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NUCCA News - Even a little sun is bad February 13, 2003 You've been told it time and time again – stay out of the sun between 10 and four. But this might not be enough according to German researchers who have found that even moderate sun exposure can result in moles that may develop into melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. What's more, melanoma may even be genetic according to a report published in the February 1 issue of the journal Cancer by Dr Tine Wiecker's team from the Eberhard-Karls University in Tuebingen. They came to this conclusion after discovering that a parent's mole count may help predict the number of moles that their child will develop. It is common knowledge that exposure to the sun is the main risk factor for skin cancer, but the link between sun exposure and melanoma, the rarest type of skin cancer, is much weaker. Although it has been found that the more sun burns you have as a child or a teenager, the higher your risk of developing melanoma. Number of moles increase with age Dr Wiecker and colleagues studied the link between sun exposure and moles in 1 812 German nursery school children between the ages of two to seven. The children's parents were also checked for moles. It was found that as a child gets older the number of moles on his/her body increases. For example, half of the two-year-olds had a minimum of three moles, compared to half of the seven-year-olds who had at least 19 moles. That's a 16 mole increase in five years. The study discovered that children with lots of moles spent more time outside and had longer holidays in the sun. Skin type, freckles, the ethnicity of the parents and the number of moles on the parents' arms also determined how many moles a child had. Sunburn avoidance is not enough This study highlights the fact that simply avoiding getting sunburnt is not enough; children should wear sun protection every day, no matter what the weather. Researchers also found that the more moles parents have, the more likely their children are to have moles, which may mean that moles are inherited. Interestingly enough, the study found that the number of sunburns that you have had is not linked to the development of potentially cancerous moles. South African parents must bear in mind that this study was conducted in Germany, where the sun is a lot less harsh than ours. Even in the southern hemisphere, mild to moderate sun exposure can produce potentially cancerous moles. If you are fair-skinned and have a family history of skin cancer, then you are even more at risk of melanoma. - (Health24)
http://www.health24.co.za/news.asp?action=art&SubContentTypeId=58 |
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