The Sunscreen Debate: Are Natural Sunscreens Best, or None at All?
July 6, 2009 by Karlynn Johnston
Filed under Featured, Super Natural
After a conversation with a friend the other day, I started researching some more on the use of sunscreens. I have been using EWG as my guide since the children were small, and buying the least toxic sunscreens that I could possibly find, but its always in the back of my mind if they are actually needed as much as its thought. Its has always seemed wrong to slather on toxic chemicals, in order to prevent a type of cancer, the irony there has never escaped me, I am fully aware of it. The debate has waged back and forth for years, with supporters on each side equally adamant that their position on sunscreen is the right one.
After scouring the Internet for a few hours on the subject, here are a few key points I picked up:
1.The sun does cause skin damage. Our bodies are capable of repairing this damage, however, by creating more Vitamin D, which repairs the DNA in our genes and prevents cancerous cells. This is actually a form of cancer protection that we lose by using sunscreens or avoiding the sun.
2. There are different rays, and it is the UVA light that causes the skin damage, skin cancer and wrinkles. However, both rays cause sunburns. UVB light is needed to have maximum vitamin D production, and all we needed is 10-20 minutes outside between 10-2 pm when these rays are at their peak. Which is funny, because that is exactly when we have been told to keep in the shade and keep the kids out of the sun!
3. It has not been distinctly proven that sun damage causes melanoma, which is the most dangerous form of skin cancer. Basal cell carcinoma is usually found in fair skinned people and may be related to excess sun exposure, as well as squamous cell carcinoma. Sunscreens may protect one from basal and squamous cell, but they do not protect you from melanoma. The risk factors for melanoma are basically my own skin type: pale and lots of moles present.
4. Omega 3’s may play a huge role in preventing melanoma, as well as a high level of vitamin D. Deficiencies in both in recent studies have been cited as causes of melanoma. So take your Omega 3’s, eat plenty of fish, flax and hemp oils and get out in that sun without your sunscreen for 10-20 minutes a day! Yes, go soak up the sun to prevent skin cancer. Exactly the opposite of what we have been told, again.
5. If you are in the sun all day, you need a sunscreen that blocks UVA and UVB rays. If not, you get an unhealthy balance, the damaging rays still come through without the rays that help the vitamin D production that heals you. See the vicious cycle here? Damage the skin, but then you have blocked the healing rays needed. Yikes.
6.You know this, I know this: most of the chemicals found in commercial sunscreens are toxic, potentially carcinogenic and have a million other repercussions health-wise. Go as natural as you can. Sunscreens with zinc oxide and titanium dioxide block both rays. But remember, we need to spend time in the sun without these sunscreens on!
7. We need Vitamin D. This is something that every single article I came across stressed, we need it, and we aren’t getting it. Get it from the sun, get it from supplements, just GET IT!
8. Natural ways to prevent sun damage include loading up on red, yellow and orange fruits and vegetables. These have carotenoids that may help naturally reduce sunburn risk.
9. You are still going to find many, many doctors and experts who still advocate sunscreen and still believe that the sun causes skin cancer. The Internet is full of conflicting information and studies, and most lean towards the fact that sunscreen is needed all the time. It does make for a good debate.
10. As always, do your research and decide what is best for your family. My kids wear sunscreen when they are in the sun for a few hours, for example, a trip to the beach, but they don’t wear it daily. I let them wander in and out of the house without it on all day, and yes, between the witching hours of 10-2. Now that I have looked further into it, they still won’t be wearing it unless they are in the direct sun all day, and I feel even more comfortable with that decision. Everyone needs to find their happy medium, and for me, it will be keeping our healthy diets up with Omega supplements and fresh produce, and limiting the sunscreen to very occasional use.
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