Coinciding with the first weeks of summer, a study just published underscores the importance of getting adequate amounts of sunlight for its vitamin D-boosting benefits. The research, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, shows that those with the lowest vitamin D levels have more than double the risk of dying from heart disease and other causes over an eight-year period compared with those with the highest vitamin D levels. The researchers cite “decreased outdoor activity” as one reason that people may become deficient in vitamin D. Another recent study found an increased risk of heart attacks in those with low vitamin D levels.

In the winter, it’s impossible to produce vitamin D from the sun if you live north of Atlanta because the sun never gets high enough in the sky for its ultraviolet B rays to penetrate the atmosphere. But summer is a great time to stock up on the nutrient. When the sun’s UV-B rays hit the skin, a reaction takes place that enables skin cells to manufacture vitamin D. If you’re fair skinned, experts say going outside for 10 minutes in the midday sun—in shorts and a tank top with no sunscreen—will give you enough radiation to produce about 10,000 international units of the vitamin. Dark-skinned individuals and the elderly also produce less vitamin D, and many folks don’t get enough of the nutrient from dietary sources like fatty fish and fortified milk.

The government’s dietary recommendations are 200 IUs a day up to age 50, 400 IUs to age 70, and 600 IUs over 70. But many experts believe that these recommendations are far too low to maintain healthful vitamin D levels. They advocate for supplementation in the winter a minimum of 2,000 IUs per day as well as a dose of daily sunshine in the summer.

The sunshine vitamin may protect against a host of diseases, including osteoporosis, heart disease, and cancers of the breast, prostate, and colon. What’s more, sunlight has other hidden benefits—like protecting against depression, insomnia, and an overactive immune system.

Given all the upsides of basking at least briefly in the summer sun, many experts now worry that public-health messages warning about skin cancer have gone overboard in getting people to cover up and seek the shade. U.S. News got in touch with Robyn Lucas, an epidemiologist at Australian National University who led a study published in the February issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Her finding: Far more lives are lost to diseases caused by a lack of sunlight than to those caused by too much.

Do you think the United States and other western countries have gone too far in promoting protection from the sun?

Possibly. Sun protection messages arose in response to rapidly increasing rates of skin cancers, and they were an essential public-health message. But we now recognize that some sun exposure is important for health, at the very least, to maintain healthful vitamin D levels. (Sunscreen blocks out nearly all UV radiation.) Taking this into account, the Cancer Council of Australia has eased its sun protection message a little over the last few years and now recommends that if you’re out in the sun for relatively short periods, with a UV index less than 3, which indicates a moderate amount of UV rays hitting your area on a given day, then sunscreen and other sun protection (like hats and protective clothing) are not required. Beyond this, I believe we all need a little unprotected time in the sun during the middle hours of the day when the sun is at its highest and UV-B rays can penetrate the atmosphere.

How much sun is it safe to get without sunscreen?

It’s difficult to quantify how much since skin pigmentation affects how much radiation your skin absorbs: The darker the skin, the more it’s protected against skin cancer but the less able it is to absorb UV-B rays. It also depends on how much skin is exposed and the time of day. If you’re fair skinned and sunning yourself outside in a bathing suit at noon, you only need a few minutes without sunscreen. If you’re already tan or of Hispanic origin, you need maybe 15 to 20 minutes. Black skin may require six times the sun exposure to make the same vitamin D levels as a very fair-skinned person, but we need more research on this because the studies that have suggested this have been small. We’re starting a study later this year to establish how much skin pigmentation, clothing, sunscreen, and seasonal change affect vitamin D levels, so we should know more about all of this in the near future.

Can I make vitamin D driving in my car on a bright, sunny day on my way to work?

No. For one thing, UV radiation doesn’t penetrate glass; that’s why you can’t get a burn or tan if you’re driving with your windows closed. (The heat you feel is infrared radiation from the sun, which doesn’t have any health impact beyond making you overheated or causing sunstroke if you get an excessive amount.) Even if you’re driving in a convertible, though, you probably won’t get a good dose of UV-B rays if you’re driving in the early morning when the sun is still low in the sky. Talking a stroll during lunchtime is your best bet.

Check out AMARC’s Vitamin D3 product, which is a form of vitamin D that stays in your system longer and with more effect.

Your body is not unlike your car — an efficient machine that performs consistently only when it is given proper care. And just like a car needs a regular change of oil and various filters to eliminate the waste products that degrade its performance, the body needs to be cleared of the chemicals and toxins that clog its system.

Many of these toxins are the destructive side effects of our chemical inventions, from the preservatives and additives found in foods or the contaminants in the water supply to the formaldehyde in carpets and furniture. Your body can process and eliminate some of the hordes of chemicals that enter, but the overflow gets stored in the liver, lungs, kidneys, fat cells, intestines, blood stream, and skin — which can result in chronic illnesses down the road.

Feel Fresh with a Daily Detox

Here is a full day of practices to gently detoxify your body:

1. Begin your day with gentle stretches that warm up your body and awaken your mind.

2. Make yourself some cleansing lemon tea. Simply heat up filtered water and squeeze half of a lemon in it. This will cleanse your digestive system.

