Sunshine and Cancer in the USA

A research team at Harvard Medical School have just published the results of a study that monitored the health of 14,916 physicians over an 18 year period to determine whether vitamin D insufficiency increases their risk of prostate cancer. More than two-thirds of the men involved had insufficient vitamin D levels in winter and spring; and almost one-third had a vitamin D deficiency. In summer and autumn, more than 10 per cent were still vitamin D deficient, and more than half had less than optimal amounts of vitamin D in their blood. During the 18 years of follow-up 1,066 doctors developed prostate cancer, and 496 suffered an aggressive form of it. Men whose blood levels of vitamin D were below average were twice as likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer as those in whom levels were above average. The results of the Harvard investigation confirm that insufficient vitamin D is a common problem among men of European-descent in the United States. The relationship between vitamin D and prostate cancer has been investigated before but this is claimed to be the first study to follow a large enough number of men over a long enough period to give a clear picture of the relationship. It seems vitamin D insufficiency significantly increases the risk of prostate cancer, including a lethal form of the disease.
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0040103#toclink1

Previous research indicates that sun exposure in childhood may protect against prostate cancer in later life. This appears to be the case with other autoimmune diseases too such as multiple sclerosis and insulin-dependant diabetes. A new study carried out at the Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, suggests that maintaining adequate vitamin D levels from the sun during adolescence could reduce the risk of breast cancer later in life by over 30 per cent. It seems sun exposure during breast development may be particularly important in preventing the disease. This reduction in breast cancer risk was associated with increasing sun exposure from ages 10 to 19. There was weaker evidence for this in older age groups.
http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/16/3/422

Sunshine and Vitamin D in Britain

Scientists have uncovered `alarmingly' high rates of Vitamin D deficiency among Britons during winter and spring. Nine in 10 middle-aged men and women in Britain suffer from low levels of vitamin D, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. During the winter and spring, 15 per cent of people had dangerously low levels, which lead to softening of bone tissue. Even in the summer and autumn, some 60 per cent of Britons still do not have vitamin D levels high enough for optimal bone health; while three per cent had dangerously low levels. The study also showed that people who are obese are twice as likely to have low levels of vitamin D.
http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/pressoffice/pressrelease_00510

Thirty years ago, the vitamin D levels reported in this study were thought to be healthy by medical experts. However, `healthy' meant just enough to to prevent rickets in children or osteomalacia in adults. Three decades later, there is belated recognition that vitamin D is pivotal to many other aspects of health, and that much higher concentrations of vitamin D are needed to prevent adverse outcomes than those British population currently enjoy.
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/85/3/649

The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

Sunlight is in such short supply in the urban environment that anyone proposing a high-rise development should be obliged to produce solstitial and equinoctial shadow plans, showing the duration and extent of any overshading. The impact on the health and quality of life of people living and working in the wake of any shadows cast could then be assessed. That this is not carried out as a matter of course when tall buildings are planned is symptomatic of the low priority attached to health in modern urban developments. Also any building, be it tall or otherwise, should allow its occupants access to direct sunlight. The indoor environment ought to be designed to meet the minimum requirements of the British Standard on lighting for buildings, BS8206-2. The fact that interiors are not shows how little consideration is now given to the ill-effects of sunlight deprivation.

Anyone who wishes to investigate this further might be interested in the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's Report on the Urban Environment, which was published on the 6th March. According to Sir John Lawton, who chaired the Commission:

“Commissioners are astonished that, on the eve of the new phase of urban regeneration and expansion, we lack an over-arching urban environment policy to coordinate the provision of housing, transport, energy and other vital services. Tinkering with any one of these issues in isolation is bound to fail. We can and must do better if we are to meet environmental challenges and improve the health and wellbeing of our citizens.”

Amongst other things the report provides confirmation, if any were needed, that health and wellbeing has little influence in modern urban design and planning. Sunlight is not mentioned in the report at all. Not once in 232 pages. In common with The Code for Sustainable Homes and Guidance for Tall Buildings the report makes no allowance for the favourable influence of the sun on biological rhythms, depression, immune function, or anything else.
http://www.rcep.org.uk/

Guidance on Tall Buildings

English Heritage and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) are inviting comments on their joint publication Guidance on Tall Buildings, which was originally published in 2003. They anticipate that local planning authorities will use the revised version of this document to inform policy and to evaluate applications for tall buildings. As yet, Guidance on Tall Buildings makes no reference to the negative impact of overshadowing on health. High-rise developments obscure the sun; and it is sunlight keeps the human body's circadian clock synchronized each day. The shadows cast by tall buildings may inhibit this entrainment. People with disrupted circadian rhythms have an increased risk of accidents, disturbed sleep patterns, psychological disorders and other health problems. In addition, sunlight is the primary source of vitamin D in the body. Overshadowing from tall buildings limits opportunities for the synthesis of vitamin D in the skin. The adverse effects of sunlight deprivation should be considered when such buildings are planned. We have until May to comment.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.11149

MRSA: the Right Approach?

