{"id":2016,"date":"2009-06-04T22:25:58","date_gmt":"2009-06-04T20:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=2016"},"modified":"2015-02-13T08:35:34","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T13:35:34","slug":"a-supplement-for-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/a-supplement-for-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"A Supplement for Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nice little article from “The Healthy Skeptic” on a supplement called “Heliocare”<\/a>, which is a photoprotective extract from Polypodium leucotomos.<\/p>\n

No supplement could ever replace the need for sunscreen, but the idea of sun protection in a pill isn’t as far-fetched as it may sound, says Dr. John Murray, a professor of medicine in the dermatology department at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C.<\/p>\n

…There is solid evidence from the lab and human trials that extracts of Polypodium leucotomos <\/em>— Heliocare’s active ingredient — can offer at least some sun protection, says Dr. Salvador Gonzalez, a dermatology researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City who has co-authored at least 17 studies on the plant.<\/p>\n

For example, he co-wrote a study published earlier this year that found that a Polypodium leucotomos <\/em>extract blocked skin-damaging enzymes and helped build up collagen in human skin samples exposed to UV rays. Gonzalez is a paid consultant for Industrial Farmaceutica Cantabria S.A., the Madrid-based parent company behind Heliocare.<\/p>\n

“It’s important to keep in mind that Heliocare is not a magic bullet against sunburn,” Gonzalez says. He estimates that the supplement provides a sun protection factor of 3, which would put it roughly on par with a weak sunscreen. It’s certainly not enough to completely prevent sunburn, he adds, but any burns would be slower to develop and less severe.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although Heliocare was introduced in the US in late 2005, I wasn’t aware of it until recently (can’t keep tabs on everything, I guess).\u00a0 But now that I do know, I’m kinda intrigued.\u00a0 As someone who’s a whiter shade of pale, and “of a certain age”, obviously, photoaging is a concern.\u00a0 Fortunately, as a kid, I had a face full of freckles that I positively loathed (I grew up in California, where even, golden tans – NOT freckles – were “in”), so I took to sunscreens with a vengeance to keep them at bay.\u00a0 Thus, my skin’s in pretty good shape, overall (there are occasionally fringe benefits to adolescent stupidity).\u00a0 Nonetheless, since I don’t slap the stuff on everytime I walk out of the house, I probably could use a little extra protection.<\/p>\n

…And the studies do look promising (ex. here: http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/17254039<\/a>\u00a0).<\/p>\n

So I’m game to give Polypodium leucotomos a shot. \u00a0Fortunately, I don’t have to lay in a two month supply of Heliocare…the Life Extension\u00a0Foundation\u00a0has an equivalent product (Fernblock<\/a>) that provides – and costs – half as much…perfect for a sample.\u00a0 I ordered some earlier in the week.\u00a0 It’s supposed to\u00a0arrive today – just in time for a weekend trek to the coast.\u00a0 We’ll see how it goes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nice little article from “The Healthy Skeptic” on a supplement called “Heliocare”, which is a photoprotective extract from Polypodium leucotomos. No supplement could ever replace the need for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,27,28],"tags":[656,849,1015,1276,1297,1563,1564,1565],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8465,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016\/revisions\/8465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}