3. For your detox diet, choose high fiber and organic foods, and eat more beans, brown rice, oat bran, vegetables, fruits, and chicken or turkey. The “Super Cleanse Broth” will spring you into good health. To make, simply prepare a broth from: collards, Swiss chard, kale, mustard greens, cabbage, dandelion, Brussels sprouts, daikon radish, watercress, seaweed, shitake mushrooms, cilantro, garlic, leeks, fennel, anise, ginger, and turmeric.

4. Drink your veggies in juice form! Try a terrific detox juice made with Aloe vera juice, apples, asparagus, beet greens, cabbage, carrot greens, celery, cucumbers, and parsley.

5. Soak for 20 minutes in a revitalizing herbal bath. To help draw out toxins, infuse your bath water with eucalyptus, wintergreen, peppermint, fennel, cinnamon, and epsom salts.

Herbal Therapy

Whether steeped into tea or added to your cooking, you can use these potent cleansing herbs to remove toxic build up and wastes from your body:

• Chrysanthemum flower: Traditionally used to cleanse the liver, brighten vision, and neutralize toxins - and studies show that chrysanthemum lowers blood pressure and cholesterol and balances blood sugar.

• Dandelion: Research shows that dandelion root enhances the flow of bile, improving liver conditions such as hepatitis, gallstones, and jaundice.

• Milk thistle: Extensive research has found that the major component of milk thistle extract, silymarin, has a protective and a restorative effect on the liver, stimulating the growth of new liver cells to replace old damaged cells.

• Hawthorn berry: A famous cardiovascular tonic that is chock full of antioxidants, hawthorn is used to cleanse the blood of plaque and other toxins; according to studies, it helps the body maintain healthy cholesterol and blood pressure.

• Turmeric: A common spice, turmeric speeds up the detoxification process in the whole body by increasing bile production and release, eliminating toxins like heavy metals and other chemicals.

• Seaweed: The algin in seaweed absorbs toxins from the digestive system and has been thought to absorb and remove drugs, chemicals, heavy metals, and radioactive strontium from the body. Some experts claim that seaweed’s active ingredient, sodium alginate, binds these toxins in the gastrointestinal tract, preventing their absorption into the body.

I hope you find the ways to detoxify your whole being!

May you stay healthy, live long, and live happy!
    
 -Dr. Mao

A healthy, balanced diet is key, experts say, but these foods may have an extra punch!
 
Leafy greens

Deep green leafy vegetables are packed with lutein, vitamin A and folate, nutrients that may help prevent colon and ovarian cancer.

• Spinach
• Kale
• Collard greens
• Arugula
• Dandelion greens

Curry

Yellow curry contains cur-cumin, a pungent spice that may help prevent melanoma and other types of cancer cells from proliferating.

Cruciferous veggies

These contain phytochemicals that may cut the risk of stomach, breast and skin cancers.

• Broccoli
• Broccoli sprouts
• Cabbage
• Bok choy
• Cauliflower
• Watercress
• Swiss chard

Berries

These fruits contain antioxidants such as polyphenols, which counteract and repair cell damage.

• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Cranberries
• Red grapes

Tomatoes

Studies suggest that having a tomato-rich diet may help lower the risk of developing both lung and stomach cancer.

The final report of a study commissioned by the Dietary Supplement Education Alliance (DSEA) shows that, over the next five years, appropriate use of select dietary supplements would improve the health of key populations and save the nation more than $24 billion in healthcare costs.

The study updated research conducted by The Lewin Group in 2004 and 2005 that included a systematic literature review of the most rigorous scientific research available.

Key study findings include:
 
Calcium with vitamin D: Appropriate use of calcium with vitamin D for the Medicare population shows potential avoidance of approximately 776,000 hospitalizations for hip fractures over five years, as well as avoidance of stays in skilled nursing facilities for some proportion of patients. The five-year (2008-2012) estimated net cost associated with avoidable hospitalization for hip fracture is approximately $16.1 billion.

Folic Acid: If just 11.3 million of the 44 million American women who are of childbearing age and not taking folic acid began taking 400mcg of folic acid on a daily basis, neural tube defects could be prevented in 600 babies, saving as much as $344,700,000 in the first year. Over five years, taking into account the cost of the supplement, $1.4 billion could potentially be saved.
 
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: The estimate of the potential five-year savings in healthcare expenditures resulting from a reduction in the occurrence of coronary heart disease (CHD) among the population over age 65 through daily intake of approximately 1800 mg of omega-3 is $3.2 billion. Approximately 374,301 hospitalizations and associated physician fees due to CHD could be avoided.

Lutein with zeaxanthin: Through daily intake of 6-10 mg of lutein with zeaxanthin, it is estimated that $3.6 billion could be saved over 5 years by helping people with age related macular degeneration avoid dependency. Across the five year period, approximately 190,927 individuals could avoid the transition to dependence either in the community or a nursing facility that would accompany a loss of central vision resulting from advanced AMD.