Summer is here but I’ve been grilling outdoors for months already. I’m blessed. In South Florida, we grill all year round.
But if you’re headed to the beach, or just a picnic in your backyard…
Don’t buy into the sunscreen propaganda.
Not only is sunscreen full of chemicals, they interfere with your natural ability to make vitamin D3.
In fact, seven common sunscreen chemicals have been found in the bloodstream after just one use.1
There is a safer, natural way of getting the sunlight you need without the sunburn.
8 Times More Protection From the Sun
Inside your body, you make an antioxidant known as the “master guardian” because of its role in your body’s immune system. It is your first line of defense against even the most damaging of elements.
Take UV light for instance.
Researchers at Center Hospital University in France set up a double-blind study where half got a placebo pill and the other half got a pill containing the “master guardian” antioxidant while being exposed to UV light on their forearms once a week for four weeks.2
After four weeks, the researchers were shocked.
The group who took the “master guardian” pill had a dramatic increase in the amount of exposure required to produce a sunburn.
In other words, it took 8 times more sunlight for them to get a similar kind of sunburn.
This antioxidant is called superoxide dismutase or SOD for short.
It is so vital for health that without it, you would die in a few days from free radical damage.3
Thankfully, our bodies naturally produce SOD as soon as we are formed in the womb.
While our bodies continue to make SOD over the course of our lives, we make less of it as we age in part to environmental factors like pollution, pesticides, and the stress of modern living.
To help keep SOD levels high, I encourage my patients to eat SOD-rich foods like cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, polyphenol-rich teas like green tea and yerba mate, and spices like black pepper and turmeric.
You can also take SOD as a supplement. Buying Tip: Look for brands that contain a “gliadin complex,” or the brand name GliSODin.
And PLEASE use a natural or zinc oxide-based sunscreen in addition to any antioxidants you use to protect against sunburn. Everyone has a different antioxidant status, so it’s better to play it safe during the summer.
If you’re going to spend the whole day in the sun on a summer’s day, don’t completely rely on antioxidants.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
1. Matta MK, et al. “Effect of sunscreen application on plasma concentration of sunscreen active ingredients.” JAMA. 2020;323(3):256-267.
2. Mac-Mary S, et al. “Evaluation of the effect of GliSODin on the intensity of actinic erythema,” presented at the CARD (Annual Congress of Dermatological Research) meeting in Brest, France, May 28th 2005.
3. Li Y, et al. “Dilated cardiomyopathy and neonatal lethality in mutant mice lacking manganese superoxide dismutase.” Nat Genet. 1995;11(4):376-381.