A prominent Las Vegas health columnist this week pointed out that “Sun Scare” is so overdone that vitamin D deficiency is a problem in Las Vegas — where sun shines 320 days a year.

“As so often happens in America, many of us take helpful information – prolonged exposure to the sun’s rays can damage skin and cause cancer – and take it to the extreme,” Paul Harasim, medical reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, writes. “And then too many come to believe that even small amounts of sunshine will harm us.”

Harasim quotes Dr. David Park, chair of the primary care department at Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine, saying: “Totally shunning the sun is unhealthy. Vitamin D deficiency shows up in blood tests and I’d recommend people get them.”

To read the column click here.