The Vitamin D Council reported this week that overzealous sun avoidance campaigns — the darlings of dermatology and government groups in many developed countries — are killing people.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that strict avoidance of ultraviolet (UV) light significantly increase the risk of dying from internal cancers. Yes, the risks of developing one of the major cancer killers increase when we avoid the sun,” the Vitamin D Council reported on its blog. “In fact, Dr. Tuohimaa and company recently showed that the risk of developing almost all varieties of fatal internal cancers is less in those who spend time in the sun.”

The post continues, “Apparently, none of the organizations and government agencies with ‘avoid the sun’ campaigns considered the possibility that avoiding the sun would harm anyone. Seemingly, no one thought about how UV light might help us. No one remembered that humans evolved in the sun, living naked in the sun for almost all of our two million years on the planet. Only in recent years did we start avoiding the sun. In other words, we started messing with Mother Nature.”

To read the Vitamin D Council’s blog click here.