Choose Safe Sunscreens to Reduce Dementia Risk

You know how important it is to keep toxic burden low to reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s. But, did you know that the sunscreens we liberally and repeatedly slather-on each summer can be absorbed through our skin, float through our bloodstream and can spike to dangerous levels even days after use? And, that the FDA has not ensured that these sunscreen ingredients have been adequately tested for safety and efficacy?

A new report published in JAMA found that within a few hours of sunscreen use, commonly used photoprotective chemicals infiltrated the bloodstream and shot up to concentrations far in excess of what the FDA has deemed safe—and the toxic levels remained high even three days after sunscreen use.

Safety testing has never been done on the most commonly used  sunscreen ingredients (octinoxate, octisalate, octocrylene, homosalate and avobenzone) because those chemicals were approved decades ago, before anyone suspected they could be absorbed into the body. To understand what, if any, effects these chemicals have on internal tissues, the FDA is now asking US sunscreen makers to submit additional data measuring how these ingredients absorb into the bloodstream prior to a November 2019 deadline--or have the products pulled from store shelves. The FDA has already concluded that the risks of two ingredients—aminobenzoic acid (PABA) and trolamine salicylate—outweigh their benefits and has proposed classifying them as unsafe. Only two ingredients so far have been ruled safe and effective—zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.

You know that daily UVA/UVB protection is important to prevent skin cancer and the aging effects of the sun. But, be smart and retain your brain. Select products that provide protection, without increasing toxic load.

SAFER PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE. The EWG (Environmental Working Group) has just released its 2019 lists of safer sunscreens: https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/.