Eat Your Sunscreen: How the Food We Consume Can Protect Our Skin from the Sun’s Harmful Rays

Ultraviolet radiation from the sun, in countless laboratory and clinical studies, has been implicated to cause inflammation of the skin, oxidative stress and free-radical damage, among other problems. While sun-protecting topical products have been useful to assist in reducing sun damage, their protection alone is not adequate to prevent ultraviolet effects. Because of this, new skin protecting and cell-fortifying methods are needed to promote healthy skin and offer the highest available photoprotection without toxicity. With this in mind, many researchers have turned to the study of ingredients found in many of the foods we eat, used both topically (on the surface of the skin) and systemically (internally ingested). This article is designed to share a summary of the sun protection effects of selected foods that naturally feature key elements proven to enhance the skin’s protection from ultraviolet rays, enabling us to literally “eat our sunscreen.”