I may be a future poster child for skin cancer, but after hearing about vitamin D’s new health benefits, I’m more tempted than ever to work on my tan.

Sure, I have fair skin, freckles, light hair, parents who have battled skin cancer, and painful memories of severe childhood sunburns. But levels of vitamin D, a nutrient that comes primarily from the sun, are unusually low these days, doctors say. Some researchers suspect it’s partly because we’re either cowering indoors or slathering on too much SPF 30 sunscreen.

This has thrilled the $5 billion-a-year tanning industry. Seizing a golden opportunity to tout health, the industry has accused dermatologists of blatantly and irresponsibly perpetuating horror stories about the risks of sunlight and turning us into a pale, sun-phobic nation.

I’d love to believe them, given how much better I feel with a splash of color on my arms, legs and face, even if it’s lobster red.

But dermatologists, who have seen the percentage of cases of the most serious skin cancer – melanoma – double in the last 30 years, are not backing down; most are incredulous at the prospect of increased sun exposure.

“The only healthy tan comes out of a can,” said Clarence Brown, associate professor of dermatology at Rush University Medical Center, who called the tanning campaign “poppycock.”

The body needs vitamin D. And recent studies show it has more health benefits than previously thought. A Harvard School of Public Health Study found that vitamin D supplements can reduce the risk ofmultiple sclerosis by as much as 40 percent. Other studies are linking vitamin D malnutrition to chronic physical and mental illnesses, including cancer, Type 1 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, depression and seasonal affective disorder.

Though primarily produced by sunlight, vitamin D is also available through a limited number of foods, including fortified cereal and dairy products or fish liver oils and fatty fish. Meanwhile, about 15 minutes in the sun gives our bodies all the vitamin D we need, experts say.

So what’s a sun worshiper to do?

In his book “The UV Advantage,” Michael Holick, a professor of medicine, dermatology, physiology and biophysics at the Boston University School of Medicine, concludes that sunshine saves more lives than it harms.

At the same time, most dermatologists are still preaching the dangers of excessive sun exposure. And if we’re really using too much sunscreen and staying indoors, why are skin cancer rates going up?

Candace Thrash, a dermatologist at Swedish Covenant Hospital, suspects the increase stems from greater awareness of tanning dangers and more frequent checkups, so it’s caught more often. Also, when we’re outside caked with sunscreen, we’re lulled into a false sense of security. You need to slather on more, about 15 minutes after the first application.

“There is no way dermatologists want people to get skin cancer,” said Thrash, who also agrees that a “safe tan” is a fantasy.

There’s no question the body needs the sun. The skin transforms its rays into vitamin D, which we use to absorb calcium and phosphorus from the intestine for bone development. The dangers of overdoing it, however, go far beyond premature wrinkling. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the U.S., and about half of us who live to age 65 will get it at least once. Basal cell carcinoma, a cancer that seldom spreads, makes up about 90 percent of cases. But melanoma is deadly and on the rise.

Ultraviolet radiation from the sun is the main cause of skin cancer, while UV from sunlamps and tanning booths also can cause it, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The cause of melanoma is unknown because lesions can appear in areas not exposed to sun, but risk factors include more than 50 moles (30 are average), a fair complexion, family history, blistering sunburns and ultraviolet radiation.

Still, all sides agree that common sense is the best approach, though “it’s often in short supply in modern America’s approach to health,” writes Holick in “The UV Advantage.”

Unfortunately, that means fair-skinned people have no business tanning. Thrash would let me venture out with an SPF 45 or maybe even a 30, if I were conscientious, got out of the sun when I turned red and wore a hat.

Even Daryl Toor, a spokesman for Wolff System Technology, which manufactures tanning equipment, says the equipment makers “don’t recommend fair-skinned people use indoor salons and stay in the sun.”

The rest of you, even those blessed with more resilient skin, should heed the warning.

© 2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.