KEY POINTS:
Health experts are at odds over the amount of time we should spend in the sun - even in winter.
The debate concerns the best place to get Vitamin D, which is vital for healthy bones.
Some claim UVB rays in sunlight are the best source, citing increasing evidence that lower levels of the vitamin may increase the risk of colon cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease and type one diabetes.
But the New Zealand Dermatological Society has hit back, arguing the research isn't proven and spending more time in the sun will increase the risk from skin cancer.
Society member Dr Louise Reiche feared people would "bake themselves" in pursuit of more Vitamin D and said there were other ways to get it, including foods such as milk, eggs and lamb, and supplement tablets.
"We don't want to expose people to huge amounts of risk and undo the good that people are doing with the habit of protecting their skin, on a hint of something else that hasn't been substantiated."
Reiche said people could even suffer negative effects from too much sun in the winter, when UVB rays are rare in New Zealand.
She said people would be exposed to "ageing and wrinkling" UVA rays that can also contribute to skin cancers and melanoma.
The society's president, Kevin McKerrow, urged people to wear sunscreen and avoid "acute sunlight" in summer.
He removed about 1200 skin cancers a year and said there was still a "major problem" with the disease.
But Auckland University expert Dr Robert Scragg said our average Vitamin D level was just over 60 per cent of what it should be and called for a reassessment of New Zealand's "anti-sun" messages.
Scragg said the Sunsmart campaign was driven "primarily from a European perspective" and did not account for the extra sunlight needed by Pacific and South Asian people due to their darker skin.
Even tanning clinics have joined in. Some include information about Vitamin D deficiency on their websites and advise patients on its positive effects.
Technical manager of Auckland clinic Megasun New Zealand, Justin Birmingham, said sunbeds used UVA and UVB rays and were a good way for people to safely raise Vitamin D.
The Cancer Society's skin cancer control adviser Judith Galtry said Kiwis should be cautious in summer and outside those periods should "maximise exposure".
Osteoporosis New Zealand executive director Julia Gallagher said the debate was walking a "very delicate line". She said Vitamin D was "vital" for bone structure and authorities could consider adding it to food.
Reiche said 10 to 15 minutes of summer sun on the face, hands and arms was enough for most to achieve maximum Vitamin D production. She said people who exercise outdoors have the highest levels and recommended 15 to 30 minutes of exercise, 4 or 5 days a week.
A SCARY 20 YEARS
Moderation is the key to sun exposure.
That's the verdict from Patricia Hope, who's had more than 10 cancerous moles and lesions cut from her body and countless others eliminated by laser or liquid nitrogen over the past 20 years.
The 52-year-old, who had her first malignant spot surgically removed from her face aged just 20, says the experience has been traumatic and scary.
The Howick woman grew up in South Africa and, like many older Kiwis, spent summers outdoors without a sunscreen or hat. The English tutor says her mother died from secondary cancer after having melanoma and it will affect her for the rest of her life.
"When I see a new thing on me, my heart just sinks, I think 'oh no'. And every treatment leaves another scar."
The mother-of-three says her adult children are fair-skinned like her but have never had any trouble.
"My policy has been to make them very aware of the dangers, and be very cross with them if they get burned.
"It is silly to say keep out of the sun completely, but I do really believe in moderation. With moderation when I was growing up, I needn't have these problems."
SKIN FACTS
* Skin cancer contributes to about 260 deaths a year in New Zealand.
* New Zealand has one of the highest rates of melanoma death in the world. About 60,000 new cases are reported each year.
* Vitamin D is found in foods such as oily fish, eggs, milk, liver, lamb and margarine.
* It is also produced in the skin after exposure to sunlight.
