Is There Natural Ways to Prevent Sunburn?

Could you prevent sunburn with nutrition and is there natural sunscreens?

When I was younger my skin was particularly sensitive to the sun, I was burned red in a couple of minutes. Currently, my skin seems to be taking the midday sun for hours without burning. When I started to look into this matter… I found that I eat pretty well-known “internal natural sunscreens”.

I don’t need normal sunscreens anymore, and according to present knowledge, I might not even want to use them…

Sunscreens – Good or bad way to protect yourself?

Today more and more people are avoiding using sunscreens and for good reasons. Evidence that the sunscreens would even reduce the risk of skin cancer is very weak and controversial.

Several lawsuits have been filed against sunscreen manufacturers for false promises and for making products that contain the toxic chemical.1 sunscreen lawsuits – consumernotice.org

In fact, a number of studies, such as this, found that sunscreen users had increased risk of melanoma. 2Westerdahl J, Ingvar C, Mâsbäck A, Olsson H. Sunscreen use and malignant melanoma. Int J Cancer. 2000 Jul 1;87(1):145-50. doi: 10.1002/1097-0215(20000701)87:1<145::aid-ijc22>3.0.co;2-3. PMID: 10861466.

Surprisingly, the biggest increase in the number of skin cancers has been observed in the countries where sunscreen is used most.

In the United States melanoma cases has risen 1800% from the moment first sunscreens come to the sale.3Rigel DS, Friedman RJ, Kopf AW. The incidence of malignant melanoma in the United States: issues as we approach the 21st century. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1996 May;34(5 Pt 1):839-47. doi: 10.1016/s0190-9622(96)90041-9. PMID: 8632084.

Why is this? Scientists suspected that this is because sunscreen users are staying longer in the sun, and burn their skin which of course increases the risk of skin cancers.

However, today it is known that at least part of the reason was chemicals that were added to sunscreens, such as retinyl palmitate, oxybenzone, parabens, and other potential harmful ingredients that may increase the growth of skin cancer cells, at least in sunlight. (These are added in order to obtain the higher the SPF factor).

While the majority of the harmful ingredients are probably banned by the FDA, and European manufacturers have changed the ingredients. Sunscreens user should still be aware of these issues.

Are sunscreens absorbed to your bloodstream?

This 2019 randomized clinical trial examined whether the active ingredients of commercially available sunscreens are absorbed into the bloodstream.4Matta MK, Zusterzeel R, Pilli NR, Patel V, Volpe DA, Florian J, Oh L, Bashaw E, Zineh I, Sanabria C, Kemp S, Godfrey A, Adah S, Coelho S, Wang J, Furlong LA, Ganley C, Michele T, Strauss DG. Effect of Sunscreen Application Under Maximal Use Conditions on Plasma Concentration of Sunscreen Active Ingredients: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2019 Jun 4;321(21):2082-2091. doi: 10.1001/jama.2019.5586. PMID: 31058986; PMCID: PMC6549296.

24 healthy participants were randomized to use 4 sunscreen commercially available sunscreens (cream, lotion, and spray).

Results were shocking: Use of the sunscreen products resulted in avobenzone, oxybenzone, and octocrylene plasma concentrations that exceeded the threshold established by the FDA.

“In this preliminary study involving healthy volunteers, application of 4 commercially available sunscreens under maximal use conditions resulted in plasma concentrations that exceeded the threshold established by the FDA for potentially waiving some nonclinical toxicology studies for sunscreens.”5Matta MK, Zusterzeel R, Pilli NR, Patel V, Volpe DA, Florian J, Oh L, Bashaw E, Zineh I, Sanabria C, Kemp S, Godfrey A, Adah S, Coelho S, Wang J, Furlong LA, Ganley C, Michele T, Strauss DG. Effect of Sunscreen Application Under Maximal Use Conditions on Plasma Concentration of Sunscreen Active Ingredients: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2019 Jun 4;321(21):2082-2091. doi: 10.1001/jama.2019.5586. PMID: 31058986; PMCID: PMC6549296.

Chemicals are not the only thing you should be worried about.
The biggest reason why health experts do not use sunscreens is that they reduce the emergence of vitamin D on skin. Vitamin D is generated when UVB radiation hit on your skin, and you don’t need to be an expert to know that vitamin D does not arise if you block it with a sunscreen.

The study made in 2012,6Faurschou A, Beyer DM, Schmedes A, Bogh MK, Philipsen PA, Wulf HC. The relation between sunscreen layer thickness and vitamin D production after ultraviolet B exposure: a randomized clinical trial. Br J Dermatol. 2012 Aug;167(2):391-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2012.11004.x. PMID: 22512875. demonstrated that if you apply an SPF-8 sunscreen as it is recommended: 2 mg/cm2 to your skin, you will discontinue vitamin D production completely.

