“Differences in dietary or smoking habits”, the paper concluded, “do not appear to explain the geographic variation in cancer rates in USA.”But it’s not only cancers that are involved. A study by the Institute of Child Health in London, involving 10,000 children, found that taking vitamin D supplements reduced the risk of insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes by 88 per cent. The evidence pointed to the fact that the lower level of sunshine for half the year in the north effectively prevents any syntheses of vitamin D during winter months.Then, last year, a study in a leading journal made the startling and controversial claim: “The annual number of premature deaths from cancer due to lower UVB exposure was 21,700 for white Americans.” The cancers involved included breast, colon, ovary and prostate. The transition point seems to be around the 42nd parallel, which passes through Boston and Chicago – London is 51.5 degrees north. We may all need much more of this vitamin than we are getting at the moment.The sunshine hypothesis was first put forward by two brothers, Dr Cedric and Dr Frank Garland, both epidemiologists, who noticed in the late 1970s that the National Cancer Institute maps revealed a striking geographic distribution of deaths from colon cancer in America – they were significantly lower in the sunny south-west and higher in the industrialised north-east. His new book, The UV Advantage (Prima Lifestyles), due out in the autumn, claims that a relatively brief exposure to sunshine several times a week can ward off a remarkable range of diseases by boosting vitamin D levels. Our demonising, factor-40 approach to the sun may well be making us ill.
Over the past 20 years, two epidemiologists have made a series of remarkable, and largely ignored, discoveries that links your risk of developing certain disorders with how far from the Equator you live.
In June, Michael Holick, a leading researcher into vitamins and a professor of medicine, dermatology, physiology and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine, commented that our current fear of the sun might be damaging more people than it saves from melanoma. The travel brief, which also contains Foreign Office advice about safety and political situations, is sent out immediately by first-class post. They can be obtained at for £4.99 or by telephone at O906 822 4100 (calls cost 60p a minute but are very quickly dealt with). But another reason is that there is no legislation that clarifies the exact standing of living wills. Legally, no one has the absolute right to decide what treatment an adult should receive if the patient is unable to express their wishes. In practice, it usually means that the doctor decides, taking into consideration the views of other interested parties, such as close relatives. The Government has recently proposed legislation that will allow people to nominate friends or relatives to make decisions on their behalf if they become mentally incapable.
Presumably, the nominated person would be allowed to take into account wishes expressed in a living will. Even though the legal status of living wills is still unclear, there is no reason not to complete one. Your wishes are more likely to be respected if you state them clearly than if you do not. The Voluntary Euthanasia Society provides a sample living will that can be used by anyone.
You can contact it at VES, 13 Prince of Wales Terrace, London W8 5PG, or on the web at .uk. HAVE YOUR SAY – READERS WRITE HD recommends a reliable and efficient source of travel advice: I am immuno-suppressed so have to be very careful about health risks and required vaccinations. They have been slow to catch on in Britain, maybe because the British don’t like to think about their own mortality. Some people say they are legally binding; others, including a solicitor friend, assure me that they have no legal standing. Is there any point in completing a living will? Will anyone take any notice of it?Living wills (sometimes knows as advance directives) are very popular in North America.
