This is the same thing as Vitamin D is good for health. Exposure to the sun is correlated with good health, the problem is the direction is the other way around healthy people are outside and in the sun more, hence they have higher Vitamin D levels.
Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality
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Re: Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality
#32This is the same thing as Vitamin D is good for health. Exposure to the sun is correlated with good health, the problem is the direction is the other way around healthy people are outside and in the sun more, hence they have higher Vitamin D levels.
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Re: Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Higher calorific intake is associated with lower mortality* *Study conducted during the Great Famine
While I get your point, I think it’s a rather uncharitable way of putting it. A lot of the world is in lower UV continents like the UK. It’s not like it’s a statistical outlier like the great famine. So this research can have benefits to a lot of other people in other counties too.
You are absolutely right about the research part.
I guess I was surprised that it made it to the news, as it seems expected to me. If they would reach the opposite conclusion however, now that’s newsworthy.
Re: Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality
#34This smells like BS...or rather misdirection. If I go on a hike...and the health benefits of doing so are real, but I do incur a minor health negative from potential skin cancer from higher UV exposure. ...then I've still got a positive correlation between lower mortality and UV...even thought that's linking the wrong variables
That doesn't explain the sunbed result. Also, Lundqvist did control for exercise in their 2016 study which gave the same result.
The evidence base has been building for a long time, and I changed my own behavior over 10 years ago to get more UV. Not sure why you seem to feel the need to call it bs before even looking at the evidence.
Re: Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality
#35Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality... for white people residing in the United Kingdom. The selected cohort of people is pretty specific from a global perspective. In particular, if you live in a higher UV location (i.e. closer to the equator), intentionally increasing sun exposure like they measured in this study may not be necessary or helpful. For instance, the entire lower 48 stat…
In his TED talk Weller points out that latitude correlates with heart disease well. This study gets to clear out a lot of variables by sticking to the UK though so it is really valuable in testing the potential of UV without having to deal with as many social/environmental/etc etc factors. It would have been nice if the paper mentioned the world data that shows correlation between cardio vascular disease and latitude to help put this study into better perspective. To sum it all up: There is a world trend but the data is a bit messy. This study took a smaller chunk of the world and the results support the world trend and the data is much cleaner.
Re: Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
While I get your point, I think it’s a rather uncharitable way of putting it. A lot of the world is in lower UV continents like the UK. It’s not like it’s a statistical outlier like the great famine. So this research can have benefits to a lot of other people in other counties too.
You are absolutely right about the research part. I guess I was surprised that it made it to the news, as it seems expected to me. If they would reach the opposite conclusion however, now that’s newsworthy.
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Re: Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality
#37This is an interesting finding. But, a reminder that this is epidemiological data. It is nearly impossible to "adjust" for all confounding variables in epidemiological studies. For example, you may expect a health user-bias among people who use solariums, sunlamps, or have high vitamin-D levels, and health at baseline might be effected by random fluctuations not accounting for all variance. I would look for evidence…
How well fundamented is the opposite belief, that seems to be held as true by nearly everybody? I know the link to skin cancer is well established, but I don't know of any broad study about all causes of mortality. Yes, do not take this study as true. But also, look at your priors.
UV causes skin cancer - but the majority of them (10:1) are basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas. These have a 99-100% 5-year survival. While UV exposure can increase the risk of melanomas, it makes you less likely to die from them [1]. The UVA-mediated release of nitric oxide from the skin improves your cardiovascular health and you are far more likely to die of CVD than skin cancers, especially if you screen for them. Early stage melanomas have a 99.6% 5-year survival.
[1] https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/97/3/195/2544082
Also note there is very limited evidence for the health benefits of vitamin D supplementation, especially if you're anywhere close to a normal level.
Re: Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality
#38Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality... for white people residing in the United Kingdom. The selected cohort of people is pretty specific from a global perspective. In particular, if you live in a higher UV location (i.e. closer to the equator), intentionally increasing sun exposure like they measured in this study may not be necessary or helpful. For instance, the entire lower 48 stat…
In his TED talk Weller points out that latitude correlates with heart disease well. This study gets to clear out a lot of variables by sticking to the UK though so it is really valuable in testing the potential of UV without having to deal with as many social/environmental/etc etc factors. It would have been nice if the paper mentioned the world data that shows correlation between cardio vascular disease and latitude…
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Re: Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality
#39I have a very unscientific feeling that the scientific consensus will probably one day end up being something like: sun is good for you in moderation, the amount that is ok depends on your skin color, how tanned you get, in which part of the world you are and how often you are outside. Avoid too much sun and avoid sun burns and also avoid crazy strong sunscreens that block the benefits of getting sunlight. The lifest…
quick! go to publishing before they beat you there!
Re: Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Vitamin d supplementation studies are a lot more ambiguous than this though. And this also matches my "feel". Getting sun makes me feel good in a way that vitamin D supplementation never does. I was once at a dinner and sitting at the table with the head of the Office of Dietary Supplements for the US government and asked him this question- "How should I get vitamin D and how much should I take?" He answered quite qu…
> "Get it from sunlight." Listening to such people in power is a path to getting yourself killed, in this case by diseases. Their interest is in preserving their power, first by taking it away from you. They always have to say "don't supplement" because asking everyday people to supplement will force the officials to admit that the food and/or environment has recently been made inadequate. This will put the officials…
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