Fortunately, very few people use sunscreen in accordance with the instructions, so you might get small amounts of vitamin D. And luckily, some newer studies have found out that you still might some vitamin D even you apply sunscreens correctly.7Young AR, Narbutt J, Harrison GI, Lawrence KP, Bell M, O’Connor C, Olsen P, Grys K, Baczynska KA, Rogowski-Tylman M, Wulf HC, Lesiak A, Philipsen PA. Optimal sunscreen use, during a sun holiday with a very high ultraviolet index, allows vitamin D synthesis without sunburn. Br J Dermatol. 2019 Nov;181(5):1052-1062. doi: 10.1111/bjd.17888. Epub 2019 May 24. PMID: 31069787; PMCID: PMC6899952.

This is disturbing because a number of studies like this tell it clearly: The more you can get vitamin D from the sun, the lower your chances are of dying from cancer.

Finnish university medical department study showed that vitamin-D produced by your skin appears to reduce the risk of a number of cancers, especially gastric, colorectal, liver, gall bladder, pancreas, lung, female breast, prostate, bladder, and kidney cancers.8Tuohimaa P, Pukkala E, Scélo G, Olsen JH, Brewster DH, Hemminki K, Tracey E, Weiderpass E, Kliewer EV, Pompe-Kirn V, McBride ML, Martos C, Chia KS, Tonita JM, Jonasson JG, Boffetta P, Brennan P. Does solar exposure, as indicated by the non-melanoma skin cancers, protect from solid cancers: vitamin D as a possible explanation. Eur J Cancer. 2007 Jul;43(11):1701-12. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2007.04.018. Epub 2007 May 30. PMID: 17540555.

Laboratory tests have also shown that vitamin D and its derivatives have the ability to destroy skin cancer cells.9Danielsson C, Fehsel K, Polly P, Carlberg C. Differential apoptotic response of human melanoma cells to 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 and its analogues. Cell Death Differ. 1998 Nov;5(11):946-52. doi: 10.1038/sj.cdd.4400437. PMID: 9846181.

Most sunscreens seem to remove almost all the positive benefits of the sun, and those chemicals might only increase your potential risk of getting skin cancer.

Especially when the world’s largest and most well-known individual medical university publish the study,10Lindqvist PG, Epstein E, Landin-Olsson M, Ingvar C, Nielsen K, Stenbeck M, Olsson H. Avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for all-cause mortality: results from the Melanoma in Southern Sweden cohort. J Intern Med. 2014 Jul;276(1):77-86. doi: 10.1111/joim.12251. Epub 2014 Apr 23. PMID: 24697969. indicating that people who protect themselves from the sun have up to two times higher mortality rate than those who spend time in the sun.

It seems that the sun and its production of vitamin-D beat the potential risk of skin cancer (at least in Nordic countries). You really do not want to prevent the formation of vitamin D with sunscreens.

When you should use sunscreens?

For somebody who is working outside, using sunscreens can be useful. A well-known fact is that excessive UV radiation and the burning of your skin increases the risk of getting skin cancers. But sunscreen should be your last resort to protect yourself, as natural and proven effective means can be found.

Common sense, clothing, a hat, and protective food remains the best way to protect yourself from the sun, even if the sunscreen industry tells you otherwise. I highly recommend doing your own research on the subject.

woman sunbathing
Can you protect yourself from the sun naturally?

Protecting yourself from the sun with nutrition

Here is some foods and vitamins that might protect against sunburn, at least they worked for me. Remember that nothing, even the sunscreens do not prevent burning if you spend too much time in the sun.

The best foods, supplements and vitamins to prevent sunburn.

Lycopene

The super antioxidant lycopene has been proven to give at least some kind of protection against sunlight and works as a natural sunscreen.

The study11Rizwan M, Rodriguez-Blanco I, Harbottle A, Birch-Machin MA, Watson RE, Rhodes LE. Tomato paste rich in lycopene protects against cutaneous photodamage in humans in vivo: a randomized controlled trial. Br J Dermatol. 2011 Jan;164(1):154-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2010.10057.x. Epub 2010 Nov 29. PMID: 20854436. investigated whether lycopene-rich tomato paste can protect human skin against UV-radiation effects. This is what they found:

“Tomato paste containing lycopene provides protection against acute and potentially longer-term aspects of photodamage.”12Rizwan M, Rodriguez-Blanco I, Harbottle A, Birch-Machin MA, Watson RE, Rhodes LE. Tomato paste rich in lycopene protects against cutaneous photodamage in humans in vivo: a randomized controlled trial. Br J Dermatol. 2011 Jan;164(1):154-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2010.10057.x. Epub 2010 Nov 29. PMID: 20854436.

