 (calcitriol), may offer protection against a variety of radiation-induced damages. Vitamin D’s protective action is carries by a wide variety of mechanisms, including cell cycle regulation and proliferation, cellular differentiation and communication, and programmed cell death (apoptosis).

A paper on the subject argued that vitamin D should be considered among the prime nonpharmacological agents that offer protection against low radiation damage and radiation-induced cancer — or even the primary agent.

According to the paper in the International Journal of Low Radiation:

“… [O]ur understanding of how vitamin D mediates biological responses has entered a new era … In view of the evidence that has been presented here, it would appear that vitamin D by its preventive/ameliorating actions should be given serious consideration as a protective agent against sublethal radiation injury, and in particular that induced by low radiation”.

A link has been discovered between vitamin D and genes related to autoimmune disease and cancer. This may why vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for a number of serious illnesses.

Vitamin D affects genes through the vitamin D receptor, which influences gene expression — the process by which a gene’s information is converted into physical materials. In a recent study, researchers mapped sites of vitamin D receptor binding.

Health Scout reports:

“The investigators found that vitamin D receptor binding is significantly enhanced in regions of the human genome associated with several common autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and Crohn’s disease, and in regions associated with cancers such as leukemia and colorectal cancer.”

Severe vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a higher death rate among pneumonia patients. A study looked at blood samples from more than 100 pneumonia patients, and found that the death rate was 29 percent among those with very low levels of vitamin D — compared to 4 percent for those with a normal level or a slight deficiency.

For most people, 90 percent of vitamin D is produced by the body in response to exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet light.

The New Zealand Herald reports:

“.. [S]trong associations [have also] been found between vitamin D deficiency and a number of conditions, including auto-immune diseases such as type 1 diabetes … Large European studies have found a link between vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy and later development of type 1 diabetes in children.”

New research shows that low levels of sunlight, coupled with glandular fever, could increase your risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). This could be one reason that MS tends to be more common away from the equator.

The study suggested that low levels of sunlight could affect how your body responds to infection. Vitamin D deficiency could be another possible link.

BBC News reports:

“The researchers found that by just analyzing sunlight, they could explain 61 percent of the variation in the number of MS cases across England. However when they combined the effect of sunlight and glandular fever, 72 percent of the variation in MS cases could be explained.”

Remember, when the American Cancer Society, or dermatologists, tell you that you should be avoiding the sun at all costs, they are dead wrong.

A recent study by the YMCA shows that 89 percent of parents believe they’re good or excellent at providing their children with a healthy home environment. Yet, a full one-third of U.S. children are overweight or obese. According to Time Healthland, parents make five major mistakes when it comes to understanding how they can make their children’s lives healthier. Those are:

1. Letting kids eat junk food every day

2. Not pulling the plugs often enough on electronic devices, including TV, computer, and cell phones

3. Not encouraging kids to play outside more 

4. Not making sure they get enough fresh fruits and vegetables

5. Not placing enough emphasis on outside family activities, such as family walks.

A study has shown that your body’s ability to break down medicines is closely tied to exposure to sunlight. In fact, it may vary from season to season.

The study is based on nearly 70,000 analyses from patients. Samples taken during the winter months were compared with those taken late in the summer. Analysis showed that concentrations of drugs such as tacrolimus and sirolimus, which are used to prevent rejection following transplantation, vary throughout the year in a manner that closely reflects changes in the level of vitamin D in the body.

According to Science Daily:

“The connection between sunlight, vitamin D and variations in drug concentration is believed to arise from the activation by vitamin D of the detoxification system of the liver by increasing the amount of an enzyme known as CYP3A4. This enzyme, in turn, is responsible for the breakdown of tacrolimus and sirolimus.”

New research into Multiple Sclerosis (MS) offers new insight into the link between sunlight, vitamin D3, and MS risk and severity.

The origin of MS attacks is still unknown, but research indicates that a patient’s vitamin D3 supply (which is derived mainly from sunlight exposure) is strongly related to disease activity — the fewest attacks and slowest progressions occur in patients with the highest vitamin D3 supplies.

According to Eurekalert:

“… [N]ew data suggest that an action of the vitamin D3 hormone directly on pathogenic T cells leads to elimination of these cells … This information is important because it provides a plausible biological explanation for the negative correlation between UV light exposure and MS disease risk and severity”.

In the winter, pre-teen girls may need more vitamin D to have healthy bones, according to a new study.  The research found that teen girls need a vitamin D intake of about 750 IU per day to have levels in their blood that allow for healthy bone growth.

This amount is higher than the U.S. Institute of Medicine’s recommendation of 600 IU per day.

Reuters reports:

“… [W]earing sun block and not spending time outside can cut down on the vitamin D we get from the sun.”

People who have spent more time in the sun, along with those who have higher vitamin D levels, may be less likely to develop multiple sclerosis.

Previous studies have shown that people living close to the equator are less likely to get multiple sclerosis.  Now, a new study looked at over 200 adults who had just started having the first symptoms of MS, along with a comparison group with no signs or symptoms of MS.

Reuters reports:

“On average, people with the first signs of MS had been exposed to a smaller ‘UV dose’ — based on how much time they had spent in the sun and how close to the equator they had lived — over the course of their lives.  People with early MS … [also had] vitamin D levels 5 to 10 percent lower than those without MS.”

Repeated warnings regarding the dangers of too much sun may have inadvertently led to vitamin D deficiencies — resulting in a resurgence of rickets.

Rickets is caused by childhood vitamin D deficiency, and results in skeletal pains or bone deformities.  Until recently, it was thought to be a disease of the past in developed societies.  But there is now evidence suggesting a resurgence of vitamin D deficiency among children.

According to BBC News:

“Vitamin D deficiency is a major factor in the development of bone deformities including rickets, genu valgum (‘knock knees’), genu varum (‘bowed legs’) and non-specific musculoskeletal pain in children.  Those with severe skeletal deformities are faced with the prospect of long and painful corrective surgical procedures … [F]igures suggest that up to 40 percent of children presenting to the orthopedic outpatient service … have vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency.”

Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen has reportedly “infuriated cancer experts” by describing sun screen as “poison”.  Bundchen refuses to use it because of the chemicals they contain.

According to the Daily Mail:

“[Bundchen] made the comments at the launch of her own organic skin care range, which presumably doesn’t include sun care lotions.”

Gisele Bundchen, incidentally, is currently the highest paid supermodel in the world.  She also has said that it should be against the law for healthy mothers to give their baby formula full of sugar and, often, soy.  (She and her husband, football player Tom Brady, have a baby that they have been trying to raise as healthily as possible.)

New advice from health organizations recommends spending time in the sun — without sunscreen, and in the middle of the day.

Seven organizations have issued this joint advice on vitamin D, which your body produces when exposed to natural sunlight.  The new guidance was created because fears about skin cancer have made people too cautious about being in the sun.

BBC News reports:

“Cancer Research UK and the National Osteoporosis Society are among the bodies which agree … it is fine to go outside in strong sun in the middle of the day, as long as you cover up or apply sunscreen before your skin goes red.”