Dr. Mercola June 03 2008 45,921 views
Although the risks of sun exposure have been greatly overblown, anyone who has ever gotten a sunburn knows that too much sun genuinely can damage your skin. What is less well known is that for many years, sunscreens only protected you from the potentially beneficial, vitamin D producing UVB rays, while letting through skin-damaging UVA light.
Both UVA and UVB can cause tanning and burning, although UVB does so far more rapidly. UVA, however, penetrates the skin more deeply than UVB, and may be a much more important factor in photoaging, wrinkles and skin cancers.
Even today, while most sunscreens do a good job blocking UVB, fewer filter out all of the UVA. That means they do not help to prevent the beginnings of melanoma formation. In fact, a sunscreen without adequate UVA protection can end up increasing your risks. If you think you are protected by sunscreen, you are likely to stay out in the sun longer -- and all the while, you will be soaking up the highly penetrating, wrinkle and cancer causing UVA radiation without the warning sign of a burn (remember that a UVA burn takes much longer to appear).
I’m not a big fan of sunscreen use on a regular basis; even when it works, it blocks your body’s natural production of vitamin D. But in situations where you must be out in the sun long enough to burn, be sure to use a product that protects against both UVA and UVB, such as Natural Sunscreen, which uses a titanium dioxide/zinc combination that reflects both types of rays -- while also giving you a beautiful, glowing and healthy tan.
If you live in the northern hemisphere, summer has officially arrived, which is something I’m truly thrilled about, because I believe we ALL need optimal amounts of healthy sun exposure.
When you expose your bare skin to the sun, the ultraviolet B rays metabolizes and gets converted into vitamin D. It is estimated about 85 percent of the U.S. population is deficient in vitamin D, which causes 2 MILLION people to die every year from cancer.
Yes, cancer -- not heart disease -- is now the number one killer.
I’m a firm believer that your best source of vitamin D is from healthy sun exposure, not from swallowing vitamin D capsules, as taking vitamin D orally can easily result in overdosing. I believe in this so much, I actually wrote a book about it, called Dark Deception, which is coming out shortly.
Not All of the Sun’s Rays are Created Equal
Now, there’s an important distinction that you need to be aware of when it comes to healthy exposure to the sun’s rays, and that is the difference between its two primary wavelengths: ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB).
UVB is the more beneficial of the two, as this is what converts into vitamin D. UVA, however, is now believed to be a primary risk factor for cancer. It’s therefore very important to understand the difference between these two wavelengths, so that you can take proper care of yourself and your family.
You see UVB has a wavelength that is more easily filtered through the atmosphere, so on a cloudy day you won’t get as much of that radiation on your skin to make vitamin D. However, UVA does not get filtered as well and will penetrate the atmosphere more easily, so it will STILL increase your risk of cancer on cloudy days, in the early morning and late afternoon, so you need to be very careful even under those conditions.
How do You Know You’ve Had Enough Sun Exposure?
Optimal sun exposure is dependent on your skin color. Caucasians and others with paler skin may need just a few minutes in the sun at the beginning of the season; you only want your skin to turn the lightest shade of pink. At that point you’ve reached your saturation point and your body will not produce any more vitamin D.
You can create as much as 20,000 units of vitamin D per day if you have enough of your uncovered skin exposed to the sun. The beauty of getting your vitamin D from healthy exposures to sunshine is that your body has this built-in feedback loop that prevents you from overdosing on it.
After that, however, you’re only increasing your chances of getting burned, which is something you definitely want to avoid. There is NO additional benefit to staying in the sun any longer. You only risk damage by extending your time in the sun.
It’s not like your gas tank. Your body can only produce a limited amount of vitamin D every day. Once it reaches its limit you only cause damage by going beyond that amount. However, once you have a tan you can spend much longer amounts of time in the sun.
It is also important to know that if you have darker skin, reaching this equilibrium point can take two to six times longer (or up to an hour or two), depending on your pigmentation.
What’s the Best Way to Protect Yourself From Too Much Sun Exposure?
Once you’ve had enough or you want to limit your exposure, the best way to do so is by wearing a long sleeved shirt, pants and hat, or stay in the shade.
However, sometimes that’s not entirely practical. You may be at the beach or by the pool, and your children enjoy playing outside for hours on end, so many resort to using sunscreens.
There are a couple of very important considerations you need to know about when selecting sunscreen. First of all, many of the sun lotions on the market do not screen for UVA. It’s very important to make sure the sunscreen you select screens for UVA, otherwise you’re only screening for UVB, which effectively stops your production of vitamin D, while still increasing your cancer risk!
Secondly, many of the chemicals used as filtering agents are extremely toxic, and Octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC), which is present in 90 per cent of sunscreen brands, actually undergoes a chemical reaction when exposed to sunlight, which causes it to turn extremely toxic. Other common sunscreen ingredients have been found to easily penetrate into your blood stream, including:
If you’re using sunscreen, please make sure you use a product that protects you from both UVA and UVB rays, and is non-toxic. My team has done an exhaustive search and found one such option, called Natural Sunscreen. It uses a titanium dioxide/zinc combination that reflects both types of rays -- while also giving you a beautiful, glowing and healthy tan. There are others out there, but this is one product that I can confidently promote as a safe and non-toxic option.
They are now discovering that sunscreen
ingredients are killing the coral reefs !
Dear Doctor Mercola, I found this peice of research in the literature and wondered what your views were on the potential damage to DNA that can be caused by Titanium Dioxide?
