While melanin provides some natural protection against the sun, it’s not nearly enough to neutralize harmful UV rays that cause premature aging and skin cancer.
Even though UV rays make up only a very small portion of the sun’s rays, they are the main cause of the sun’s damaging effects on the skin. UV rays damage the DNA of skin cells. Skin cancers start when this damage affects the DNA of genes that control skin cell growth.
Skin cancers are one result of getting too much sun, but there are other effects as well. Sunburn and tanning are the short-term results of too much exposure to UV rays and are signs of skin damage. Long-term exposure can cause early skin aging, wrinkles, loss of skin elasticity, dark patches (lentigos, sometimes called age spots or liver spots), and pre-cancerous skin changes (such as dry, scaly, rough patches called actinic keratoses).
Antioxidants are naturally occurring substances that may provide protection against the effects of damaging free radicals on the cells in your body, including your skin. Antioxidant ingredients are already promoted in a number of skin care products available.
Green Tea has become one of the new age food heroes — a helpful ally in preventing everything from heart disease and cancer to skin aging and weight gain. The full range of health benefits may take decades to define, but research on its impact on human skin is reasonably well developed. The secret ingredients are chemicals called catechins, which are antioxidants that can clear cell damage on the skin and repair wrinkles, blemishes or other impurities. When applied to the skin, green tea can reduce sun damage by reducing inflammation and tackling free radicals. (It doesn’t block UV rays.) When choosing a tea, it’s helpful to know that green tea has over five times the amount of catechins as black tea.
Niacinamide (vitamin B3) is a powerful antioxidant that has shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory and depigmenting properties. It has also shown to improve the texture and tone of the skin, as well as reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and hyperpigmentation. (18)
Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) is an essential nutrient that can only come from healthy fruits and vegetables that contain it. Vitamin C is usually touted for its cold-fighting power, but it’s also under study for its impact on preventing and reversing aging skin.
It works in two ways: as an antioxidant, as well as a booster of collagen formation — both of which are important to preserving and maintaining skin’s youthful appearance. (19-21) However, boosting your intake of vitamin C-rich foods does not appear to impact your skin to any measurable degree, so cosmetic companies are hard at work to study whether it can be absorbed through the skin directly via topical creams and lotions.