Thursday, August 7, 2008

How to Get Natural Sun Protection by Eating the Right Foods

Eating orange things may help protect your skin from the sun.
Eating orange things may help protect your skin from the sun. (Photo by Matt McGee)

Sun lotion and clothes may still the best guard against sunburn, but how about protecting your skin by eating the right foods?

Two nutrients proven to increase your skin's own sun protection are carotenoids and lycopene. Both can be absorbed from food or taken as supplements.

Carotenoids: the green and orange protectors

Carotenoids with molecules containing oxygen are known as xanthophylls, while unoxygenated carotenoids are known as carotenes. Xanthophylls are found in green leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale. Carotenes are found in vegetables and fruits such as sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, mangos and apricots. Carotenes are also responsible for the orange color.

In a study by González et al., mice whose diets were enriched with lutein and zeaxanthin two common xanthophylls for two weeks had fewer negative effects from ultraviolet B irradiation. The more lutein and zeaxanthin they ate, the more protection they had. The results suggest that eating foods rich in these nutrients will provide at least some protection from the sun.

A meta-analysis by Köpcke & Krutmann concluded that beta-carotene is effective in protecting against sunburn and that time is important: the longer the duration of supplementation, the stronger the effect. A minimum of 10 weeks was needed to see results, and the protective effect increased with each additional month of supplementation.

Lycopene: the red avenger

Lycopene is found in red fruits such as tomatoes, red bell pepper and watermelon. Unlike many other fruits and vegetables, where the nutritional content is diminished through cooking, processing tomatoes actually increases the amount of bioavailable lycopene. Thus, tomato paste has much more lycopene than fresh tomatoes.

In the study mentioned here, people who consumed tomato paste had 33% more protection against sunburn compared to a control group after 12 weeks. The level of protection was equal to a sun protection factor (SPF) of 1.3, which is low compared to a good sunscreen but still quite significant. The daily amount was 55 grams (or five tablespoons) of tomato paste consumed with olive oil. It also boosted the level of procollagen in the skin, which suggests potential reversal of the skin aging process.

My personal experience

I've always burnt very easily in the sun thanks to my pale complexion, but lately I've noticed that for some reason I'm able to spend more time in the sun without sunscreen and not get sunburn. It could be simply because I've gotten older, but I haven't excluded the possibility that it may have something to do with my diet.

For example, there are claims about coconut oil – which I consumed quite liberally during my hight-fat diet – offering protection from the sun both topically and orally. However, to my knowledge there are no scientific studies to support these claims, unlike with carotenoids and lycopene.

I don't really eat that much green leafy vegetables, and apart from the occasional red palm oil, I don't think I get that much beta-carotene from my food. Thus, carotenoids probably don't play a big role in any skin-protecting effect my diet may have. Lycopene on the other hand just might, since I eat between 250 and 400 grams of crushed tomatoes daily. This would be equal to or more than the amount of lycopene consumed by the people in the tomato paste study.

Have you noticed skin protective effects from consuming carotenoids or lycopene? Drop a comment.

For more information on skin care, see these posts:

Hyaluronic Acid for Skin & Hair - Experiment Begins
Topical Vitamin C, Vitamin E & Ferulic Acid - Experiment Conclusion
How I Accidentally Grew Hair on My Left Temple with Retinol - Experiment Conclusion
Biotin Supplements for Hair & Nails - Experiment Conclusion



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3 kommenttia:

Anonymous December 27, 2009 at 4:29 PM  

I certainly have, however the move to a more healthy paleo type diet changed so many variables I am also unable to pinpoint the exact reason.

When I first started reading about Vitamin D I had just made the switch from a 'healthy western diet' to a paleo low carb high fat moderate protein diet. Before going the supplementation route I started getting a lot more sun, but noticed instantly the time spent in the sun before getting a burn had almost doubled.

Anonymous October 1, 2011 at 2:02 PM  

Over the last few years I started to become more sensitive to the sun. I did not want to sit out in the sun and read regardless of putting on sun lotion. However earlier this year I got the urge to eat raw carrots and now when I am out in the sun I tan quickly like I used to do.

Unknown April 24, 2014 at 12:11 AM  

No exact reason is needed for those who follow a Paleo diet. They don't get harassed as vegetarians, pescetarians and vegans on such stupid diet questions. :P If a diet works and does awesomeness for you, people ought to shut up about "Why are you..." questions. They should be asking if that diet is working and if so share receipts. What works for you may safe the life of another or do nothing at all.



Anyways, as for the article per say, what works well for me is eating yellow, green and purple foods. Cool color foods to compact the redness and inflammation my skin suffer through, especially after a sun exposure due to running errands. Kiwis are my favorite. The fruit, not the cutie pie bird from New Zealand. Dark leafy foods like kale, spinach, seaweed, kelp and collard greens also help my skin to compact the sun. I read tomato paste and dark chocolate helps, because both items also contain lots of calories and are highly processed. The dark chocolate bar in the stores are over-processed and don't contain the antioxidants like the natural/organic cacao bean does. Dark chocolate in stores are cacao beans that have been heated to make, heat destroys the nutrients. Eating a chocolate bar beats the purpose of eating it. All the person will get are the calories and Carbs from them. If possible eat raw cacao beans, those have all the antioxidants one is looking for from chocolate. I'm not a rawist. These are actual facts. Heat burns thus destroys the micro-nutrients in foods.

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