This sounds much like a story I ran last year about a dermatologist who disputed the connection between melanoma and the sun as inconclusive and inconsistent, along with the "outbreak" of melanoma.

Although excessive sun exposure can increase your risk of skin cancer, obtaining the optimal amount of sun daily can clearly prevent it. Optimal exposure to the sun provides many benefits such as the formation of vitamin D, a deficiency most people have. (To be certain your vitamin D levels are where they should be, have your blood tested.) And stay away from sunscreens, as they can increase your risk of cancer.

It's also important to get the proper omega-3:6 fatty acid ratio in your diet. In 2001, the National Academy of Sciences published a comprehensive review showing that the omega-3:6 ratio was the key to preventing skin cancer development. You are probably like most Americans and are eating far too many omega-6 fats and far too little omega-3.

If you want to reduce or virtually elminate your risk of skin and other cancers, it will be vital to radically reduce your consumption of most vegetable oils, as they are high in omega-6 fats. Just 100 years ago, the average American consumed less than one pound of these oils per year, and today that amount has exploded to 75 pounds per year.

An Australian study showed a 40 percent reduction in melanoma for those who were eating fish, which is rich in omega-3. This is one of the many reasons why I highly recommend routine consumption of fish oil as a safe and effective way of increasing the omega-3 in your diet and improving your health. Fish oil contains high levels of the best omega-3 fats--those with the EPA and DHA fatty acids--and, as it is in pure form, does not pose the mercury risk of fresh fish.