For years, we've been told to fear the sun. Lather on the sunscreen, put on a hat, cover up - these have become the mantras of modern sun protection. But what if our understanding of the sun and its effects on our health is incomplete? What if certain dietary choices can influence our skin's resilience to the sun's rays? This article explores the complex relationship between sun exposure, sunscreen use, and a controversial dietary approach: the carnivore diet.
The Demonization of the Sun
Since childhood, many have been taught that the sun is dangerous. The American Academy of Dermatology, for example, seems to have a zero-tolerance policy with the sun. In the last century, we "discovered" meat was bad for you, laced with saturated fat and cholesterol that caused heart disease. We were told to ditch the animal-products, trade in your butter for margarine, and replace animal fats with vegetable oils. It wasn’t until 2015 when the US finally banned trans fats. It turned out it wasn’t the butter that was killing us after all. It was the margarine. The industrialized, processed, hydrogenated trans fats - who would have thought? Real Meat vs. Marketing and propaganda can blur what’s plainly obvious. Just take meat for example. In many cases the “meat-is-bad” propaganda still persists. Some people still think meat and its saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease and cancer (it doesn’t). There isn’t a more natural food for humans to eat than meat. Surely we’ll look back on the “Beyond Meats” and the “Impossible Burgers” and say how impossibly stupid we were not to see it.
Similarly, the narrative around sun exposure has been largely negative, focusing primarily on the risks of skin cancer. But is this fear justified, and are we missing the bigger picture?
The Evolutionary Perspective: Our Built-In Sunscreen
Sunscreen wasn’t invented until the 1940s. I don’t know how the human specie survived that long without it. For millions of years humans didn’t have sunscreen AND we lived outdoors, spending countless hours with little clothing under a blazing tropical sun. Could it get more dangerous than this? We know humans evolved outdoors under a tropical sun. And through 3+ million years of human evolution we devised a way to protect our skin from the sun’s radiation (long before the 1940s and the first sunscreens). We developed a natural, built-in sunscreen. When exposed to UV radiation, like that from the sun, the skin produces melanin for protection. It’s better than the best sunscreen you could get your hands on. It absorbs light and the pigment can dissipate over 99.9% of absorbed UV radiation.
As we, humans, evolved into apex predators and persistence hunters, one adaptation was a loss of body hair and an increase in exocrine glands. We could run and hunt in the heat all day. But without our fur coats, we had an increase for potential UV radiation damage. As humans sprawled across the globe to areas with less sunlight, the selective pressure for melanin decreased. These people started to produce less melanin which resulted in the range of human skin color we have today.
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Skin pigmentation and sun exposure is an extremely important balancing act. People with darker skin (more melanin) can stay out in the sun much longer without the downside risks of UV radiation. People with fairer skin absorb (and store) sunshine more readily. They don’t need as many hours in the sun to get the dose they need. But they are at a higher risk from UV rays. A helpful analogy is to think of melanin like a shield. Some of us have thicker shields (darker skin) and some of us thinner shields (fairer skin). The thicker the shield the more protection you get from UV radiation, but also the more time you need to spend in the sun to get adequate levels.
This evolutionary adaptation highlights the fact that humans are designed to interact with sunlight. Our bodies have mechanisms to protect us from excessive UV radiation, suggesting that sun exposure, in moderation, is not inherently harmful.
The Sunshine Vitamin and Beyond: The Benefits of Sun Exposure
While modern health guidelines have focused on the UV radiation risk part of the equation, they have neglected the sunshine part. We need sunlight. We know cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes as well as overall mortality increase the further you move from the equator. And we know there is a strong correlation between blood levels of vitamin D and the latitudes at which people live. The more sunshine you get (the higher your vitamin D levels) the healthier you are. We have known this. It is why vitamin D has garnered so much recognition. And most of us are deficient. Up to 85% of Americans and nearly 95% of senior citizens don’t have adequate levels of vitamin D. Deficiencies are even more common in people with darker skin because not only are they living indoors like the rest of the modern world, but they have a “thicker shield” as well. Less sunlight + more melanin = people with darker skin suffering higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, and cancers.
The association between the sun, vitamin D, and health are so strong it led Dr. After years of research, the evidence is compelling. “Avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor of a similar magnitude as smoking in terms of life expectancy.” Avoidance of sun exposure as a risk factor for major causes of death: a competing risk analysis of the Melanoma in Southern Sweden cohort.
Sun exposure is known for increasing Vitamin D production, which is immensely important. But that’s not it. Sun exposure also releases a number of other critical compounds in the body like nitric oxide which lowers blood pressure and serotonin and endorphins which make you feel good. It regulates circadian rhythms that improve sleep. It’s been shown to decrease the risks of cancers, mental health disorders, autoimmune diseases, and even improve fertility and metabolic syndrome.
