You can’t slather tablets of calcium plus vitamin D-3 on your bare beach-bound shoulders, but you may want to after reading this. Turns out they could be as powerful at protecting you from deadly melanoma, the worst skin cancer, as the sunscreen in your beach bag. You’re already at higher risk of melanoma if you’re among the skyrocketing number of adults being diagnosed with milder skin cancers (usually basal or squamous cell carcinoma). If that’s you or someone you love, be sure you’re taking 1,000 IU of vitamin D-3 a day and getting 1,000 mg of calcium from food and supplements. The combo could cut your melanoma risk by an impressive 57 percent. (Take 400 mg of magnesium too so the calcium doesn’t constipate you!) The star player here seems to be vitamin D-3, which many people are low on and which slows the growth of skin-cancer cells. That’s excellent news, since non-melanoma skin cancers are up 300 percent in 12 years. Blame the usual suspects: too much sun, severe childhood sunburns, fair complexions. But now add too little D-3. Yep, it’s ironic that D-3, the “sunshine” vitamin, protects against a cancer caused by the sun. While it’s true that your skin makes D-3 when sunlight hits it, too much sun actually destroys D in your skin, boosting cancer risk. Good reason to get your D-3 (the kind your skin makes) from a pill. But don’t stop wearing sunscreen (SPF 30 or higher, please; we like zinc-oxide formulas). It’s no slacker either, cutting your melanoma risk by half. The YOU Docs, Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, are authors of “YOU: On a Diet.” Want more? See “The Dr. Oz Show” on TV (weekdays at 3 p.m., KATU/2). To submit questions, go to .
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