Eat For A Glow That Is More Than Skin Deep

Now that summer is here, it’s time to peel off the layers and make some vitamin D. But if your skin isn’t as peachy as you would like, or if you are worried about staying safe in the sun, find out how good nutrition may support your skin’s health. Maggie Charlesworth writes

- Maggie Charlesworth

When our ancestors left their caves to do a spot of hunting and gathering, they didn’t have the dilemma of getting enough vitamin D versus the risk of skin cancer (although they probably didn’t live long enough for either to be an issue). However, for us, it is difficult to know what to do because fear of developing skin cancer caused by the very UV rays that we need to make vitamin D has been drummed into our consciousness for at least the last two decades whilst, more recently, vitamin D deficiency has also become a serious health concern.

To get enough UV rays from the sun to make vitamin D, the NHS recommends short periods in the sun without sunscreen, with hands, forearms or legs exposed, but also cautions against spending too much time in the sun without protection and to be careful not to burn. It states: “It’s not known exactly how much time is needed in the sun to make enough vitamin D to meet the body’s requirements. This is because there are a number of factors that can affect how vitamin D is made, such as your skin colour or how much skin you have exposed.”

So, for instance, people with darker skin may need to spend longer in the sun than people with lighter skin to get the same benefit.

And then when it comes to sunscreen, research has also shown that these kinds of cosmetics may not be doing us or the environment a great deal of good either. Last year, it was widely-reported that oxybenzone, a common chemical found particularly in spray-on sunscreens, is a factor in the bleaching and deformation of coral reefs. Meanwhile, plastics from cosmetics are also clogging up our seas, killing wildlife, and finding their way back into the food chain. There is also growing concern that chemicals in household products and cosmetics may act as hormone disrupters, although this is still a fairly new area of research.