“The issues around vitamin D are complex and evidence is still very much emerging, whereas the health risks associated with excessive UV exposure are well established.” — British Association of Dermatologists spokeswoman Nina Goad, as quoted in The Huffington Post.

Here’s why she’s in the dark.

Dermatology — which itself defends the use of sunbeds to treat purely cosmetic skin conditions as “safe” — has built its case against the use of indoor tanning entirely on science called epidemiology, survey studies which ask tanners and non-tanners to recall their actions after-the-fact. These studies are capable only of establishing correlations, but not proving causation between an activity and an outcome.

In fact, the causative mechanism regarding UV exposure and melanoma is not understood, as indoor workers (who get 3-9 times less UV exposure) get more melanomas than outdoor workers, according to the World Health Organization and many other sources.

Vitamin D science, on the other hand, includes epidemiology, clinical data, random controlled trials and an understood mechanism whereby cells in the body have “vitamin D receptors” that play a key role in regulating a cell’s proper life cycle.

“For a dermatology leader to suggest that the risks of UV are better established than the benefits of vitamin D is incredibly misleading and not defendable,” Smart Tan Executive Director Joseph Levy said. “We can only conclude that Goad isn’t counting on being fact-checked by an objective source. It’s one thing for dermatology to call for people to exercise caution when dealing with sunlight, but it’s another for dermatology to denigrate vitamin D science with misstatements that appear to be designed to mislead people.”

Goad’s comments were in response to a British Advertising Standards Authority upholding a tanning salon’s right to advertise that sunbeds make vitamin D as long as the salon addressed the possible risks of overexposure and adherence to regulations.

Dermatology groups worldwide have maintained in the past year that sunbeds are an “inefficient” source of vitamin D — a completely inaccurate statement.

To read the Huffington Post story click here.