Cancer: A sunshine cure?

The sun can fight malignant melanoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), according to two separate studies.

These findings go against the conventional wisdom that the sun is a cause of skin cancer. However, scientists in New Mexico have found that people who had high exposure to the sun were less likely to die from skin melanomas. The key may be the healthgiving benefits of vitamin D, which triggers the body's own immune system

In Sweden, researchers have found that the UV rays in sunlight and from sunlamps can actually reduce the risk of cancer - especially NHL - by up to 40 per cent (J Natl Cancer Inst, 2005; 97: 195-9 (melanoma study), 199-209 (lymphoma study).

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