Foods That Protect Your Skin
From Sun Damage

While the sun is crucial for our survival, it also wears down and stresses our bodies by constantly zapping us with ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Some UV rays (UVB) affect only the outer layers of skin, think sunburn, while others (UVA) penetrate more deeply and damage elastin fibers within the skin. As the elastin breaks down, your skin loses its ability to bounce back after being stretched. The result, your skin begins to loosen, sag, and wrinkle.

Not only does this sun damage affect your appearance, it can also lead to diseases. Exposure to UV radiation is responsible for the three most common types of skin cancer. In fact, just a few sunburns can double your risk of developing a melanoma later in life. That’s why wearing sunblock is an essential for skin protection. Although the best diet in the world won’t completely protect your skin if it routinely has to endure the suns damaging rays, eating the right foods can help you protect it from moderate exposure.

Foods That Protect Your Skin From Sun Damage

The best non-topical way to help protect your skin from sun damage is by eating antioxidant rich foods. Antioxidants have cancer fighting properties and are a great way to help prevent your skin from developing malignancies. Foods that have cancer-fighting properties include:

Other nutrients that also appear to fight skin cancers include lignans and polyphenols. In animal studies, lignans appear to inhibit the spread of malignant melanoma and are found in flaxseed, vegetables, and cereal grains. Polyphenols are phytochemicals found in green and black teas and grapeseed extract and they also seem to lessen the development of skin tumors.

Other foods that help your skin:

• Green tea extract – reduces inflammation and helps soothe skin.
• Milk – the lactic acid it contains helps to moisturize the skin.
• Oat extract – reduces irritation.
• Soybean extract – contains antioxidants and acts as an anti-inflammatory.

In addition to these foods and nutrients, the following are some of the best foods when it comes to protecting your skin from sun damage and disease.

• Tomatoes - Tomatoes are loaded with the antioxidant lycopene, which has been shown to protect our skin from UV damage from sunburn. Just 16mg of lycopene a day can increase skin protection by 30%. The best place to find it....tomato paste. Unlike other fruits and vegetables, where nutritional content is diminished upon cooking, processing of tomatoes actually increases the concentration of lycopene. In fact, the lycopene content in tomato paste is four times more than that found in fresh tomatoes.

• Cantaloupe - Cantaloupes are loaded with beta-carotene. They have 10 times more beta-carotene, as well as three times more vitamin C and 1/3 more potassium, than any other melon. Beta-carotene is a vitamin A precursor and, like zinc, vitamin A plays a significant part in skin growth and repair.

• Halibut – This saltwater fish is loaded with omega-3 essential fatty acids, which help keep your skin hydrated and looking healthy. Halibut is a good source of lean protein and is also nutrient dense. It contains calcium, fiber, folate, iron, magnesium, niacin, potassium, thiamine, and vitamins A, B6, and C. *Trout, salmon, and sardines are also good sources of skin-friendly omega-3 fatty essential acids.

• Lentils – When it comes to skin health, these small disk-shaped legumes pack a lot of benefits in a little package. They have large amounts of antioxidants, protein, and soluble fiber, as well as iron, magnesium, zinc, and the B vitamin folate. In fact, lentils contain the most folate of any other plant source. Soluble fiber is beneficial because it quickly moves cholesterol out of your arteries and high-fiber diets have been shown to lower blood sugar. This, in turn, may keep excess sugar from binding to collagen skin cells. Why is this good? Because when sugar molecules attach to collagen molecules, the collagen molecules can no longer slide past one another smoothly and begin to get stuck. Because collagen is responsible for keeping lines and wrinkles at bay, when sugar interferes, collagen can no longer do its job. The result is wrinkles and sagging skin.

• Pomegranates – This tasty fruit is concentrated with flavonoids and antioxidants. In fact, when equal amounts of pomegranate juice, green tea, and red wine were compared, the pomegranate juice was found to have two to three times the amount of antioxidants than either the green tea or the red wine.

 

• Spinach –Spinach is a good source of vitamins A, B, and C, as well as antioxidants like lutein and quercetin. The nutrients in spinach help protect your skin against sun damage, rashes, dry skin, and a variety of skin diseases. To make it easier for your body to absorb the antioxidant carotenoids found in spinach, you should cook it, rather than eat it raw.

• Whole Grains –Whole grains like whole-wheat bread, barley, brown rice,buckwheat, flaxseed, and millet contain lots of zinc. Zinc is vital for skin firmness, elasticity, and overall skin health because your body needs it to make collagen, the fibrous protein that forms skin. Zinc also works with vitamin A in repairing burned skin. (How to get your daily dose of zinc fortified proteins.)

Simply by eating a healthy, well-rounded diet that includes fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, grains, flaxseed, and cold-water fatty fish, and supplementing it with additional vitamins and minerals like A, B, C, E, and zinc, you can help protect your skin from sun damage and its associated effects.

FYI: Leslie Baumann, M.D., a Yahoo! Health Expert for Skin Conditions, recommends trying these topical sources for antioxidants:

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