11 Nov Slip, not so much Slop and Slap!

Does everyone remember the 80’s Aussie safe sun Slip, Slop, Slap campaign? Basically it advised you to Slip on a shirt, Slop on some sun cream and Slap on a hat. And we are constantly being told the same, be safe in the sun, story now, wearing sun cream as soon as there is even a hint of sun but in reality maybe we should be using a little bit less and getting a bit more sun.

Did you know that Vitamin D is called the ‘sunshine’ vitamin as our bodies get most of its requirements directly from ultra violet light. It is a hugely important nutrient but research has shown that up to 90% of us could have a deficiency and cases of rickets have increased by more than 400 per cent since 1996, something is going wrong somewhere

The problem with slopping on sun cream all the time is that it blocks our bodies ability to synthesise Vitamin D so can actually be detrimental to our health rather than the other way round! SPF8 cream reduces vitamin D formation by up to 80%.

Being safe in the sun is still of course very important and sun cream can be good when you are going to be exposed for long periods of time but be sure to buy an organic or paraben free cream as the chemicals in sun cream can be more detrimental to our health than a bit of sunshine ever will be! Green People do a fantastic range of clean, green sun cream.

So next time you are in the sun go easy on the sun cream and give your body the chance to pick up some well needed Vitamin D. Amongst other things it is essential for our immunity, bones and muscles and is also ironically important for cancer prevention. The Canadian Cancer Society endorses Vitamin D as a cancer prevention therapy.

Vitamin D can also be found in oily fish (including fish oil supplements,) but mostly it is gained from sun exposure. We only need 5-10 minutes, 2-3 times a week exposing 6% of our body to get what we need but if we are covered with sun cream that just won’t work. Even face cream often has SPF15 as standard these days.

On another nutritional note whilst I’m on the subject! To prevent sunburn, eating foods high in carotenoids (orange coloured fruit and veg like, pumpkin and carrots plus leafy greens) and Vitamin E (wholegrains, nuts, seeds oats and leafy greens) could help.