You can get lycopene from foods like: tomatoes, guavas, watermelon, papaya.

Remember blending and cooking might make lycopene more bioavailable.

Chocolate and red wine protect the skin?

If you need more excuses to eat more dark chocolate, you might want to read this study.13Williams S, Tamburic S, Lally C. Eating chocolate can significantly protect the skin from UV light. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2009 Sep;8(3):169-73. doi: 10.1111/j.1473-2165.2009.00448.x. PMID: 19735513. However, its good to remember that only dark chocolate had protective effects on the skin. Regular “milk chocolate” with less flavonol substance, was not found to have a protective effect. The darker the chocolate the more it has “flavanol” ingredient (a little different than the flavonoid).

According to the study: you can protect your skin and improve skin quality with diet. Regularly consumed beverages rich in flavanols may provide significant protection against skin-aging (photoprotection) as well as help maintain skin health by improving the skin’s structure and activities.14Heinrich U, Neukam K, Tronnier H, Sies H, Stahl W. Long-term ingestion of high flavanol cocoa provides photoprotection against UV-induced erythema and improves skin condition in women. J Nutr. 2006 Jun;136(6):1565-9. doi: 10.1093/jn/136.6.1565. PMID: 16702322.

Red wine also includes flavanol substances which have been found to give protection from UVB radiation in mouse studies.15Mittal A, Elmets CA, Katiyar SK. Dietary feeding of proanthocyanidins from grape seeds prevents photocarcinogenesis in SKH-1 hairless mice: relationship to decreased fat and lipid peroxidation. Carcinogenesis. 2003 Aug;24(8):1379-88. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgg095. Epub 2003 Jun 5. PMID: 12807737. So in the summer you can drink red wine and eat chocolate with a good conscience.

The same component can be found in blueberries, apples, cinnamon and also from many other fruit and berries.

Berries and fruit

Everybody knows that berries and fruits are healthy. But should you guzzle more berries and fruits in summer times, as they may have protective effects of against the sun?

In berries, fruits and some vegetables have a substance called ellagic acid, which have been shown to prevent collagen damage from UV-B radiation-induced inflammation.

According to this study,16Bae JY, Choi JS, Kang SW, Lee YJ, Park J, Kang YH. Dietary compound ellagic acid alleviates skin wrinkle and inflammation induced by UV-B irradiation. Exp Dermatol. 2010 Aug;19(8):e182-90. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0625.2009.01044.x. PMID: 20113347. berries from a diet can be considered as one of the treatment strategy for UV exposure and subsequent inflammatory reactions, wrinkles and skin aging (photoaging). Similar results were also obtained in this study17Kasai K, Yoshimura M, Koga T, Arii M, Kawasaki S. Effects of oral administration of ellagic acid-rich pomegranate extract on ultraviolet-induced pigmentation in the human skin. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2006 Oct;52(5):383-8. doi: 10.3177/jnsv.52.383. PMID: 17190110. where pomegranate extract (which has large amounts of ellagic acid) was examined.

Astaxanthin – skin protection king?

Astaxanthin is known to be the world’s most powerful antioxidant, and its role in nature is to protect marine algae from UV radiation, but will it work as well in humans? – According to research and human experiences: it seems to be working as a natural sunscreen.

In this study with isolated human cells, it was found that astaxanthin gave significant protection from UV-A radiation, and it can prevent wrinkles.18Suganuma K, Nakajima H, Ohtsuki M, Imokawa G. Astaxanthin attenuates the UVA-induced up-regulation of matrix-metalloproteinase-1 and skin fibroblast elastase in human dermal fibroblasts. J Dermatol Sci. 2010 May;58(2):136-42. doi: 10.1016/j.jdermsci.2010.02.009. Epub 2010 Feb 18. PMID: 20219323. Another similar study showed the same results, astaxanthin seemed to give protection against UV-A radiation-induced DNA damage.19Lyons NM, O’Brien NM. Modulatory effects of an algal extract containing astaxanthin on UVA-irradiated cells in culture. J Dermatol Sci. 2002 Oct;30(1):73-84. doi: 10.1016/s0923-1811(02)00063-4. PMID: 12354422.

Also, it has been proven to protect skin also in topically applied sunscreens, so it might be a good addition to sunscreens.

In this human study astaxanthin significantly reduced DNA damage, inflammation and improved immune function. Researchers concluded that astazanthin decreases a DNA damage biomarkers and enhances immune response in young healthy females.20Park JS, Chyun JH, Kim YK, Line LL, Chew BP. Astaxanthin decreased oxidative stress and inflammation and enhanced immune response in humans. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2010 Mar 5;7:18. doi: 10.1186/1743-7075-7-18. PMID: 20205737; PMCID: PMC2845588.

