The Time is Here to Watch Out for Sun Exposure

Despite some rain, typically Memorial Day weekend kicks off the start of nicer weather activities when we can start to think about wearing our sunscreen diligently, slathering down our squirmy kids with it and maybe eating more of some fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables?

While we have always protected ourselves on the outside from the sun, there are studies now that provide us with new ways to enhance protection with what we eat.  As an example, some red fruits and vegetables contain lycopene, a strong antioxidant, that protects skin from damaging ultraviolet rays.

Participants in one study on lycopene and sun exposure, published in The Journal of Nutrition,  had 20 to 40 percent fewer sunburns when they ate tomato paste every day. Thankfully, we can expand out from tomato paste and receive some benefits of this concept. Start adding in extra servings of lycopene-rich foods into your family's meals routinely. Stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers are all good sources, especially since they are while cooked. Cooked sources of lycopene are believed to provide more benefit by being better absorbed. With jarred and canned products, be on the lookout for added dyes. Some food dyes have been suspected of links to ADHD, and in children this is a big concern.

Some may think that a tan looks good right now, but what they don't know is that the damage on skin from the sun's rays may take 15 years to appear. Most sun damage occurs during childhood. There is no safe or base tan. All UVA and UVB exposure compromises the collagen in the skin and risks hyperpigmentation, permanent darkening of the skin, or hypopigmentation, permanent white spots, not to mention the obvious risk of skin cancer.

If you try a tanning bed and don't get a burn from its exposure, it just means that you have received more UVA exposure, which has more of the aging effects instead of as much burning as from the UVB type.

There are other alternatives for tanning the skin without the harmful effects. Self-tanners have come a long way and are easy to use. Nearby, Bella Tanning in El Sobrante offers spray tans.