SUN SCREENING

As claims about vitamin D suppression, chemical toxicity and ‘natural sun exposure’ circulate online, sunscreen is getting some bad press. MH investigates how the evidence stacks up

Words by Perdita Nouril

In the late 1990s, advice about wearing sunscreen lodged itself into popular culture, not because of the impact of the iconic Baz Luhrmann song, but because the science was sound and undisputed. Until now. Decades later, that consensus is being chipped away, thanks to claims made on social media that, at best, sunscreen is responsible for low levels of vitamin D in the population, and, at worst, a toxic substance that causes cancer. Safe to say, the milky white lotion that people apply every summer is having something of a PR crisis.

In the past few years, a slew of content creators and biohackers have come out as anti-sunscreen. Fitness coach and influencer James Middleton, who has 785K followers, has posted comments about avoiding SPF and prioritising natural sun exposure. Podcast host Joe Rogan has platformed conversations about chemicals in everyday products, including sunscreen. Dr Andrew Huberman, host of the Huberman Lab podcast, which has 5 million listeners, has said he is ‘as scared of sunscreen as he is melanoma’, though he did go on to qualify that some sunscreens are safe. Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, also raised concerns on social media by citing that daily sunscreen use could lead to vitamin D deficiency. The kicker? All of this is happening as skin cancer rates rise. In the UK, melanoma is now the fourth most common cancer in men, with incidence climbing faster than any other major cancer. So why, then, are people turning away from one of the most well-established forms of prevention?

TAINTED RUB

A quick search on Reddit, TikTok and Instagram is proof the anti-sunscreen movement is as easy to find as a protein shake in a gym bro’s kit bag. Instagram account @Lifeuntox, which has just under a million followers, claims that ‘sunlight causes cancer’ is a fear-driven lie spread by ‘Big Pharma’ while warning that sunscreen is full of endocrine disruptors and toxic chemicals that block vitamin D production. ‘This was never about health – it was about profit. They demonised nature to sell you poison,’ says the caption. It has over 238K likes and 9K comments. Elsewhere, Pauly Long, who’s known for extreme ‘ancestral health’ TikTok content, has posted viral videos whereby you expose your anus (yup) to direct sunlight for short periods to boost vitamin D.