Welcome to your home on the web for optimum nutrition: nutrition information and nutritional products recommended by a licensed physician and certified nutritionist.

James McNabb, M.D., C.N.

Bad Sun, Good Sun (Part 1)

Those of us who live in Texas and other sunshine states know all about the dangers of too much sun. For years skin doctors have been preaching for years about the damage sun does to skin.

We have recently learned that melanoma, not previously thought to be related to sun exposure, can now often be traced to a severe sunburn many years earlier. Over the last 15 years eye-doctors have begun to warn of the dangers as well. It is now clear that sun accelerates the formation of cataracts. When we look at the ability of various groups to protect themselves from sun, we find that dark skinned people have less macular degeneration than folks with light skin. Red-haired freckled people tend to have the most. Clearly, sunlight has to be a significant factor in the development of macular degeneration.

Cover Your Head

For these reasons, I have always been an advocate of hats. In Texas in 1900, most men wore large-brimmed hats. I recently removed cataracts of a centenarian rancher, a gentleman who in his late 90’s still wore his 10-gallon hat. I discovered that his cataracts were not as sun-damaged as I had anticipated. All of which made me realize how effective large-brimmed hats are in keeping eyes healthy.

There are those of you who remember that there was a single moment in our history when men of America stopped wearing hats. JFK went to his inaugural swearing-in ceremony on a bitterly cold January day in Washington hatless. From that day to this, men have gone hatless.

A look at women in 1900 showed that bonnets and parasols were the order of the day. They also were as diligent as men in protecting themselves. Bathing suits for men and women concealed considerably less hide than is in vogue today. This has less to do now with modesty than it does with protecting skin...the "tankini" is a safer choice than the bikini.

Striking a Balance

In the span of one century, we have become more cavalier in our attitude about the dangers of sunshine, and we have the skin and eye diseases to show for it. Like everything in life, however, balance is necessary. Next month I will talk about the dangers of too little sun.

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