Should You Skip the Sunscreen?
Cancer | Dr. Nishant Rao | June 3, 2009 at 12:15 am
Photo by saragoldsmith.
Getting sun on a regular basis is part of a healthy routine, like getting all of your fruits and veggies, taking your daily multi-vitamin, and flossing! Your body needs the sunlight to make an essential super nutrient that goes by the name of Vitamin D. The bad news is that sunscreen as low as SPF 15 blocks most of the skin’s production of vitamin D. That means going out in the sun while wearing sunscreen doesn’t count! With the sunscreen craze these days, some of us rarely get the true, unfiltered sun exposure that we need. It’s no wonder that a whole lot of docs are finding their patients deficient in this critical vitamin!
If you’re part of the Vitamin D deficiency club you’re missing out. Here’s what Vitamin D does for us:
- Prevents cancer
- Supports bone health and prevents osteoporosis
- Increases immunity
- Increases energy
- Lifts the mood
Summer Health Homework Rx: get your daily dose of Vitamin D! All you need is 15-30 minutes of moderate sun exposure a few times a week on your face, hands, arms or legs. And remember, NO SUNSCREEN! Of course, if you plan on spending a long period of time under intense sun, please do cover up, wear a hat, and get your sunscreen on!
Because while I think you should skip the sunscreen sometimes, there are some really good reasons to wear it (like a little something called skin cancer). Risk factors for skin cancer don’t include a walk on the beach. They do include your complexion type, family history, chemical/radiation exposure, and the timing and duration of sun exposure. Sudden exposure of intense sun causing a sunburn is much more dangerous than moderate gradual exposure.
Here’s how to shop for the right sunscreen:
Avoid wearing chemical sunscreens which have toxic effects when absorbed by the skin. Check the labels to avoid sunscreens containing the following chemical active ingredients (which cause free radical cellular damage, have estrogenic effects, may lead to cancer, and interfere with sexual development):
- Avobenzone
- Cinnamates (cinoxate, ethylhexyl p-methoxycinnamate, octocrylene, octyl methoxycinnamate)
- Octinoxate
- Octocrylene
- Oxybenzone, dixoybenzone
- PABA
- Padimate-O
- Salicylates (ethylhexyl salicylate, homosalate, octyl salicylate)
Or, instead of memorizing the list of crazy chemicals to avoid, just look for a safe physical sunscreen with either of the following non-toxic active ingredients:
- Zinc Oxide
- Titanium Oxide
Since the physical sunscreens block with a physical reflective barrier, many of them go on fairly thick and leave a slightly white tint (which I think is a fair trade for a product that wont cause mutagenic effects on your DNA). A few brands I love are:
- Badger SPF 30 Sunscreen For Face & Body
- California Baby No Fragrance SPF30+ Sunscreen Lotion
- Devita Solar Protective Moisturizer 30 (goes on very light and is great for the face!)
If you have a favorite Zinc or Titanium based sunscreen that you like and goes on well, please share. But for now, close your laptop and remember, sun is like chocolate: great in moderation!
Dr. Nishant Rao is a co-founder of WellWire.com. He is a well-traveled naturopathic doctor and new father, practicing an integrative approach to create wellness in and around Los Angeles. Become a patient or discover his practice.
Tags: cancer, sunscreen, vitamin D
I like two sun screens both with titanium and zinc
MyChelle Sun Shield SPF 28
Lavera Sun 40 SPF
this one works great when I go sailing all day in the San Francisco Bay
Thanks for your recommendations, Brenda! If you are curious as to where these sunscreens are on the list, please follow this link, it may be of interest: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/special/sunscreens2008/index.php
Have you ever heard of using coconut oil as a sunscreen? I hear it really works. May be something worth researching.
Thanks for your question, GirlGoneDomestic! Coconut oil is more of a moisturizer and is sometimes used in sunscreens, but does not generally serve as a block. Again, it is an excellent, and a very gentle moisturizer for the skin, safe to use on babies as well.
Yours in health,
Dr. Igor Schwartzman
Dear Brenda,
Thanks for adding to our non-toxic sunscreen favorites! I love MyChelle, but haven’t tried their Sun Shield 28. I’ll definitely give both of your recommendations a try soon! Happy sailing!
Yours in health,
Dr. Arin Rao
Dear Girl Gone Domestic,
I haven’t heard of coconut as a natural sun screen, but I have heard that sesame oil has some sunscreening properties. I haven’t seen any research on this, and also haven’t tested it on myself. Let us know if you try it and how it works. To be on the safe side though, if you’re under intense sun exposure, stick to the tried and true zinc/titanium mineral blocks.
Yours in health,
Dr. Arin Rao
When I wrote more than less the same, came forward with the arguments you use, too, for a German online advice-Site (health, beauty, etc.), they first sent it back or rather wouldn`t put it on their site: I came on with some more solid state-of-the-art (apart having been known by my granny…)research AND an interview with a well-renowned dermatologist at Kiel University hospital, they reluctantly still gave in.
Well, when in America, say, wearing sunscreens, possibly with ever higher filters, and all year thru, come sun come dark clouds and rain
(= well, by the way, rain if you cannot avoid it, you should rinse your face after it was rinsed by rain… no, it`s not, you probably know that, just in case, it`s not , unfortunately hasn`t been for decades, the natural “beautifier” it once may have been, in England many still and disregarding all gruesome facts about the chunks of invisible, non-smelly, i.e. non – perceivable toxins and long-living fall-out that nowadays turns rain, and may it be the most wonderful drizzling warm summer-rain, into an aggressive toxic liquid…, and even English , once again: global, sorry…, good old rain , co-creating the famous English Rose complexion, should be washed off in order not to damage your skin…sorry, this was just an insert )
In Germany, people stayed more sceptical for a few years, particularly against filters ranging from 30 to 60 …, and wouldn`t think of putting on a sunscreen in the midst of dark winters. But, the cosmetic-industry … or rather foremost the adverts, commercials, “carrier”-articles in women`s magazines managed to change the most sceptical or just plain rational mindset… now here we are in the midst of the “great wave”: sunscreens are everybody`s Must-have.
