This YouTube podcast episode (Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast Ep 354) features a conversation between Ben Greenfield and Brock Armstrong about health topics including sun exposure and skin cancer risk. Key claims in this segment: appropriate combined UVA and UVB sun exposure can induce tumor-suppressive effects (including vitamin D increases and protective non-coding RNA responses); consistent occupational sun exposure is associated with lower melanoma risk, while intermittent recreational exposure and burning increase melanoma risk; filtered sunlight through windows and many tanning booths deliver mostly UVA (or filtered UVB), which may raise risk; maintaining a base tan reduces burning and melanoma risk.
And that actually reduces their potential for cancer. And it induces what's called tumor suppression. And so the idea is that when we get exposed to a good combination of UVA and UVB from the sun, it can actually decrease cancer risk by increasing vitamin D and by also causing these non coding RNA to go into protective mode. So go ahead.
One, one question I have is, I mean, I grew up on the sunshine coast where the sun shines strong 365 days a year. And most people, it's not an office job kind of lifestyle. There's no kind of corporate, it's, it's just straight coast. People work on the beach. People are lifeguards, tradesmen. And so they're getting kind of intense sun exposure for, you know, eight to ten hours a day for 365 days a year.
Yeah.
So is there such thing as overexpos? And how does that impact skin cancer?
Well, actually, occupational sun exposure, lifetime sun exposure is actually associated with a lower risk of melanoma. And outdoor workers are people who spend lots of time in the sun on a regular, consistent basis. That's actually associated with a lower rate of melanoma. The type of sun exposure associated with a higher risk of melanoma is recreational sun exposure, meaning you don't go out in the sun and then you go out on a Saturday and you get burnt. That's actually associated with the greater melanoma risk, even though that person might be spending literally 40 fewer hours in the sun that week than the occupational worker who's outdoors. So that's a biggie. So in terms of how this plays out on a practical level, first of all, you need to get a combination of UVA and UVB standing in front of your window or having an office or a car that has sun coming through that blocks uvb, you're only getting uva. That actually increases your risk of skin cancer and burning. So you need a combination of UVA and uvb, meaning you actually need actual sunlight. Even many of these tanning booths, they'll produce excessive amounts of UVA and not a lot of uvb. And so you need to get, get natural exposure to radiation, not artificial exposure to radiation or not radiation that's filtered through a window. You need a base tan. People who carry a base tan a lot during the year have a lower risk of melanoma because they're less likely to burn. Burning is bad. I think most people know that if you get a skin burn, that does indeed increase your risk of melanoma. But if you, like I mentioned with the occupational workers. Spend lots of time in the sun consistently and never get pasty white so you never have to go burn.
