Addiction To Tanning

Addiction To Tanning.
Snowbirds who gather south in winter in search of the ardour of the sun, listen up. People who carry a particular gene variant may be more likely to result an "addiction" to tanning, a preliminary study suggests. The idea that ultraviolet light can be addictive - whether from the Helios or a tanning bed - is fairly new. But recent investigation has been offering biological evidence that some people do develop a dependence on UV radiation, just like some become dependent on drugs. "It's undoubtedly a very small percentage of people who tan that become dependent," said cram author Brenda Cartmel, a researcher at the Yale School of Public Health.

But understanding why some males and females become dependent is important so that refined therapies can be developed. "Ultimately, what we want to do is prevent skin cancer. We are in people getting skin cancer at younger and younger ages, and some of that is definitely attributable to indoor tanning". In the United States, the merit of melanoma has tripled since 1975 - to about 23 cases per 100000 ancestors in 2011, according to government statistics.

Melanoma is the least common, but most serious, organize of skin cancer. Cartmel said that, since genes are known to sway the danger of addiction in general, her team wanted to see if there are any gene variants connected to tanning dependence. So the investigators analyzed saliva samples from 79 mortals with signs of tanning dependence and 213 kinsmen who tanned but were not addicted. From a starting point of over 300000 gene variations, the researchers found that just one gene without doubt stood out.

The two groups differed in variants of a gene called PTCHD2. No one knows faultlessly what that gene's job is, but it does appear to act mainly in the brain. Some other gene variants known to be linked to addictive behavior were not utterly connected to tanning dependence. But Cartmel said that might be because the con group was too small to detect statistically assiduous differences. Dr David Fisher, chair of dermatology service at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, agreed that larger studies are needed.

So "There very well may be other genes associated with tanning dependence," said Fisher, who was not concerned in the research. Understanding the biology behind tanning dependence is high-ranking because the future consequences - skin cancer - can be "devastating". In a recent study, Fisher found that exposing mice to a every day dose of UV light boosted the animals' blood levels of beta-endorphins - "feel-good" hormones that achievement on the same brain pathways as opiate drugs, in the mood for heroin and morphine.

That suggests UV exposure is rewarding to the brain. One theory, according to Fisher, is that because sunlight triggers the derma to synthesize vitamin D, the human brain evolved to consider UV exposure rewarding. But how do people know when they cross the line into "dependence?" Cartmel acknowledged that the concept of tanning dependence is still debated, and there is no ceremonial definition. People in the study were considered tanning-dependent if they were "positive" on three strange questionnaires.

Essentially, they had to show signs that mark addictive behavior in blanket - like craving, loss of control and withdrawal symptoms when they could not tan. The present findings, along with other research on the biology of tanning dependence, do help solidify it as a "real" condition, according to Cartmel. But right-hand now there is no specific therapy for it bestpromed net. The study was published recently in the minutes Experimental Dermatology 2015.