Summer.
It's synonymous with group rides, races, fondos, picnics, beers and burgers with your riding buddies and….sun. Lots and lots of sun.
Of course, with sun comes the ever present worries of sunburn, skin damage, melanoma, and general misery that goes along with the “lobster burn.” The typical course of action involves slathering yourself with a shot glass or more of sunscreen, wearing “sun sleeves” or finding some other way to keep those UV rays from touching your skin.
Sadly, we as human beings need some of those UV rays. Truly, around three quarters of the US population is deficient in Vitamin D3, which can cause anything from increased risk of cancer to insufficient secretion of insulin in Type 2 diabetes. This can partially be blamed on the fact that we generally work inside, and that the UVB radiation we need to produce D3 naturally doesn't pass through glass. We also don't get much exposure if we slather ourselves or our families with sunscreen all summer long, either.
So what can you do? We don't want to be burned up, we don't want to peel, we don't want to get skin cancer. Well, a couple of easy biohacks can reduce your risk of sunburn, skin cancer and reduce the use of those greasy sunscreens, while leaving you nicely golden brown after your ride.
Read on to find out this easy recipe after the jump:
Vitamin D3 (35IU/pound)
What happens to our body when we're out in the sun? Our body converts cholesterol into cholecalciferol, which is vitamin D D3 is a further “refined” variety of this compound.) And it goes without saying that D3 is critically important to our bodies. If we look at the uses of vitamin D3, we find a large variety of things. D3 regulates calcium and phosphate levels in serum, and promotes bone mineralization. This function is synergistic with calcium, vitamin A and vitamin K2. It plays a significant role in immune responses by activating T-cells (those are the cells that kill things like bacteria and other infectious agents.) Perhaps the two largest effects we're looking at in terms of sun exposure: D3 also controls the expression of some genes that regulate cell growth, death and differentiation. Some studies have looked at this link in terms of cancers, and found that there are correlations between low vitamin D3 levels and most cancers. It also reduces chronic systemic inflammation in general.
[pullquote]Getting sun exposure creates vitamin D, which protects you from the sun, so you can get more of it without damaging your body.[/pullquote]Those last two points are of significance: when our body is exposed to sun and damaged, cellular proliferation has to take over to repair and replace the damaged cells. The more cell turnover we have the more chances things go wrong during cell replication and the greater chance of some malignant proliferation occurring. By mediating cell turnover and reducing systemic inflammation so our body can heal more easily, we are experiencing less cell turnover overall. And finally, there are some studies that seem to confirm that supplementing D3 helps increase sun tolerance. In mouse studies, effects included reduced sunburn and lower chance of tumor growth or development.
So, getting sun exposure creates vitamin D, which protects you from the sun, so you can get more of it without damaging your body. Why are we so deficient in D3 then? Consider the fear of skin cancer (remember, no D3 means no natural protection) and the vanity of looking great into old age (sun still can do a number on your skin's collagen) and the fact that kids no longer go outside to play or swim (or swim with a t-shirt on because they're self conscious about their body) and you've got a recipe for D3 deficiency. In actuality, it's not “deficiency” per se, according to most lab results. But lab values are typically very low-normal; most practitioners don't bother to even look at the value if it's not highlighted or bolded, so many people don't supplement.
[easyazon_link asin=”B000A0LE6O” locale=”US” new_window=”yes” nofollow=”default” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]I recommend NOW Foods 1,000IU D3 soft gels.[/easyazon_link].
Fish Oil (3-5g/day)
A nifty 2011 study suggested that high EPA/DHA (Omega 3 fatty acids) decrease cutaneous P53 expression. Why does it matter and how does it work? P53 is a tumor suppressor gene that comes into play when the skin is damaged by UV radiation. As with any gene, the more expression of that gene, the more turnover it deals with, and the more times it multiplies the more change that it becomes mutated and unable to do it's job. This is one of the theorized mechanisms of tumor generation in the dermis and epidermis. There may be other protective mechanisms such as helping to decrease the inflammation in the dermal tissue and mitigate the UV damage to the tissue in the first place, but this article doesn't explore those.
Interestingly, no increase in P53 expression was noted in increased serum omega 6s, but they don't specify a distinct omega 6 status for the test subjects. It may be that the typical western diet is so Omega 6 rich that even at “low” serum levels, we are above the threshold for sun damage. A great experiment would be to significantly reduce Omega 6s in the diet while keeping Omega 3s stable and see what happens. My guess is that if you reduce the Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio, skin resilience will increase and P53 expression will drop even further.
[easyazon_link asin=”B00C933P30″ locale=”US” new_window=”yes” nofollow=”default” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]I use these Life and Food Fish Oil capsules.[/easyazon_link]
Saturated Fats
Saturated fats still get a bad rap in the world of nutrition, but they really shouldn't. After all, there is some evidence that saturated fat intake can be inhibitory to cancer cells. Of course, the diet fed to these mice was not fully described and there could be loads of junk in it (most rodent diets in studies are devoid of Omega-3s and decent overall nutrition) but it seems that the saturated fatty acid diet inhibited tumor cell growth compared to a high intake in poly unsaturated fatty acids. Anecdotally, myself and several others I know who have upped their saturated fatty acid intake have found they are more resistant to skin damage from the sun, including decreased sunburn and increased recovery from the mild sunburns we've experienced.
