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Vitamin D Testing

Made Easy

If you want to get a Vitamin D Blood Test you can do at home and participate in an international study, join the D*action Campaign and get your Vitamin D Blood levels tested: JoinDAction.org

Find out why optimum Vitamin D blood levels are so important.
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Tanning and Sunlight Myths

MYTH: Tanning Beds Do Not Produce Vitamin D

FACT: Tanners have been scientifically demonstrated to have 90% higher vitamin D levels than non-tanners.

^{SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.}

Tanning optimizes vitamin D production

FACT: Health Canada recognizes tanning beds that emit UVB as a source of vitamin D

^{SOURCE: Health Canada}

FACT: sunbeds and summer sunshine are effective means by which to increase our serum 25(OH)D levels. The advantage of a tanning bed is that exposure to UV light can be controlled more precisely than casual sun exposure and thus can be safer than advising the public to guess at their own sun exposure from sunlight

^{SOURCE: Dr. Reinhold Vieth, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto}

MYTH: Sunscreen Prevents Skin Cancer

FACT: 8 out of 15 studies show that the use of sunscreen actually increases the risk of getting melanoma.

^{SOURCE: British Academy of Dermatology}

Sunscreens and melanoma

FACT: Research has shown Oxybenzone, one of the main chemicals in sunscreen to be a known photocarcinogen

^{SOURCE: Free Radical Biology and Medicine 41 (8): 1205–1212}

FACT: Sunscreen probably prevent squamous-cell carcinoma of the skin when used mainly during unintentional sun exposure. No conclusion can be drawn about the cancer-preventive activity of topical use of sunscreens against basal-cell carcinoma and cutaneous melanoma.

^{SOURCE: WHO IARC – Handbooks of Cancer Prevention: Sunscreens}

MYTH: Moderate UV Exposure Is Responsible For Melanoma

FACT: Exposure to intense bursts of ultraviolet radiation, especially in childhood, starts the transformation of benign melanocytes into a malignant phenotype. Paradoxically, outdoor workers have a decreased risk of melanoma compared with indoor workers.

^{SOURCE: The Lancet Feb 2004, Dr. JK Rivers, University of British Columbia}

Melanoma and sunburn

FACT: In observational studies, intermittent or intense sun exposure was associated with increase risk for melanoma; chronic exposure was associated with lower risk, as was the ability to tan.

^{SOURCE: The USA Center for Disease Control (CDC)}

MYTH: More Women Are Dying From Melanoma Than Ever Before

FACT: Female Mortality rates for women have remained essentially unchanged since 1985

^{SOURCE: Canadian Cancer Society}