If you ask a member of the public about the effects of sunlight, I suspect nine times out of ten they would be able to identify the risks of skin cancer and skin aging. This is a testament to the highly effective and evidence-based information campaigns run by the medical profession and taken up by the cosmetic industry.

The extensive and robust research confirming sunlight is a skin carcinogen been well-translated into a publichealth message that few have missed hearing. But is sunlight all bad? And does complete protection against sun exposure offer benefits only in the way that avoiding smoking does?

A growing body of evidence— much counter-intuitively obtained by researchers attempting to Richard Weller, M.​D. Relaxsol, Edinburgh, UK define the extent to which UV produces harm—now shows that sunlight almost certainly has significant health benefits, and that these cannot be reproduced by vitamin D suppleme­ntation. The latest advice from the National Academy of Sciences in United States acknowledges sunshine has health benefits.

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