Sunscreen May Minimize Effects of Aging on Skin
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Comstock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — With the heat of summer approaching sunbathing and sunscreens are on many Americans’ to-do lists. We all know that sunscreen protects us from the harmful rays of the sun that can cause skin cancer, but according to one study, they may also be a fountain of youth.
An Australian study in the Annals of Internal Medicine says that regular sunscreen use may reduce the signs of aging. Researchers instructed half of the approximately 900 participants in the study to wear sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher every day and the other half to wear sunscreen at their own discretion.
After four years, when researchers studied their skin closely, the group that used daily sunscreen was 24 percent less likely to show signs of aging skin.
The same study looked at beta-carotene supplements and found that they had no impact on aging skin. Beta-carotene is an anti-oxidant that some people believe protects the skin from aging.
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