Deleterious effects of sunscreen titanium dioxide nanoparticles on DNA: efforts to limit DNA damage by particle surface modification
Serpone, Nick; Salinaro, Angela; Emeline, A.
Proc. SPIE Vol. 4258, p. 86-98, Nanoparticles and Nanostructured Surfaces: Novel Reporters with Biological Applications, Catherine J. Murphy;
Abstract
Sunlight can have deleterious effects on humans: causes sunburns and is the principal cause of skin cancers. Usage of TiO2 (and ZnO) in sunscreen lotions, widely used as UVA/UVB blockers, and intended to prevent sunburns and to protect consumers from skin cancers (carcinomas and melanomas) is examined. Although used to mineralize many undesired organic pollutants, TiO2 is considered to be a safe physical sunscreen agent because it reflects and scatters both UVB (290-320 nm) and UVA (320-400 nm) sunlight; however, it also absorbs substantial UV radiation which, in aqueous media, yields hydroxyl radial ((DOT)OH) species. These species cause substantial damage to DNA (J. Photochem.Photobio.A:Chem.,111(1997)205). Most importantly, sunlight-illuminated sunscreen TiO2 particles catalyze DNA damage both in vitro and in human cells (FEBS Letters, 418 (1997)87). These results raise concerns on the overall effects of sunscreens and raise the question on the suitability of photoactive TiO2 as a sunscreen component without further studies. The photocatalytically active nature of these metal oxides necessitates some changes since even the TiO2 specimens currently used in suncreams cause significant DNA strand breaks.
John, having read the abstract (thank you!) I think I will avoid sunscreen altogether.
DOC, I AM A GREAT FAN OF YOURS...YOU R GREAT...I ORDER ALOT OF PRODUCTS U RECOMMEND. THE ONLY PRODUCT I AM DISAPPOINTED WITH IS THE SUNSCREENS WITH TITANIUM DIOXIDE...THE WEB SITE IS FULL OF NEGATIVE FEEDBACK OF TITANIUM DIOXIDE AS USED IN COSMETICS AND SUNSCREENS SINCE THE SIZE OF IT IN A NANOSCALE MAKES IT A PROBLEM..IF IT WAS BIGGER NO PROBLEM BUT AS A NANOPARTICLE IT CAN POSSIBLY CAUSE HEALTH PROBLEMS...PLEASE SHED SOME LIGHT ON THIS....WWW GO NANDO.COM AND OTHER STUDIES SHOW AT A NANO SCALE IT CAN BE A CARCINOGEN...PLEASE IF THIS WAS OVERLOOKED PLEASE ADVISE..NO ONE IS PERFECT AND I DO BELIEVE IN YOU AND YOUR TEACHINGS BUT SOMETIMES NONE OF US HAVE ALL THE FACTS THE UNIVERSE HAS TO OFFER..PLEASE RESPOND...I NOTICE A SIMILAR MESSAGE WS SENT TO US ABOUT THIS SAME MATTER..PLEASE RESPOND
In regards to the saying often used on this site that you shouldn't put on your skin anything that you wouldn't put into your mouth, it is noteworthy (though rarely discussed here or elsewhere) that your skin's natural SPF level is not just a matter of your skin color. It it a dietary issue. Certain foods can increase your Sun Protection Factor considerably.
There are thirteen (13) known dietary nutrients that raise your SPF. Of these there is one vegetable that contains ten (10) of them. You can read more about this, including a list of the thirteen ingredients and which of them are found in just one vegetable at:
www.spinachwords.com/sun_protection.shtml
I don't think I'd want to be eating too much titanium dioxide (after all, dioxines are carcinogens), so I'd be very reluctant about rubbing it into my skin.
Thanks for this link bpfsa...I think spinach is one of the most under-rated foods!
I take B complex vitamines with 50 mg of Paba which protects you from sun burns.Paba is one of the B complex vitamins.Paba when taken internally does not usually cause allergies.Lots of countries don't have enough Paba in the soil and this is why you get sunburns.I was born in a European country and was out all day in the sun in a sunsuit all day and never got sunburned.The first time I got sunburned was when we lived in Ireland.A few years ago this old lady told me to take 50mg of Paba for 10 days before exposing myself to the sun.It actually worked and now I use it all the time.I never use sunblock.
I contacted The Skin Cancer Foundation. They told me that any form of tan equals DNA damage. They basically contradicted everything Dr. Mercola said.
They said that only a small portion of skin needs to be exposed before the hours of 10am. This should take place 10-15 minutes for 2-3 times per week. Dr. Mercola said to bare as much of the body as possible, which I do about 4 times a week or more.
I live in Phoenix and I walk, with plenty of skin exposed during the early morning hours for about 20 minutes. I have never burned, but I do get some color. I hope I am not getting UVA damage as I walk between 7am -7:30 as it just gets too darned hot by 8am in summer. In the winter..I can do it between 9-11am ..and it's just fine.
I'm wondering if the Foundation has an agenda. I'm just not sure what advice to trust anymore. I stay away from all sunblocks as I don't trust the chemicals or compounds anymore.
I used to notice age spots, but I take plenty of Omega 3 and I am not noticing new ones this season. I also try to stay away from the junky vegetable oils (restaurants are responsible for that one). Whole Foods Market is using canola oil in most of the prepared foods, so beware and read the content labels!
I see age spots on people who barely go in the sun, so I'm not going to worry.
I would appreciate your advice and feedback.