The ever-expanding vitamin D story is starting to bowl over stories in the press about sun care, as journalists are finally doing the math and figuring out that regular sun exposure’s benefits far outweigh the managable risks.The Fort Myers (Fla.) News-Press on Tuesday published a story chock full of great lines right from the start. Consider the headline: Cancer news about sunlight isn’t all bad.

Statements in the story include:

• “If you live at high latitudes, you’re more likely to develop and die from cancers of the colon, pancreas, prostate, ovaries and breast, leading to the possibility that direct sunlight protects against cancer.”
• “In 1980, mortality rates from colon cancer deaths in the United States were the highest for those with the least amount of natural light exposure – in big cities and in rural areas at high latitudes suggesting a link to vitamin D.”
• “The evidence is so convincing that some scientists say the most effective way to protect against cancer, besides not smoking and moderating alcohol use, is to get enough vitamin D.”
• “People taking supplements of 300-2000 IU of vitamin D had a statistically significant reduction in mortality from any cause.” Harvard School of Public Health Dr. Edward Giovannucci said in the story.

And the story ventured into a point that we’ve never seen in the consumer press before, taking a shot across the bow of the sun scare industry: “Others caution that this evidence only shows association, not cause and effect, just like with beta-carotene and vitamin E studies that promised cancer protection but failed when rigorously tested. Giovannucci counterpoints that there have been no randomized trials showing that using sunscreen reduces melanoma either; just observational data.”

To read the full story in the Fort Myers News-Press, click here.