Here’s some bitter irony for you: A key ingredient in many sunscreens can actually cause the very cancers they’re supposed to prevent.

That’s not even the most ironic part. Ready for it? This ingredient only becomes dangerous when exposed to the sun.

Ouch! Sunburn is looking better all the time.

The ingredient is vitamin A, which is usually harmless enough if you get it the right way–from spinach, carrots or a good supplement. You need it for everything from your eyes to your immune system.

But you definitely don’t need it in your sunscreen or skin cream, because studies have shown that this stuff can actually give a turbo boost to cancer cells when exposed to UV light.

And as you probably know, our top source of UV light is the sun.

Now, the skincare industry’s dirtiest secret has been exposed to the light– because a key scientific advisory panel has just signed off on the draft assessment from the National Toxicology Program that confirmed the link after a series of animal tests.

And that means it’s time to get this stuff out of your home–and definitely out of your beach bag.

Here’s what you need to do: Check the labels on any skincare products you have and look for “retinyl palmitate.” That’s the vitamin A, and it’s currently in some 200 sunscreens from major manufacturers–including Coppertone, Banana Boat, and Neutrogena.

But let’s make this even easier than searching the fine print for some funny words–because the truth is, you don’t need sunscreen in the first place.

Despite what you may have heard, the sun is not your enemy and you don’t need to slather on a chemical concoction every time you step outside.

Quite the opposite–because that approach has left us so badly deficient in vitamin D that most people now need a supplement just to get what they need.

But the cheapest “supplement” on the planet is right outside your door: Your body can make its own D with about 15 to 20 minutes of direct sunlight a day.

Getting the D you need will help your bones, brain, heart and immune system– and unlike sunscreen, it may even help you avoid some cancers.

One new study on mice finds that low levels of D can actually stunt the growth of the lungs–leading to decreased volume and function, possibly setting the stage for asthma and other breathing problems.

I recently went into detail on how much D you need and how to get it. Click here to read it now. You can even print it out and bring it outside–just be sure to head back in before you turn into a lobster.

Cancer patients endure a lot of suffering–but most of it isn’t caused by the disease. It’s the treatments.

Case in point: Avastin. The massively expensive cancer drug was rushed through the approvals process in 2004 despite the fact that it clearly wasn’t ready for primetime.

And now, desperate cancer patients are paying the price–and it’s a lot more than the $8,100 a month this thing costs: Researchers have found that patients who take it along with chemotherapy are far more likely to die of side effects.

Researchers from Stony Brook University Medical Center analyzed 16 clinical trials that included more than 10,000 patients who took Avastin and underwent chemotherapy–a very typical combination, at least for those who can afford it.

The researchers found that 2.5 percent of patients who took Avastin and underwent chemo died of side effects such as severe bleeding, versus 1.7 percent of those who only got the chemo.

That’s a 47-percent increase in the odds of dying–not exactly what you hope for when you shell out that kind of money.

This isn’t the first time Avastin has been linked to bad news–and it almost certainly won’t be the last. Late last year, the FDA withdrew its conditional approval for use in breast cancer after studies found plenty of side effects–but not a lot of benefits.

Those side effects include severe bleeding, extremely high blood pressure, problems with healing that can turn any wound into a death risk, bowel perforations, and the haunting image of “an abnormal passage from parts of the body to another part.”

One study was even cut short after a series of unexplained deaths.

Now, the knee-jerk reaction here is to pick chemo over chemo plus Avastin… but that’s not the right answer either.

Despite what you’ve heard from the mainstream, there are ways to beat cancer without destroying the rest of your body in the process.

The Health Sciences Institute has all the details on some of the most cutting edge natural treatments for cancer–and you can read about many of them for free by searching the online archives.

Or you can shell out $8,100 and keep your fingers crossed.

Next time you wake up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break, take a quick look out the window.

You might notice plenty of other bathroom lights on at the same time–because you’re not the only one “going” at that hour.

In fact, researchers now say that more than 1 in 5 U.S. men–21 percent in all– wake up at last twice a night to urinate, a condition known as nocturia.

And the older you are, the more likely you’ll be one of them: While just 8 percent of men between 20 and 34 have the condition, it affects up to 56 percent of men at least 75 years old, according to the study in the Journal of Urology.

The researchers only looked at data on men, which might not surprise people who think of nocturia as a prostate-related condition.

But that’s not always the case, and other studies have found that women suffer from it at roughly the same rate. And for men and women alike, it’s not just a sleep-disrupting inconvenience–it could also be a serious warning from your body that something is amiss.

One study last year found that nocturia patients have double the risk of an early death. Another study found that each extra trip to the bathroom per night increased that death risk.

Nocturia can also be a sign of an undiagnosed condition, including diabetes or even heart problems, or a side effect of common meds.

Tell your doc about it, and he might try to get you on even more meds–often synthetic hormones with side effects that can be even more unpleasant than those nighttime interruptions.

Some studies have found that up to 70 percent of the people who try those meds quit within six months.

Instead, simple lifestyle changes can often have you sleeping better and longer than you have in years.

One study last year found that a little exercise, a little less time awake in bed, keeping warm at night, and drinking less (especially in the evening) led to significant improvement in just weeks.

And if your nighttime potty breaks are caused by an enlarged prostate, try saw palmetto.

One study found that it works for up to 73 percent of men–dramatically reducing the number of nighttime bathroom breaks, or even eliminating them altogether.

And if it can cut back on all that flushing, who knows–it might even shave a little off your water bill, too.

Some people fight a battle every single night over something that comes naturally to everyone else: sleep.

While anyone can face insomnia, seniors in particular often have problems conking out and staying out–sometimes because of all the meds they take– and too many doctors are too quick to give them yet another med.

But you don’t need to take a drug to get the rest you need… just a little one-on- one time with a therapist. Don’t run away–you don’t need to talk about your mother or weep about your childhood, and you don’t need to commit to endless visits.

Talk therapy for sleep is usually focused on trying to change the things that interfere with sleep–like a certain pattern of thought, or a specific behavior that keeps you up.

Once you fix that, it’s lights out–and a new study shows it doesn’t take much: just two sessions with a counselor and two follow-up phone calls.

Researchers recruited 79 golden-age insomniacs and randomly assigned them to either the sessions and phone calls with a nurse clinician or a packet of materials on how to sleep better.

After four weeks, 67 percent of those who got the counseling were sleeping better and 55 percent no longer had insomnia–versus just 25 percent and 13 percent, respectively, of those who got the info packets.

Overall, researchers say that for every 2.4 patients who try behavioral therapy, one would sleep better and one would be cured, according to the study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

But you don’t have to be a senior to benefit from talk therapy.

Talk therapy–even weekly group sessions–can be far more effective than sleep meds, and that’s true at any age.

One study showed that talk therapy slashed the time spent awake in bed by half. In another, patients who got talk therapy slept just as well as patients on meds during the six-week study period.

But after six months, the talk therapy patients–who got an occasional refresher, but were not in therapy the entire time–were sleeping better than the patients on the meds.

By the way, sleeplessness won’t just make you tired and cranky… it can also kill you.

I told you a little about the risks last year–along with some of the simple supplements that can help you rest easier. Click here to read it all for free.