“Vitamin D is essential for strong bones and a healthy immune system. While a limited amount of vitamin D can be obtained from exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the health risks of UV exposure — including skin cancer — are great. Instead, The Skin Cancer Foundation suggests you get your recommended daily 600 IU (international units) of vitamin D a day from food sources like oily fish, fortified dairy products and cereals, and supplements.” — The sunscreen-industry-funded Skin Cancer Foundation, from the group’s web site.

How can a group funded by chemical sunscreen manufacturers — who profit from the over-statement of risk about sun exposure — say that “a limited amount of vitamin D” can be obtained from sun exposure?

“That’s akin to saying you can get a limited amount of oxygen from breathing air, and then telling people to get their oxygen from an aerosol can instead,” Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. “It’s deception that is so conspicuous and ludicrous that one can only conclude it is intentional.”

UV exposure is the body’s natural and intended source of vitamin D, which is rare in diet. Supplements are an unnatural surrogate for what nature intended. It is well-established that non-burning full-body sun exposure makes more vitamin D than one would receive from 100 glasses of vitamin D fortified milk.

“Even if the Skin Cancer Foundation wants to tell people to avoid UV exposure and use chemical sunscreen on a daily basis in any weather, it isn’t appropriate for that organization to pretend that UV is not the most natural, abundant and intended source of vitamin D,” Levy said. “They are creating more confusion — not ending it.”