Long-time readers will recall I raised this issue some time ago which at the time brought a protest from the Skin Cancer Council.
Sunlight assists the body in making Vitamin D - which is not actually a vitamin, it’s a hormone. In general, hormones are chemical messengers which bind with genes in your DNA, which in turn produces proteins which make your body function.
Scientists are now realising that hormones (in general) are more common than first thought and Vitamin D actually binds with many genes and is involved in numerous functions throughout your body.
Not only is it involved with building bones but is quite good with the fight against cancer. Only the other day I read a report that countries that have more sun have a lower incidence of what is called “hard” cancers.
So, does this mean we should go out in the sun and bake ourselves? Certainly not - that would be stupid. But being paranoid about getting sunlight on us is equally as stupid.
The medical adage is: If sun causes skin cancer, no sun is better.
WRONG.
(By the way, if you decide to take Vitamin D make sure it is the D4 form - the others won’t work. )
On a similar vein I heard the Heart Foundation pushing the old line of salt causing high blood pressure. Well, guess what, your kidneys, under instruction from the adrenal glands control the amount of sodium and potassium in the blood. This is absolutely crucial to good health. A healthy system will maintain this level, and expel any excess salt.
Dr Nathan Pritikin started this no salt fad many years ago, and it was based on a narrow misleading study.
One of the side effects of reduced salt, and the wrong salt, is iodine deficiency.
The Australian population has a pandemic in insufficient iodine. The government knows this but is undecided in what to do. It may be that they will legislate that all salt used in food must have iodine. Then again, if this were the law think about how much iodine would be in McDonald’s buns!!
Most people are aware that iodine is involved in the thyroid, but it is also very anticancer, involved in sugar regulation, and is a great way of halting endometriosis. (In the early stages – refer Dr Gerard Taylor.)
Again, salt is not an enemy, it is a necessary mineral. However, if you have salt cravings it could well be an indication that your body is struggling to maintain sodium levels which could mean that something is not quite right in the adrenal system, to be more precise the HPA axis, and should be investigated.
If sodium levels fall low enough in the blood it is called Addison’s Disease, which in the extreme can be fatal.
And while we’re addressing medical attitudes, let’s discuss oestrogen.
The Breast Cancer Council regards it as public enemy number one. But both men and women need oestrogen, preferably the right type(s).
It is involved in more than breasts. Did you know your brain has estrogen receptors and it is also involved in the sugar management systems?
I wonder what drugs like tamoxifen, the estrogen blocker, does in parts of the body other than the breasts – such as the brain ??
The bottom line of all this is that the general public is rightfully confused as to what to eat and what to do as we are bombarded by conflicting information from medical experts.
The problem is that these experts are looking at a narrow field and not viewing the big picture.
My suggestion is that you get to understand your own body and mind.
Watch this column for a series of lectures I will be running during the year. | 