Impressive.
And just another reason to shove all that butter and MCT/coconut oil into your coffee (and chase it with a couple tablets of fish oil and vitamin D3)…
Summer.
It's synonymous with group rides, races, fondos, picnics, beers and burgers with your riding buddies and….sun. Lots and lots of sun.
Of course, with sun comes the ever present worries of sunburn, skin damage, melanoma, and general misery that goes along with the “lobster burn.” The typical course of action involves slathering yourself with a shot glass or more of sunscreen, wearing “sun sleeves” or finding some other way to keep those UV rays from touching your skin.
Sadly, we as human beings need some of those UV rays. Truly, around three quarters of the US population is deficient in Vitamin D3, which can cause anything from increased risk of cancer to insufficient secretion of insulin in Type 2 diabetes. This can partially be blamed on the fact that we generally work inside, and that the UVB radiation we need to produce D3 naturally doesn't pass through glass. We also don't get much exposure if we slather ourselves or our families with sunscreen all summer long, either.
So what can you do? We don't want to be burned up, we don't want to peel, we don't want to get skin cancer. Well, a couple of easy biohacks can reduce your risk of sunburn, skin cancer and reduce the use of those greasy sunscreens, while leaving you nicely golden brown after your ride.
Read on to find out this easy recipe after the jump:
Vitamin D3 (35IU/pound)
What happens to our body when we're out in the sun? Our body converts cholesterol into cholecalciferol, which is vitamin D D3 is a further “refined” variety of this compound.) And it goes without saying that D3 is critically important to our bodies. If we look at the uses of vitamin D3, we find a large variety of things. D3 regulates calcium and phosphate levels in serum, and promotes bone mineralization. This function is synergistic with calcium, vitamin A and vitamin K2. It plays a significant role in immune responses by activating T-cells (those are the cells that kill things like bacteria and other infectious agents.) Perhaps the two largest effects we're looking at in terms of sun exposure: D3 also controls the expression of some genes that regulate cell growth, death and differentiation. Some studies have looked at this link in terms of cancers, and found that there are correlations between low vitamin D3 levels and most cancers. It also reduces chronic systemic inflammation in general.
So, getting sun exposure creates vitamin D, which protects you from the sun, so you can get more of it without damaging your body. Why are we so deficient in D3 then? Consider the fear of skin cancer (remember, no D3 means no natural protection) and the vanity of looking great into old age (sun still can do a number on your skin's collagen) and the fact that kids no longer go outside to play or swim (or swim with a t-shirt on because they're self conscious about their body) and you've got a recipe for D3 deficiency. In actuality, it's not “deficiency” per se, according to most lab results. But lab values are typically very low-normal; most practitioners don't bother to even look at the value if it's not highlighted or bolded, so many people don't supplement.
Fish Oil (3-5g/day)
A nifty 2011 study suggested that high EPA/DHA (Omega 3 fatty acids) decrease cutaneous P53 expression. Why does it matter and how does it work? P53 is a tumor suppressor gene that comes into play when the skin is damaged by UV radiation. As with any gene, the more expression of that gene, the more turnover it deals with, and the more times it multiplies the more change that it becomes mutated and unable to do it's job. This is one of the theorized mechanisms of tumor generation in the dermis and epidermis. There may be other protective mechanisms such as helping to decrease the inflammation in the dermal tissue and mitigate the UV damage to the tissue in the first place, but this article doesn't explore those.
Interestingly, no increase in P53 expression was noted in increased serum omega 6s, but they don't specify a distinct omega 6 status for the test subjects. It may be that the typical western diet is so Omega 6 rich that even at “low” serum levels, we are above the threshold for sun damage. A great experiment would be to significantly reduce Omega 6s in the diet while keeping Omega 3s stable and see what happens. My guess is that if you reduce the Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio, skin resilience will increase and P53 expression will drop even further.
Saturated Fats
Saturated fats still get a bad rap in the world of nutrition, but they really shouldn't. After all, there is some evidence that saturated fat intake can be inhibitory to cancer cells. Of course, the diet fed to these mice was not fully described and there could be loads of junk in it (most rodent diets in studies are devoid of Omega-3s and decent overall nutrition) but it seems that the saturated fatty acid diet inhibited tumor cell growth compared to a high intake in poly unsaturated fatty acids. Anecdotally, myself and several others I know who have upped their saturated fatty acid intake have found they are more resistant to skin damage from the sun, including decreased sunburn and increased recovery from the mild sunburns we've experienced.
Impressive.
And just another reason to shove all that butter and MCT/coconut oil into your coffee (and chase it with a couple tablets of fish oil and vitamin D3)…