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Beyond vitamin D, sunlight triggers the release of nitric oxide, which lowers blood pressure, and stimulates the production of serotonin and endorphins, which elevate mood and regulate sleep. These benefits suggest that sun exposure plays a vital role in maintaining overall health and well-being.
Addressing the Elephant in the Room: Skin Cancer Risks
Popular media and medicine advocate for sun avoidance. Lather on the sunscreen, put on the gigantic hat, cover up. Let’s address the elephant in the room. Yes, we know that sun exposure is linked with skin cancers. However, not all skin cancers are the same. Basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas are rarely fatal. For every 100 people that die from cardiovascular diseases, about 1 dies from skin cancer. The deaths associated with sunlight deprivation far outweigh that from sun exposure.
Melanoma is the deadly type of skin cancer. It’s quite rare (1-3% of all new skin cancers). Sun exposure isn’t the problem though. Outdoor workers have half the melanoma rate as indoor workers. Rather, the risk stems from being indoors 24/7 and then vacationing for a week and getting burnt to a crisp. The evidence is that long-term sun exposure is inversely related to melanoma. Getting regular sun not only decreases your chances of getting melanoma but various other cancers too. Regular sun exposure increases your life expectancy and decreases the likelihood of developing most of the chronic diseases of modern world.
It's crucial to differentiate between different types of skin cancer. Basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas are rarely fatal, while melanoma is the most deadly. Interestingly, studies have shown that outdoor workers have a lower rate of melanoma compared to indoor workers, suggesting that chronic, moderate sun exposure may be protective. The real risk seems to stem from intermittent, intense sun exposure leading to sunburn.
Rethinking Sun Exposure Guidelines
The current sun exposure guidelines need to step out of the dark ages. Moreover, the current sun exposure guidelines seem to be written for the highest “risk” population - pasty white people like myself. I put “risk” in quotes for a reason. Because it ignores the risk associated with not getting enough sun exposure. Further, even this high “risk” category of white people on a whole don’t get enough sun. And guidelines completely disregard that people with darker skin need more sun. Darker people rarely get melanoma. If you look a various races of people, 1 in 100,000 African Americans get melanoma (and it’s generally not the kind caused by sun exposure), 5 in 100,000 Hispanics, 26 in 100,000 Caucasians.
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Whether white or black, the amount of sun exposure we get in today’s modern culture is woefully inadequate. Unless you work outdoors the probability is close to certain you aren’t getting enough sunshine to optimize your health and longevity. The good news is that several countries have realized avoiding the sun is dangerous. “Ultraviolet radiation from the sun has both beneficial and harmful effects…. They go on to say that when the UV index is below 3 “sun protection is not recommended unless near snow or other reflective surfaces.
The prevailing sun exposure guidelines often fail to account for individual differences in skin pigmentation and lifestyle. People with darker skin require more sun exposure to produce adequate levels of vitamin D, while those who spend most of their time indoors are at greater risk of vitamin D deficiency, regardless of skin color.
Finding the Right Balance: Practical Recommendations
Don’t get burned - if this means using sunscreen - than use it. If you have fairer skin and need sunscreen to avoid burning, spend some time in the sun without the sunscreen applied and some time with it. If you have darker skin, know that you need more time in the sun and need less protection.Get some sun every day you possibly can. Not only will you be getting the huge benefits associated with sunshine, you will also be less likely to burn, and thus decrease your risk from UV radiation.Mid-day is the best time to get sun. This is when UVB rays, the wavelength that produces vitamin D, is highest. Fair-skinned people can nearly maximise vitamin D in about 20 minutes during solar noon with adequate skin exposure.
Here are some practical recommendations for optimizing sun exposure:
- Know your skin type: Individuals with fairer skin should be more cautious and may need to use sunscreen to prevent burning, while those with darker skin can tolerate longer periods of sun exposure.
- Time of day: Mid-day sun provides the most UVB rays, which are essential for vitamin D production. Aim for 10-20 minutes of sun exposure during this time, depending on your skin type.
- Regularity: Consistent, moderate sun exposure is preferable to infrequent, intense exposure.
- Vitamin D testing: Consider getting your vitamin D levels checked to determine if supplementation is necessary. There are two tests commonly offered, you want to order the 25(OH)D (aka 25-hydroxyvitamin D).
