Hot Weather, Are we protecting ourselves?

The beautiful hot weather has arrived and most of us, being the active type are outside doing exercise, socializing or working on those tan lines. But are we being smart?

We have been told countless times, “Do you have sunscreen on?”

Sunscreen is important to protect our skin from the sun, the ultraviolet rays and ultimately from getting skin cancer. In Canada, there are 75 000 new cases of skin caner every year and it is said that 1 in 5 people will develop skin cancer in the course of their lifetime. Did you know that every hour in North America, someone dies from skin cancer? Yes these facts are a wake up call that we need to take care of ourselves. However, sunscreen is effective in reducing our chances of getting a burn and preventive to UVA – but my questions is – What did we do before sunscreen?

The first widely used sunscreen was produced in 1944 by Benjamin Greene. But what about the indigenous people in tropical countries that never had/have sunscreen – do we hear about them getting cancer? Is it to do with their skin pigmentation or perhaps the food they eat?

Research has been done that there are foods that can provide “internal anticancer protection.” There are two ways; firstly, there are potent anti-oxidants in certain foods that protect the body from the free damaging radicals in our body that can cause cancer. Secondly, certain compounds in food can prevent the growth of tumors by “immune cell activity, inhibiting certain enzymes and suppressing development of blood vessels to tumors.”

Here are lists of foods that have been researched to show the risk of reducing cancer.

1) Brazil Nuts, Tuna, and other foods with selenium. – Selenium is a powerful antioxidant that breaks up our free radical in our body
2) Green Tea and Black Tea – catechins – a certain antioxidant that inhibits enzyme activities that lead to cancer.
3) Oranges and Lemons (especially their peels) – the compound limonene is found in these fruits which is found to be “chemo preventive against UV- induced skin cancers.

This is something to think about next time you head out to the beach, train a customer, and go for a run outside in the sun. Perhaps pop some of these foods into your bag and you will take preventive measures toward your heath.