Get the D, sunshine-free

By Nicole Thompson-Walker

thom0745@algonquincollege.com

As students prepare for the summer ahead, many are opting for the tanning beds to transform their ghostly pale legs before they slip into a pair of shorts.

Fortunately for these students, tanning is no longer as taboo as it once was. There is increasing evidence that suggests that tanning, whether it is in a tanning bed or in the sun, can actually provide numerous health benefits.

“There has been a lot of press about the advantages of vitamin D and how the best source is non-burning exposure of the body to ultra-violet B light,” said Al Kaeding, owner and operator of The TAN Co., a popular tanning salon with Algonquin students.

Other advantages of vitamin D includelowering the risk of cold and flu, curbing the risk of type-II Diabetes, and lowering cancer rates, according to Kaeding.

“The information coming in about vitamin D is no longer trade-specific, there’s a bunch of local and colloquial sources that show the same thing,” said Kaeding

The TAN Co. recommends tanning to anyone and everyone – even people who can’t tan or don’t need to.

“You can get five times as much vitamin D from 10 minutes in a tanning bed, than from a glass of milk,” said Kaeding. “It’s important that we all get our vitamin D.”

Nothing’s better than killing two birds with one stone – getting vitamin D and colour? Sounds great.

But for Brady Riordan, a business student at Algonquin, it’s not even about getting colour or ‘vitamins.’

“I admit, I do tan,” Riordan said. “But I don’t go tanning to get colour, I go to relax.”

Angela Potter and Catherine Gusen from the general arts and science program are regular tanners, and go to get a touch of colour, especially on a gloomy day.

“On a rainy day, or especially in the winter time, tanning is such a pick-me-up,” Gusen said. “You feel like you just got a blast of sunshine.”

“No wonder they call tanning a drug,” Potter said. “I can definitely see how it can get addictive.”

Vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin for a reason.