The Carnivore Diet and Sun Tolerance: An Intriguing Hypothesis
I am now going to suggest that the Carnivore Diet can increase your tolerance to the Sun. I am having a laugh right? I have been Carnivore since October 2017, and the wife since December 2017. It is now August 2018. We are from England and it has been an awesome Summer so far. A very unusually hot Summer. We are into our camping, and we have 2 dogs. With or without sunscreen we do eventually go red. It sounds crazy I know. However I truly believe the Carnivore Diet is an ancestral way of eating. It gives you everything you need, which in turn helps your body deal with any health issues you may have. So I suppose it stands to reason that it would be result in healthier cells, and that is all Skin is. Just a big clump of cells.
Now, let's introduce a controversial element: the carnivore diet. The carnivore diet is a restrictive eating plan that consists exclusively of animal products, such as meat, fish, eggs, and some dairy. Proponents of the carnivore diet claim various health benefits, including improved energy levels, reduced inflammation, and even increased sun tolerance.
If you think about how and when Humans evolved, we have always been exposed to the Sun for long periods. Whether that was a million years ago hunting megafauna, or 200 years ago tending our farm. We spent a long time persistent hunting, we can out run any animal over long distances. Mainly due to the fact we can sweat and are economical long distance runners. So a tribe of humans would see a pack of animals, they would identify one of them. Then just start jogging after it. The animal would sprint off and rest, eventually it could sprint less and need more rest. Then dying of exhaustion. This could take all day. Imagine if we could only spend an hour in the sun before burning, we would have been useless persistence hunters that’s for sure. You could argue the ozone layer has had an impact or that they might have been making their own sunscreen from plants. Which I doubt. So either the Carnivore Diet is making us superhuman. Or something we have eliminated from our diet is helping.
The idea that the carnivore diet can increase sun tolerance is largely anecdotal, but it raises an interesting question: Could dietary choices influence our skin's response to UV radiation?
The Omega-6 Hypothesis: PUFAs and Sun Sensitivity
I first heard about this Sunburn Paradox from Tucker Goodrich on a couple of podcasts. Basically the gist is that he blames excess Omega 6 / Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids in our diet for our whimpiness in the sun. Well you might say you don’t eat much Omega 6. Well if you eat a Standard Western Diet you do. Vegetable Seed Oils are very high in Omega 6, and pretty much every highly processed food on the planet is loaded with Seed Oils because they are cheap. The trouble is Omega 6 is highly unstable under Ultravoilet Light (Sun), and oxidizes extremely easily. Here is a little more info on how far off our Omega 3 to 6 ratio is nowadays: “Several sources of information suggest that human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA) of ∼ 1 whereas in Western diets the ratio is 15/1-16.7/1. Western diets are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, and have excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids compared with the diet on which human beings evolved and their genetic patterns were established. “I used to get some serious sunburn on my long runs.
One potential explanation for this phenomenon lies in the role of dietary fats, particularly polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The modern Western diet is characterized by a high intake of omega-6 PUFAs, primarily from vegetable oils like soybean, corn, and sunflower oil. These fats are highly unstable and prone to oxidation when exposed to UV radiation.
“When mice were exposed acutely to UV radiation (UVR), a diet of 20% saturated fat provided almost complete protection from the suppression of CHS, whereas feeding 20% polyunsaturated fat resulted in 57% suppression” - Study. So Saturated Fat helped prevent tumors in Mice exposed to UV Radiation (Found in Sunlight), where as Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA) made them more susceptible to tumors. My Carnivore Diet is high in saturated fat, and low in PUFA.
Some researchers hypothesize that the oxidation of omega-6 PUFAs in the skin may contribute to inflammation and increased sensitivity to sunburn. The carnivore diet, being virtually devoid of PUFAs and rich in saturated fats, may theoretically reduce this oxidative stress and enhance sun tolerance.
“Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, a form of ionizing radiation, results in approximately 1.5 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and is associated with greater than 60,000 deaths annually worldwide attributed to melanoma and other skin cancers.1 There are no standardized biomarker panels to assess UV-radiation oxidative stress injury patterns in skin. Unless assessing erythema after UV exposure, it is difficult to clinically determine the efficacy of UV-protective agents.2-6Therefore, developing a biomarker panel to evaluate UV radiation oxidative damage would facilitate rapid evaluation of skin injury due to UV radiation and enable the development and evaluation of novel oxidation-protective agents, such as sunscreens and topical antioxidants, to treat or prevent UV radiation-induced oxidation resulting in a decrease in lost years of healthy life, DALYs, and annual deaths that are attributed to UV radiation.” - Study. This study links skin health with oxidative stress. So I think it is fair to at least consider a diet that is too high in Omega 6 could mean people are more susceptible to Sunlight than they should be.
This study links skin health with oxidative stress. So I think it is fair to at least consider a diet that is too high in Omega 6 could mean people are more susceptible to Sunlight than they should be.
