SUNBEDS THE
SUNSHINE VITAMIN
Sunbeds: friend or foe? Our panel of experts outline the health arguments for and against sunbed use
W AGAINST
DEBORAH MASON Communications manager, British Association of Dermatologists
create vitamin D in their bodies – but this vitamin is also available through diet and supplementation. Perhaps what people are less
M
aware of is that a sunbed does not emit ‘sunlight’: it puts out a mixture of UVA and UVB rays (which are constituents of sunlight) that have been specifi cally calibrated to make the skin
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ost people are now aware that exposure to sunlight helps to
ith the high levels of vitamin D deficiency among the UK population highlighted in numerous media channels over recent months, is it time for health clubs and leisure centres to put their focus back
on sunbeds – for so many years handled with caution following
warnings from the likes of cancer charities? If used properly, can sunbeds be used for positive health reasons, giving people a little dose of the otherwise scarce ‘sunshine vitamin’ (see also HCM Jan 13, p60)? Or should they still be avoided in favour of a spray tan and a daily vitamin D tablet? We ask the experts.
tan quickly. It’s also worth noting that a recent study by CRUK (published in the British Journal of Dermatology earlier this year) found that nearly 90 per cent of sunbeds in the UK did not comply with EU regulations, and that the cancer risk for comparable time of exposure on these sunbeds was up to six times higher than Mediterranean sunlight; while it might be safe enough for many people to sit in the midday sun for eight to 10 minutes, the equivalent on a sunbed is not the same. Research linking sunbeds to skin
cancer is often dismissed by the sunbed industry, perhaps because they don’t really understand how the research
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
works. The most widely quoted paper (by Mathieu Boniol et al) is a meta- analysis, which means it has looked at many different pieces of research to see if there are common fi ndings. They found 13 different studies that all came to the same conclusion: using sunbeds before the age of 35 increases your risk of skin cancer by 75 per cent. It’s also important to look at non-melanoma skin cancer; the sunbed industry tends to focus on melanoma only. Also, recent Advertising Standards
Authority rulings say that a sunbed is not a medical device, and that under advertising laws no health benefi ts can be advertised as arising from its use.
August 2013 © Cybertrek 2013
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