Sun Protection for your Skin From the Inside Out

by SHANNON DAHLUM, FDN-P

It’s common knowledge that too much sun exposure isn’t a good idea, as it can damage your skin, lead to premature aging, and repeated sunburns raise the risk of developing skin cancer.  Entirely avoiding sun exposure on your skin isn’t necessarily a wise health decision, either, however.  Allowing your skin to have direct contact with the sun triggers the production of vitamin D, and helps regulate hormones and neurotransmitters that support healthy energy production, sleep and mood. Exposure to the sun’s UV rays also lowers blood pressure and exerts positive effects on adipose tissue that decreases the risk of metabolic syndrome. 

There seems to be a fine line between getting enough sun exposure to promote health and not getting so much that it puts your health at risk, and the amount of time each person can tolerate varies greatly. Based on your heritage, you’re born with a certain amount of melanin, which is natural skin protection.  More melanin creates a darker skin tone and offers protection from the sun. If your natural skin doesn’t contain a lot of melanin, you’ll be more fair complected and likely won’t develop much of a protective tan before your skin begins to burn.  The darker your natural complexion is, the more sun exposure you’ll need to reap the health benefits, and the more you can tolerate before you burn.   

Beyond the natural tolerance for the sun that you’re born with, there are nutritional factors that can increase your skin’s natural defenses, too. For one, copper is utilized by enzymes that make melanin.  Without healthy copper levels in your body, your ability to produce protective melanin upon exposure to the sun will be diminished, causing you to burn more easily.  I’ve often heard people say that as they’ve gotten older, they just don’t develop a tan in the sun like they used to, and burn more easily than they once did.  Diminished copper levels in the body, or an inability to utilize copper properly due to other deficient nutrients, may be to blame for this in some cases.   

When the sun’s ultraviolet rays touch your skin, it triggers the conversion of cholesterol in the skin to cholecalciferol, or vitamin D3.  The main role of D3 is to enhance calcium absorption and to pull calcium into the blood either from calcium in your digestive system or from other tissues in your body, like the bones, muscles, and skin.  When large amount of vitamin D3 production is triggered through sun exposure, it can lead to a rapid removal of calcium from the skin, which affects something known as the epidermal calcium concentration gradient. This loss of calcium diminishes the skin’s protective barrier and leaves the cells more vulnerable to burning. 

The healthy functioning of your cells also plays a role in maintaining a healthy calcium concentration in the skin. The permeable membrane surrounding every cell in your body is made up of lipids (fat) that allow nutrients to easily enter and exit the cell as needed.  Omega -3 fats are important for maintaining this healthy cell membrane, while excessive amounts of omega 6 and 9 fats create inflammation and cause it to harden.  Rather than a gelatinous-type layer around each cell, the membrane becomes more like a tough shell and nutrients have a hard time getting inside.  This makes it more difficult for the calcium that’s lost from the skin during sun exposure to be replaced quickly.  This leaves the skin vulnerable to damage. 

To enhance your skin’s natural protection from the sun and allow you to receive the health benefits of adequate sun exposure without damage, build your body’s natural SPF from the inside.  Support melanin production by increase your consumption of copper, which is abundant in shellfish, organ meats, nuts and seeds. Oysters and beef liver are absolute superstars when it comes to providing your body with not only copper, but a variety of other minerals and the fat soluble vitamins you need to utilize those minerals properly.  If you don’t like beef liver (me, neither) you can purchase it in capsule form and supplement with it as well. 

Always discuss your supplementations choices with your healthcare provider, however. Cashews and dark chocolate are also good sources of copper. 

Since the loss of calcium in the skin’s protective barrier leads to burning, ensuring that you’re getting ample calcium through your diet can be protective, as well.  Dairy products from healthy, pasture-raised cows are great sources, and full fat varieties also contain vitamins D, A, and K which support your body’s use of both calcium and copper. Sardines and other forms of fish that contain edible bones (like canned wild salmon) are rich calcium sources, as well as dark leafy greens, almonds, and winter squash. 

Lastly, to support healthy cell function, avoid vegetable and seed oils, which are rich in the omega 6 and 9 fats that damage cell walls. Nearly all packaged snack foods, packaged meals and restaurant foods contain these inflammatory oils.  Check your ingredient labels and avoid canola, safflower, corn, cottonseed, soybean, vegetable, and all other seed oils.  At home, use cold pressed extra virgin olive, avocado and coconut oils, and butter from grass-fed cows. Animal fats (from meat, dairy and eggs) that come from animals raised on pastures, eating their natural diets of fresh green plants and bugs have a higher anti-inflammatory fatty acid profile, rich in omega-3 fats.  However, the same products from animals fed unnatural diets of grain contain inflammation promoting omega 6 and 9 fats. 

The simplest rule of thumb to follow, is that a diet rich in plants and animals grown and raised in the sun will support your own sun protection, while animals raised in indoor feedlots and foods created in indoor factories will damage your natural sun protective capabilities.  

While you’re out enjoying the sun this summer, practice safe sun exposure, as always, by retreating to the shade before any indication of burning begins and use sunscreen or clothing to cover areas that will be exposed for long periods of time.  By promoting your own body’s sun protection mechanisms from the inside, you may enable yourself to enjoy a bit more time in the sun, while preventing painful, damaging burns.