The Importance of Vitamin D and K2
We need to talk about the sunshine vitamin, Vitamin D. Because that description is a half truth. Sun exposure is important for many reasons beyond Vitamin D. As I mentioned, the research is quite clear - low Vitamin D in the blood is associated with nearly every chronic illness - cancer, heart disease, diabetes, cognitive impairment, autoimmune disorders, osteoporosis. And most of modern society is deficient.
Vitamin D3 is a soluble steroid hormone. It forms when the sun hits your skin thereby converting a cholesterol derivative into vitamin D3. The problem is that sunscreen blocks this process. But there’s been a lot of research on vitamin D. Numerous clinical trials show that supplemental vitamin D confers no benefits. It doesn’t prevent cancer or heart disease. It doesn’t even reduce the risk. Further, vitamin D is connected with other molecules and processes many of which are not fully understood. Take Vitamin K2 for example. If you are taking vitamin D you need more K2. And taking a Vitamin D supplement without balancing K2 can have adverse health effects. K2 helps direct calcium. It can send it to your bones and teeth making them strong. But if you mess with this balancing act it can direct calcium to your arteries, hardening them, and leading to atherosclerosis. As far as supplementation, all we have is best guesses. From the research I’ve done, my best guess is that for every 1,000 IU of Vitamin D3, you need 100-200 micrograms of K2.
The modern diet is a plant-based diet. And while it’s tough to get enough Vitamin D via diet the only chance is via animal-based foods. Many people, like the Inuit who lived at latitudes up to 80° as well as our ancestors of the Ice Ages, had perhaps less sunlight than we get today. They didn’t take Vitamin D supplements. They stayed covered up in the cold. There was a study on the Inuit living in Greenland that showed the more modern foods they ate including fruits, vegetables, and breads, the lower their vitamin D level was in the blood. A similar test was done in Russia among two groups of Komi. One group still ate their traditional diet of reindeer, and the other group, which lived in an adjacent town, had adopted a westernized diet. Although both groups got similar sun exposure, the group with the modern diet were deficient in Vitamin D while the those eating their traditional meat-based diet had normal levels.
When we get Vitamin D (from the diet or the sun) it is mostly in the inactive version. It has to be converted to the active version. Fructose disrupts this conversion. The combination of eating less animal-based products (that provide the major source of dietary vitamin D that we need) and the increase in carbs and sugar, particularly fructose that blocks conversion of inactive to active D3, has led to widespread vitamin D deficiency. Some plant-based foods have Vitamin D2, a version we have to convert to D3, but this conversion ranges from not-so-good to downright awful. Further, in areas with limited sunlight, meat has shown to be protective against rickets, a bone disease caused by vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is important and the best way to get it is sun, red meat, and fatty fish. I’d recommending testing your Vitamin D levels.
Sunscreen: A Necessary Evil or a Hindrance?
Modern health guidelines seem to be always directing us to replace something natural with something artificial. A vitamin D pill can’t replace the sun. The sunscreen they recommend wearing at any hint of sun exposure covers your skin in a endocrine disruptor. The ingredients also often contain oxybenzone which mutates DNA of corals and destroys reefs. The advice to smear on synthetic block to protect you from the life-giving sun is a curious one.
I am going to stop here, as after this point you are entering varying degrees of Conspiracy Theory. For example is Sunscreen even useful? From being Keto and then Carnivore, I know that food companies are knowingly feeding us absolute crap for profit. I know it is in Pharma’s best interests to keep these food companies doing the same. Then I know Governments, health boards and charities are perpetuating the problems. So it is a pretty big leap for me to presume that Sunscreen manufactures are producing these products for the good of our health. They will have to turn a profit after all.
Sunscreen is often touted as the primary defense against sun damage, but its effectiveness and safety are subjects of ongoing debate. Some studies suggest that certain sunscreen ingredients, such as oxybenzone, may have endocrine-disrupting effects and contribute to coral reef damage. Moreover, sunscreen blocks the production of vitamin D in the skin, potentially exacerbating vitamin D deficiency.
Systemic Photoprotection by Dietary Means
The concept of systemic photoprotection by dietary means is gaining momentum. Skin is continuously exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the major cause of skin disorders such as sunburn, photodamage, and nonmelanoma skin cancer. Most of the erythemal annual UV dose is encountered under nonvacation conditions, when no sunscreen is applied. In the absence of topically added compounds, skin protection depends solely on endogenous defense. Micronutrients can act as UV absorbers, as antioxidants, or can modulate signaling pathways elicited upon UV exposure. UV-induced erythema is a suitable parameter to assess photoprotection.