Sunlight could protect skin

New York -- Unprotected exposure to the sun for a brief period may protect your skin from cancer, indicates a new study.

Sunlight triggers the synthesis of Vitamin D within the body. This action causes immune cells to travel to the skin's outer layers, where they are available to protect and help repair damage caused to the skin, say Hekla Sigmundsdottir and researchers at Stanford University.

The findings are preliminary and have to be confirmed through clinical trials, the experts were quoted as saying by the online edition of health Magazine WebMD.

Most people can get more than enough Vitamin D in the spring, summer and fall by engaging in what researcher Michael F. Holick calls "sensible sun exposure" -- five to 10 minutes of direct sun to unprotected legs and arms two-three times a week.

"We are not talking about burning in the sun. No one is saying that is good for you," he says in the study published in the January issue of online journal Nature Immunology.

There is a growing body of research that suggests Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk for a host of human cancers and disorders including Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis and multiple sclerosis.

"But the idea that sunlight in small doses may actually protect the skin from damage is bound to be controversial," notes Darrel Rigel, professor of dermatology at New York University.

"Everyone agrees that Vitamin D is useful, even though most of the benefits that have been attributed to it are still theoretical," he adds.