Sure, just as you write, if you go for a sunny day to the beach, it is , ozone etc. demanding for skin-protection against a more aggressive kind of sun, so it is the thing to do: screen your skin! Think of your babies and small schildren, too! But: as proven by loads of studies worldwide, a suncreen cream, lotion, what the heck, with a filter higher than 15, doesn`t give you higher protection (think of sweat, water, wind, wiping your forehead…) than if you would just put on a lower filter (say 10 to 15 )more often: this has several convincing advantages: 1. the chemicals these filters are made of don`t come in tons but in amounts the skin may “digest”, so to speak, much easier 2. putting on a slash of suncream several times gives you more protection than relying on a high filter that has long been soaked in by your skin (and what it may do there, well, from what I heard, nothing too nice, to stay on the euphemistice line)and, most likely, as said, has been done away with by one of your skin`s most reliable “weapons”: sweat (some dermatologists argue that skin fed with high sunfilters actually combats these chemicals by simply producing more sweat to get rid of all that affluence …
3. if you stop feeling on the safe side with high-filter sunscreens, you might remember some ways of protection , which now, hopefully, have started to come back into fashion again: how about a lovely umbrella, sunhat, …and, if possible NOT grilling (well, this is one good thing: cosmetic industry , which persuades screening your skin, also must change “beauty ideals” like this horrid 60s,70s, here you might still find people who just don`t learn or don`t care neither about their skin nor fashion and beauty ideals, this burning dark brown skin, preferrably, I remember, from head to toe!… well, but more and more , women first, of course, question of intelligence and instinct for what`s “on”, have settled with a slight tan, this so-called “sun-kissed” look. Though, let`s not give in to any illusion, even a “sun-kissed” tan does some damage to your skin: unfortunately, when you are young, it doesn`t show, you pay the price years later.
Now, do you know, what smart Maddalena52 (was born in 1952, got acne during puberty, tried to “burn” away the spots, paid with severe sunburn… and, another topic though: cause the sun dries skin as long as you are lying in the sun, but all the while your skin, especially in teenage years produces help by building up the natural protection , to say it in a popular way, by thickening the natural skin barrier, effect: all the oil glands produce their oil, which is then being held back by this barrier, once you get pale again, the shock is abominable: now all that held back stuff the oil glands stubbornly went on producing …now , oh, devilish, begins to explode… yes, I still remember all this misery like it was yesterday… but I was “lucky” in a big way: since I had burnt my skin so badly that the redness just didn`t fade no more, I finally, = very exceptional during those days, got to see a dermatologist, who gave me a fine lecture… and, since I now had this other problem worrying me even more, visible spider viens on the cheeks, appalling, embarrassing… I then learnt everything that was known then, too… never really sunbathed again. Good. And the spider veins: well, they faded – came back only lately as one more post-menopausal little “gift” – , a help was, emotionally in any case, that I went to live in London, and was addressed ever so often because of my so lovely “English Rose” complexion, “see, she doesn`t need any rouge, she`s got her natural one, oh dear, what pretty face and then these rosy cheeks”….: honest, no psychotherapist could have done that for me!
So, compared to friends of mine at my age, some a lot younger, I must admit I really am rather unwrinkled, well, mimics-wrinkles there are, but none of these tiny stripes and lines over the whole face like some tapestry.
Back to the health aspect once more (and then I`m off, was nice talking to you!) : yeah, I go out into the sun for no longer than say15 minutes, without wearing any sunscreen… in order to get the essential benefits without the damage. But then, if I do put cream, make-up onto my face( which I not always have to, because my facial skin has got drier over the years, but , especially under stress – and that is sort of always – produces still enough oil to lubricate my skin), still, I mean, can you think of some make-up ( i mean, I do use a bit of that to even out a bit of redness here and , well with ageing skin tends to get more uneven, what colour is concerned for the simple reason that metabolism, turn-over of skin cells, too slows down, gets more irregular) so, yeah, again: find a make-up without the “bonus” of included sunscreen is quite a difficult undertaking.
Okay, it`s ca. five o`clock, I get my 15 minutes dosis of sun sitting on the front lawn. (Sure, I should walk, move… but , stop: well, everything is interconnected, that surely is no invention of the web… so, here I quite easily could go on writing about , oh well, I cut it off, maybe you then like me more: Mrs. Lazy herself, I actually invented couch-potatoeing! )
Thanks for inviting me to this site, maybe I can contribute a few “tricks of the trade” , tips (Oh, I have one you`ll love if … surprise, next time)
All best wishes from Marie (Maddalena52)
P.S. Blimey, I must hurry, so I won`t edit this Dostojewski-length little novel , so forgive any spelling mistakes etc.
Those are great recommendations- with all the different types of sunscreen out there, it’s hard to find the best one for your skin.
Dear Marie,
Thank you for your comments. You’re right, the cosmetic industry has stricken us with fear regarding the aging effects of the sun. Like you say, of course frying your skin will most likely result in skin damage down the line, but avoiding moderate sun exposure for the sake of perfect skin is like deciding never to smile in order to avoid crows feet!
look forward to hearing from you again,
Yours in health,
Dr. Arin Rao