For decades Australians have been told to minimise sun exposure to prevent skin cancer. However, Head of Inflammation Research at The Kids, Professor Prue Hart, explains that safe sun exposure may hold many important health benefits.
“Our research shows that sun exposure can reduce autoimmune disease, metabolic disease and the incidence of skin allergies in children. This carries a common thread that there are many beneficial effects of sunlight, not all of them vitamin D-related,” Professor Hart says.
“Whilst you should never get sunburnt, there is a lot of research to show that safe sun exposure can be great for our internal better health.”
Research by Head of Allergy Research, Dr Debbie Palmer,also demonstrated an association between greater direct UV light exposure for babies in the first three months of life and lower incidence of eczema. Findings also indicate that sunlight exposure appears to be more beneficial than vitamin D supplementation as an allergy prevention strategy early in life.
Pre-clinical research by our Head of Diabetes and Obesity Research, Dr Shelley Gorman, isnow showing that low doses of UV light could help to reduce signs of type 2 diabetes.