Sunscreen

[thibodeaux]

If I'm not going to be outside for more than 45 minutes, between 10 and 2, I don't even bother.

I don't put it on the kids either, which drives the wife crazy. But you know what? They ain't got burned yet.

Just like the doctors are wrong about diet and exercise, they're wrong about this, too.

[GORDON]

I agree with each line, 100%. I too get shit from the wife if her precious snowflake has any hint of coloration on his skin.

Unless I am anywhere south of the Florida panhandle. The sun in the tropics is a lot more serious than in anything north of Tallahassee. I will burn in the sun in the Florida Keys in about 15 minutes, without protection.

[thibodeaux]

Sure, it's gonna depend on your latitude. And I am aware that practically all of White Europe is at Canadian latitudes, so you can make the case that white Americans aren't designed to take the natural UV they get. On the other hand, we're all probably Vitamin D deficient, so get all the sun you can.

[thibodeaux]

I too get shit from the wife if her precious snowflake has any hint of coloration on his skin.

Part of it, in our case, is our different upbringings. The wife's parents are retired medical professionals (nurse, pharmacist), so they read all these goofy health bulletins, and they're natural worry-warts to begin with. Plus, she doesn't tan, she freckles.

My people are rednecks. And although I'm about as honky as it gets, I tan pretty good. "Negro in the woodpile," as they used to say. Or Cherokee.

[GORDON]

And the Vitamin D issue is exactly why I make it a point to see that he gets out in the sun when his mother isn't around.

There are times I think she hasn't cut the cord, yet.

[Troy]

My parents grew up in Flordia. Were beach bums, got lots of sun.

I now have to deal with a melanoma scare at least once every couple years. I wear suncreen.

[thibodeaux]

It just seems ridiculous to think that, unlike EVERY OTHER CREATURE ON THE PLANET, humans are just not able to survive the natural UV radiation that exists in their environment.

[TheCatt]

Yeah, I generally do what Thib says. It seems to me that if you get a regular amount of sun each day, your body is pretty well prepared for it. It's the "stay indoors 5 days a week, spend the wkend outside" that your body can't handle.

[TheCatt]

Tell A that you're just trying to be a good parent.

The results may be even worse than we realize. Many researchers now fear that the explosive increase in autism is a result of pregnant mothers having close to no vitamin D in their bodies and then young babies and infants being similarly shielded from the Sun. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that virtually no infants are getting enough vitamin D. The inadequacy figures, even using the CDC's pre-2011 lower recommendations of what they thought the body should have, was that 90 percent of infants are deficient.

According to Cannell, the highest autism rates occur in areas that have the most clouds and rain, and hence the lowest blood levels of vitamin D. A Swedish study has strongly linked sunlight deprivation with autism. Moreover, blacks, whose vitamin D levels are half those found in whites living at the same latitudes, have twice the autism rates. Conversely, autism is virtually unknown in places such as sunny Somalia, where most people still spend most of their time outdoors. Yet another piece of anecdotal evidence is that autism is one of the very few afflictions that occur at higher rates among the wealthier and more educated - exactly the people most likely to be diligent about sunscreen and more inclined to keep their children indoors.

From here.

[Leisher]

Baz Luhrman is pissed.