Sunlight kills bacteria very effectively; which is why hospitals used to be designed to admit it. Today, they are not. The germicidal properties of sunlight are not considered when buildings are being planned. One reason for this is that although human beings have been catching infections for millenia, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Eminent opinion has often held that diseases are not passed in the air. The idea that infectious diseases can be passed from person-to-person by any means other than direct contact has swung back and forwards down the centuries; from belief, to disbelief, and back again.

A contributor to the letters page of The Times on January 17, 2007 made some interesting observations about the control of MRSA and C. Difficile in hospitals. Apparently, hygiene is not the answer: the solution lies in controlling airborne infection.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,59-2550639,00.html
On January 5, 2007 the Health Minister, Andy Burnham, stated that the Department of Health is not sponsoring research specifically focused on airborne transmission of hospital-acquired infections.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2007-01-05a.106282.h&s=mrsa#g106282.q0

If the airborne route is largely ignored then the part played by sunlight in reducing infections will continue to be ignored too.

City Life Causes Jet Lag?

Sunlight keeps our body clocks synchronized each day. The urban environment can inhibit this process. A major study published in the journal Current Biology concludes that the sun has less effect on the body clock of city dwellers than those living in the country. As a result, city-dwellers can suffer a form of chronic jet lag that may make them more vulnerable to health problems as well as being at greater risk of accidents.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/connected/2007/01/23/njetlag23.xml
Unfortunately, modern cities are not planned for the sun; and sunlight is being designed out of buildings. The Code for Sustainable Homes makes no allowance for the favourable influence of the sun on biological rhythms, depression or immune function. This oversight was the subject of an editorial by Melanie Thompson in the January Get Sust! newsletter, in which she very kindly referred to The Light Revolution. `Anyone involved in designing the next generation of buildings should read this book'. Melanie's words, not mine.
http://www.get-sust.com/newsletters/issue25.html

Is Passive Solar Dead?

The Code for Sustainable Homes makes no mention of passive solar design, which is disappointing. It is a tried and tested method of keeping energy consumption down. Yet, like so many other things, it goes in and out of fashion. Solar architecture was popular with the ancient Greeks, the Romans and Le Corbusier but has fallen from favour since the 1980s.

So, is arranging buildings for sunlight a dead duck as far as the UK is concerned? A debate on the subject held at Fulcrum Consulting in March 2005 suggests that there is still some life left in solar architecture. However, the motion was concerned with solar heating. The health benefits of solar design (on conditions such as depression, vitamin D deficiency and infectious diseases) don't appear to have been raised during this debate.
fulcrumfirst.com/pdf/debates/050317SolarArchitectureDebateMinutes.pdf
There appears to be only one school of architecture in the world that teaches its students about sunlight and health in buildings; at Murdoch University in Western Australia. http://energy.murdoch.edu.au/ACP/envarch/index.html.
If anyone knows of any others, do get in touch.

Sunlight, Multiple Sclerosis and Vitamin D Deficiency

The results of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on the 20th December show that people with high levels of vitamin D - especially those under the age of 20 - have a two-thirds lower risk of developing MS compared with those with the lowest levels measured. As with other auto-immune diseases, MS is much more common amongst people who live in regions distant from the equator, where there is less sunlight. This study highlights the importance of sunlight exposure in regulating the immune system. It also confirms that vitamin D deficiency is an epidemic in the United States.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16284822

Winter Sun

So how much sunlight should a building receive in the winter? According to BS 8206-2, the British Standard on Lighting for Buildings, interiors in which occupants have a reasonable expectation of sunlight should receive a minimum of 5% of probable sunlight hours in the winter. That is, between the 23rd of September and the 21st of March.

BS 8206-2 points out that the controlled entry of sunlight is especially valued where occupants have little direct contact with the outside world. Provision should be made for it in rooms occupied for long periods during the day, such as those for the elderly. Unfortunately, there is no obligation on anyone to do so. The health benefits are largely ignored, especially in hospitals. However, if too much sunlight is let into wards there can be health risks. One recent example of a hospital designed for sunlight illustrates the point.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/21/nheat121

Sunlight, Multiple Sclerosis and Vitamin D Deficiency

The results of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on the 20th December show that people with high levels of vitamin D - especially those under the age of 20 - have a two-thirds lower risk of developing MS compared with those with the lowest levels measured. As with other auto-immune diseases, MS is much more common amongst people who live in regions distant from the equator, where there is less sunlight. This study highlights the importance of sunlight exposure in regulating the immune system. It also confirms that vitamin D deficiency is an epidemic in the United States.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16284822