The Golden Booty Tanning Resort in Amherst is participating in the D-Feat Breast Cancer campaign by asking patrons to donate between one and five dollars to support research, claiming that an increase in vitamin D can result in lower levels of breast cancer.
The salon, formerly known as Southern Sun-Stations Tanning, is participating in the campaign for the entire month of May, beginning May 1. All proceeds will go toward funding research projects involving vitamin D and breast cancer prevention.
"I think a lot of people would be willing to donate a few dollars to this campaign because it's such a great cause," said Nicole Bowker-Kelly, a Golden Booty customer. "The Golden Booty always seems to generate a lot of business, so they should be able to contribute a good amount of money toward the effort."
Extensive studies have shown that such a link exists. In 2002, an essay published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine claimed that women were less likely to die from breast cancer if they were exposed to the sun on a regular basis. In 2006, Anticancer Research published a paper reporting that women with elevated levels of vitamin D are 50-70 percent less likely to develop breast cancer.
Vitamin D can be found in foods such as seafood, eggs and dairy products, but the best source of vitamin D is produced within the body with the help of sunlight. Therefore, the possible impact that vitamin D could have on the body through more exposure to direct sunlight is now a major area of development in science.
According to the campaign statement, research has shown that vitamin D can play a role in preventing or slowing the growth of multiple types of cancer. Since breast cancer is the number one cause of cancer death in women of North America, it seemed appropriate to formulate this campaign around breast cancer opposed to another form of cancer. Studies predict that in 2008, 45,000 women from the United States and Canada will die from breast cancer - approximately 45 times more than the number who will die due to non-melanoma skin cancer.
According to the D-Feat Breast Cancer campaign chairman, Joseph Levy, their goal is not to look into whether there is a direct link between lower breast cancer rates and vitamin D, but to support the research that has been made public so far.
"We want to increase awareness of the sold research that's already been done, and fund it to its conclusion," said Levy in a statement. "Because the main source of vitamin D is sunlight, and because sunshine is free, there haven't been many sources of funding for this kind of work. Because the potential impact is so profound, we are stepping up."
The campaign is the first ever vitamin D breast cancer fundraiser, and many tanning salons in Smart Tan Network, an educational trade association for indoor tanning facilities, are getting involved across North America. It is designed to increase awareness in customers and the community about the importance of vitamin D research.
Tanning salons find multiple advantages to promoting this campaign, including furthering research to possibly make the claim in the future that "Tanning will decrease your risk of breast cancer up to 70 percent," according to the campaign statement.
The co-owners of The Golden Booty, Kim Wimbish and her daughter Eden Clark, got involved in the campaign because they are a Smart Tan salon. Wimbish has also had a number of family members who have been affected by breast cancer, and feels the campaign reached her on a personal level.
"The public deserves fully funded vitamin D research, and we are doing our part," said Clark and Wimbish in a statement.
Krisi Healy can be reached at kkhealy@student.umass.edu.
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