Kenna’s question (via FaceBook)… A fb friend of mine just posted a link that promotes using coconut oil over “toxic” sunscreen. The complaints about the “toxins” look like a load of fear mongering crap, but I was wondering about their claims about coconut oil. Is there truth here?
The Beauty Brains respond:
The link which Kenna mentioned is to an article by Underground Health titled “Ditch the toxic sunscreen; Use coconut oil instead.” It makes several rather outrageous, unsupported statements like ”sunscreens cause cancer through carcinogenic ingredients” and that “Those and other chemicals rubbed on your skin are readily absorbed into your bloodstream and can be just as unhealthy and toxic as an oral dose.” A load of fear mongering crap, indeed.
How much SPF protection do you need?
For the moment we’ll side step the toxicity question and just assume that you do want an alternative to commercial sunscreens, for whatever reason. The experts at the American Cancer Society and the American Academy of Dermatologists say you need a minimum of an SPF 30 or greater or else you’re putting yourself at risk for sunburn (at best) and skin cancer (at worst.) So, for coconut oil to be an acceptable substitute it has to have an SPF of at least 30.
What is the SPF of coconut oil?
Ironically, even this misinformed article admits that the SPF of coconut oil is only 10, and actually that’s a little high. According to a peer reviewed study published in Pharmacognosy Res the SPF of coconut oil is only 7. Either way, 7 to 10 is much too low to protect you effectively. And remember, sunscreen protection is not additive, you can’t just use three times as much of SPF 10 to get to SPF 30!
The Beauty Brains bottom line
Coconut oil can be a good moisturizer for skin and it does absorb some UV rays. However, it is NOT effective enough to protect you from sunburn and skin cancer.
Image credit: http://farm3.staticflickr.com
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