Regardless if you spend a lot of time at the beach or in the garden during the summer months or if you engage in outdoor winter activities, using sunscreen provides you with the protection you need from the sun’s harmful UV rays, or so you thought. Recent reports and studies have revealed that certain sunscreen products do not provide the protection they promise.
It has also been found that some of the ingredients used in the production of sunscreen products are harmful to your health as well. So, why are some sunscreens harmful and what can you do to provide adequate protection when spending time outdoors in the sun? Well, first let’s take a look at why some sunscreens are harmful so you know how to avoid some of the products that contain harmful ingredients.
1Dangers of Sunscreen Products
Much to the disappointment of consumers, there appears to be a time span created between research and consumer awareness as well as a lack of monitoring of the types of chemicals which are used in sunscreen products. Tests have long pointed to the fact that a lot of the ingredients used in sunscreen products are harmful but strangely enough not a whole lot has been done about finding an alternative to making sunscreen products safer to use.
Oxybenzone has been one of the ingredients that has recently been questioned since it can cause problems with the function of your hormonal balance and can cause allergies to develop in certain people. Other aspects that have gone under scrutiny recently include:
- Vitamin A: Vitamin A is a very common ingredient used in most sunscreen products. It is thought to be safe since it is used in a lot of anti-aging skin products and other types of skin creams. However, when Vitamin A is used in direct sunlight it has been known to cause tumors and speed the development of cancer. Vitamin A is perfectly safe when used indoors however recent studies point to the fact that it can be carcinogenic when used in the sun.
- Free Radicals: A lot of ingredients used in sunscreen products can speed up the aging process of skin by generating free radicals. This means that a sunscreen product may cause more damage that it claims it prevents and in fact can be more damaging than staying out in the sun without sunscreen.
- Vitamin D: It has long been a fact that your body needs a certain amount of Vitamin D to stay healthy mentally and keep the immune system functioning properly. Hence the reason people tend to feel blue in the winter months when there is a lack of sunlight. Sunscreen products can inhibit the intake of Vitamin D and therefore pose damage to your health.
The problem is that it has been known for a long time that some of these ingredients can be harmful; however, the FDA has not made any changes in regulations for sunscreen products since 1979.
2 Product
Now that you are aware of some of the dangers of sunscreen products the good news is that a lot of the dangerous ingredients are included in some of the cheaper brands of sunscreen. Still it is important to be aware and avoid choosing a sunscreen product simply because it is higher priced.
A quality sunscreen product should not be absorbed into the skin while simultaneously being effective in blocking harmful UV rays. At the moment, there are no sunscreen products that meet these criteria 100 percent; however, there are quality products that are fairly safe to use.
When choosing a safe sunscreen your best bet is to go with a mineral sunscreen, which is not absorbed into the skin and does not break down when exposed to sunlight. In addition to these qualities mineral sunscreen products provide UV protection which is often not present in cheaper sunscreen products.
As a general rule, European sunscreen products are much safer than those made in the US simply because the current FDA regulations limit the ingredient options that sunscreen manufacturers can put in their products. European makers of sunscreen products have more options to choose from when it comes to ingredients in their sunscreen products where American brands only have a few due to the FDA guidelines which have not been changed for over three decades.
