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The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

economist.com

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Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#191

Post by geor9e »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #150
geor9e wrote: post #144

I wish there was anything we could do about "x may y" "studies" where it's just a grad student finding 2 weakly correlated variables in an existing dataset and hitting publish. Maybe experimental studies can be called science and observational studies can be called schmience. Of course that is a terrible solution, but god I wish something could be done.

> where it's just a grad student This study was "just a grad student"?

This article is a pop sci editorial. But it's drawing a "may cause" causation from correlations found in "observational studies" rather than "experimental studies". Junior researchers, pressured to publish or die, shovel them out because it's the easiest thing to publish. No experiments, no scientific method, no controls. Just manipulate old data and cherry pick something that looks like it might be related to another thing. Then a year later we get the opposite headline, from another grad student looking for an easy paper to publish. Then the general public confuses it for science.

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#192

Post by esafak »

avalys wrote: post #176
atombender wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No byline/author. This is The Economist; they don't use bylines, and their articles are all anonymous.

+1 The byline is “The Economist”, and the lack of links is the house style, like a printed newspaper. A relic from the times when the name and reputation of the institution alone was enough to earn your trust. Personally I still find them a high-quality source, especially because they are a weekly publication based in the UK and distanced (but not entirely removed) from the bullshit of the US media cycle.

It's a foolish tradition of theirs not to provide hyperlinked citations in online articles. It would cost them little.

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#193

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

cpncrunch wrote: post #186
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the other camp. Sunlight never feels great and the best I've ever felt is working nights.

This isn't really about it feeling good or bad, rather it's about the effect of sunlight in significantly reducing mortality. I agree that strong sunlight on a hot day doesn't feel good.

> This isn't really about it feeling good or bad,

I'm not sure that's true over the very long run.

We're talking about a proscribed health practice that results in continuing discomfort and sickness. Even if the benefit manifests as predicted, I'm skeptical it can make up for the low quality of life.

edit: I'm far from alone in this. When I share my aversion to sunlight, I find many more folks who feel similarly, than I do people who are puzzled by it.

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#194

Post by indolering »

I don't think I'm going to take my health advice from an economics magazine that is published by libertarians in the UK (a famously NOT sunny place).

Economists have a habit of wandering off into other fields and misapplying statistical methods developed for economics. See their work in anti-parastic studies and all sorts of gross wannabe sociology research.

I'll wait until Chocrane steps in and says something before rejecting decades of scientific consensus.

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#196

Post by maleldil »

indolering wrote: post #194

I don't think I'm going to take my health advice from an economics magazine that is published by libertarians in the UK (a famously NOT sunny place). Economists have a habit of wandering off into other fields and misapplying statistical methods developed for economics. See their work in anti-parastic studies and all sorts of gross wannabe sociology research. I'll wait until Chocrane steps in and says something before…

I think this assessment is unfair. The paper [1] is not from economists. The first author is an endocrinologist. The third author is a dermatologist. As for where the authors are from, I don't see why it would matter, as long as their methodology is sound.

However, this doesn't mean one should forget about the current consensus. This is just one paper, and it takes more than that to offset the current knowledge.

[1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43630-025-00743-6

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#197

Post by alfiedotwtf »

avalys wrote: post #176
atombender wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No byline/author. This is The Economist; they don't use bylines, and their articles are all anonymous.

+1 The byline is “The Economist”, and the lack of links is the house style, like a printed newspaper. A relic from the times when the name and reputation of the institution alone was enough to earn your trust. Personally I still find them a high-quality source, especially because they are a weekly publication based in the UK and distanced (but not entirely removed) from the bullshit of the US media cycle.

The Economist a few years back did an article on Steon (free energy engine) but it was essentially a PR piece soliciting investors… so take them with a grain of salt

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#198

Post by smeeger »

spullara wrote: post #92

dunno man, just had melanoma removed from my ear and if it had moved to my lymph nodes I had a 50% chance of dying within 5 years. thankfully it didn't but it was caused by sun damage incurred in my youth. I'll be wearing sunscreen and mostly avoiding direct sunlight.

funny how some anecdotes are pounced on by redditors and others are taken at face value

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#199

Post by smeeger »

when your skin turns pale white your body is screaming for sunlight. it wants sunlight just like your body wants food and makes you hungry. if sunlight were so deadly then everyone would have skin that was pitch black and doesnt change. but we have this insane adaptive system to make sure we are always getting a trickle of UV. why else would we evolve this system if sunlight werent extremely important?

Re: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer

#200

Post by Spooky23 »

namuol wrote: post #103

> A study published last year, for instance, examined medical data from 360,000 light-skinned Brits and found that greater exposure to UV radiation—either from living in Britain’s sunnier southern bits rather than the darker north, or from regularly using sunbeds—was correlated with either a 12% and 15% lower risk, respectively, of dying, even when the raised risk of skin cancer was taken into account. Emphasis on “m…

I think it’s difficult to study this sort of thing because people and behavior is so different. I lost someone dear to me to melanoma and one of the things we learned was that a single blistering sunburn as a child increases cancer risk significantly. So small variations have big impacts.

I’d love to see a study where people wear a meter to sample exposure. My mom was an avid gardener who never wore sunscreen - she dressed appropriately with a hat.

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