My experiences with astaxanthin
From my experience, I can also say that it works. I tanked astaxanthin about 24mg daily for 3 weeks before I traveled to Thailand.

As a result: burning in the sun just seemed to be simply impossible (even where the UV index is about double compared to the Finnish summer). With astaxanthin and other “edible sunscreen”, I could take midday sun for up to 1-2 hours without burning (without sunscreen, of course).

Astaxanthin should be consumed in small amounts (2-4mg) year round, but in the summer and before traveling to holidays it’s worth to take a bit more to fill up storages.

Astaxanthin is not some synthetic invention, as it can be found from shrimp, shellfish, crabs, lobsters, and wild salmon. (They consume micro-algae that produces astaxanthin.)

In Asia, most people have astaxanthin rich diet (seafood) so there is no need to wonder why some 40-year-old Asian women look there twenty years younger. On the other hand, they also avoid dealing with the sun, which also saves their skin from wrinkle and obsolescence.

How to use astaxanthin?

To get maximum benefits from astaxanthin, it should be taken with high-fat food.

Bad news for smokers: astaxanthin is absorbed 40% less if you are a smoker.21Okada Y, Ishikura M, Maoka T. Bioavailability of astaxanthin in Haematococcus algal extract: the effects of timing of diet and smoking habits. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2009 Sep;73(9):1928-32. doi: 10.1271/bbb.90078. Epub 2009 Sep 7. PMID: 19734684. So if you smoke you should increase the dose. The normal dosage of 4mg a day is enough for most people, but if you were going to stay in the sun a lot, you should fill up at least a bit more to the top.

The lowest quality astaxanthin is produced from petrochemicals, but it’s not allowed for human consumption and is used primarily by salmon farms. Astaxanthin can also be manufactured by yeast fermentation, but it is rare.

The most effective natural astaxanthin produced from Haematococcus pluvialis algae, and it’s about 20-30 more potent as synthetic petrochemicals produced astaxanthin.22Capelli, B., Bagchi, D. & Cysewski, G.R. Synthetic astaxanthin is significantly inferior to algal-based astaxanthin as an antioxidant and may not be suitable as a human nutraceutical supplement. Nutrafoods 12, 145–152 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13749-013-0051-5

Cyanotech is the world’s largest manufacturer of astaxanthin and the only manufacturer that sells genuine natural “BioAstin astaxanthin,” which most studies have been done. (Before they re-sold the product to others, but now the demand is now so great that they no longer need.)

My personal favorite for year-round use:
BioAstin 4mg or big 12mg capsules (iHerb) for quick astaxanthin loading.

Money saving tip
You can get 10% off from your first iHerb.com order and for everyone else gets 5% off with code: KLJ962 or by clicking this link. (5% off works on everyone and every order you make)

You get the discount code automatically from my links and while you’ll benefit from this, I also benefit by getting “iHerb credits” that I can use towards my next orders. Thank you for this!

best natural sunscreens
Natural sunscreens.

Other useful stuff

Beta-carotene is generally the most famous natural skin protector. Eat sweet potatoes, carrots, chlorella, spinach, peppers and so on.

According to studies, green tea seems to give some protection, it may also have cancer protective effects. Green tea contains powerful polyphenol antioxidant that protects against UVA and B rays.

Green tea has also one another (unexpected) benefit, namely, theanine, which you can read more: L-Theanine Benefits & Experiences

In general, almost all antioxidants such as C, E -vitamins protect cells from aging, damage, and mutations.23Eberlein-König B, Placzek M, Przybilla B. Protective effect against sunburn of combined systemic ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and d-alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E). J Am Acad Dermatol. 1998 Jan;38(1):45-8. doi: 10.1016/s0190-9622(98)70537-7. PMID: 9448204. Anyway diet plays an important role in skin condition and health.

Conclusion

You should always keep in mind that none of these “internal natural sunscreens” grant immunity against burning. Using these just gives additional protection.

If you burn red in 10 minutes, don’t think that these strategies alone give you the ability to stay 2 hours in the sun without burning.

Obviously is not worth to spend a whole day in under the sun, because of excessive UV radiation will surely cause harm to you. 20 minutes in the sunlight is enough for most people’s vitamin D needs, especially if you are Caucasian. After that, you should begin to protect yourself with clothing and a hat.

2 thoughts on “Is There Natural Ways to Prevent Sunburn?

  1. Great article. I stumbled here after looking for natural ways to prevent sunburn.

    I have same experience with astaxanthin. It’s really hard to burn in sun and also I seem to tan faster.

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