Summer is coming - be choosy about your sunscreen!
I am very fair skinned and so are both of my children. I grew up on Long Island so trips to the beach often meant me turning bright red and resembling a lobster. I was told by friends, family and doctors that skin cancer is as a result of skin damage done during childhood. So when I had children I immediately went out and picked up the highest SPF that I could find. I didn't look at any of the ingredients that were listed on the back of the box. Instead I only looked at the SPF number. But as time went on I started to question the summertime practice of painting my children with sunscreen. My questions eventually boiled themselves down to one simple question: why is skin cancer still on the rise? Shouldn't it be drastically decreasing since all of us are more vigilant about sunscreen application?
So I started to do some research to try to determine why this is happening. These are the key takeaways that I came away with:
- Sunscreens do not block UVA rays, they block UVB rays. UVB rays are harmful but much less then UVA rays.
- UVB rays provide us with a very necessary vitamin - Vitamin D!! Lack of vitamin D has been shown to be associated with autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis. And lack of vitamin D can greatly increase one's risk for developing cancer.
I am not saying that you should let your kids fry during the summer by any means. But be mindful about what sunscreen you purchase for them. Aside from blocking vitamin D, chemicals get absorbed into their skin which can cause more issues.
Information for this post was taken from an article off of Dr. Stephen Gangemi's website. If you would like to read more about it, please go here - http://www.drgangemi.com/healthnews/catch_some_rays/view?searchterm...
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Comment by Robin Kent on March 17, 2010 at 8:59pm - Chemical sunscreens are definitely not as effective as a physical block. I've used both and the physicals are great for kids who have sensitive skin; the downside is that they are a lot harder to blend in and if you have a squirmy kid that's pretty much a nightmare. My littlest one is a fair-skinned redhead and last year she had a full body swimsuit not sure what I'm going to do this year.
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Comment by Elizabeth Shugg on March 15, 2010 at 5:16pm - Great post, Jen! There will be no more golden tans for this mom - and certainly not for my fair-skinned children.
© 2010 Created by Elizabeth Shugg.
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