Getting burned.Although you get a double sense of accomplishment when you ask the flirty guy who hangs out down at the local swimming hole to lather sunscreen sunscreen /sun·screen/ (-skren) a substance applied to the skin to protect it from the effects of the sun's rays. sun·screen n. on your back (he's also helping you to prevent skin cancer and premature aging of skin), you're robbing yourself of a much-needed survival tool. Vitamin D vitamin D Any of a group of fat-soluble alcohols important in calcium metabolism in animals to form strong bones and teeth and prevent rickets and osteoporosis. It is formed by ultraviolet radiation (sunlight) of sterols (see steroid) present in the skin. occurs naturally in some foods, especially fish and milk, but it's most efficiently produced in the body by exposure to sunlight, and shunning the sun could be giving you low levels of this nutrient. A lack of vitamin D has been associated with arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and colon and prostate cancers prostate cancer, cancer originating in the prostate gland. Prostate cancer is the leading malignancy in men in the United States and is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death in men. . So how can you get the sun's benefits without overexposing yourself to its harmful rays? Some experts recommend upping your vitamin D intake to 1,000 international units international units, n.pl a unit of measurement that evaluates the potency of a substance. Because it measures potency instead of quantity, there is a different international unit-to-mg conversion ratio for each particular substance. each day--five times the recommended daily allowance--through both foods high in the nutrient and supplements. |
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