New research results are out that suggest that vitamin D reduces cancer risk. I found out about this study because it was on the first page of Aftenposten.no: Solvitamin mot kreft.

It’s funny to read the Norwegian spin on the article. Dr. Johan Moan, the Norwegian researcher who analyzed these results for their relevance to the Norwegian population, says that if Norwegians spent twice as much time in the sun as they do now, the number of people dying from skin cancer would increase from 200 to 500 each year, but that the total number of deaths from cancer could possibly be reduced many times over. He suggests that if Norwegians would lay out in the sun regularly, while avoiding getting sunburned, the population might reap the benefits of increased vitamin D levels while avoiding the downsides of sun exposure. According to Moan, it’s actually medically irresponsible to recommend that people stay out of the sun, but he goes on to say that humans only need to be in the sun around “en tidel av en halvtime” in order to make enough of this vitamin—that’s three minutes a day! Somehow I cannot imagine that Norwegians get only 1.5 minutes of sun exposure on average per day–not in the summer, at least.

It’s fun to read the comments to the Norwegian article. Norwegians have absolutely no “solvett”—sense about how to behave in the sun. What with the dark winters, when summer comes around they just want to sit around in the sun the whole time. It’s considered crazy, bordering on immoral, if you don’t want to sit out in the sun. These people actually still lay out! They have the skin to show for it, too: Norway actually has the third-highest rate of skin cancer in the world, and very many people here have skin that looks like well-tanned and broken-in leather. There is absolutely no awareness of the fact that any color you get from sunning yourself is actually skin damage. The idea of getting a base tan as protection against sun exposure is common. Nobody here uses sunscreen—most are afraid that it causes cancer, and they consider SPF 10 to be high-factor protection. I’m quite sure that people are going to hear the “lay out in the sun twice as much” part of the message while tuning out the “three minutes daily” part of the article.

Yesterday the temperature here in Oslo got well over 90° F (32°C) and the sun was shining like holy hell. I had to be out of the house all day since the floor was being lacquered, and I couldn’t find anyplace to be that had AC. I had to go to the ceramics lab at 3 in the afternoon. Nobody was there, so the place had been closed up tight all day, and the kiln was on. Walking into the workshop there felt like walking into the kiln itself. My clay felt like the flesh of someone with a fever. There is no ventilation in the workshop, other than the little you can get from propping the front door open. I actually started getting the symptoms of heat stroke, and had to go sit outside in the shade and drink another half-liter water. When I was cleaning up the place before going home, I noticed that a small amount of water in a pitcher I’d left out on the table was warm to my touch—it felt like bathwater. So it had to have been well over 100°F (38°C) in there.

The floor sanders had kicked me out on Wednesday, too, so I took the dog with me to Johannes’s parents’ house. Being a bulldog, she did not tolerate the hot weather well. When she would collapse and need to take a little break from walking to sit down, people would stop and ask me if I had water for her. Duh! She didn’t calm down until I took her to the fountain outside Oslo S. She hadn’t been in that fountain before, but something tells me it’s going to become a favorite.

Norwegians love this weather. They were out in droves in the park after I left the ceramics lab yesterday. The air over the park was a blue haze of grill and pot smoke.

As for me, I missed the weather of a week ago, when it was 46°F (8°C) and rainy!