The Sunscreen Project, Part 13.2 (further updated articles)

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For those who are both new readers and as a review for my old readers, all of my posts of Part 13 of The Sunscreen Project are knowledge articles, meaning they give advice on what kinds of sunscreens to look for, what kinds of ingredients to watch out for, etc.

Thus, in this edition, I will talk about what kinds of ingredients to avoid and give evidence as to why one should. Also, I will give recommendations for what kinds of ingredients to look for and why.

As usual, the articles that I cite will be listed at the end of this post. I will not be reviewing any scientific articles and their conclusions; I will just give facts and advice. One who would like to see reviews of articles, primary research, and their results should go to the reference articles I list.

Note: If you are new to this site and are a beginner in learning about sunscreen and/or are not a particularly sciency-type person, I would suggest you to start with the first Part 13 post of the Sunscreen Project (you can find this under the "The Sunscreen Project" tab at the top of this page). Each addendum adds on to the previous articles. This section is geared to be slightly more sunscreen-aficionado geared (i.e. will be more specific and detail-based).

Without further ado, here are Chemicals to think about:

Contraindications w/ avobenzone and octinoxate:

• A combination of octinoxate degrades avobenzone via a chemical mechanism involving alkenes and cinnamates
• Some companies try to minimize this effect by adding in stabilizers such as octocrylene. However, octocrylene isn't completely effective
• Bottom line, there's still research going on in this field. For now it's best to be safe by choosing products that don't contain octinoxate and avobenzone together.

Zinc oxide vs. Titanium Dioxide (ZnO vs TiO2):

• The two most popular inorganic sunscreen active ingredients that are approved for use by the US FDA in the United States are zinc oxide and titanium oxide. 
• Of these two ingredients, zinc oxide provides more comprehensive coverage of UVA and UVB rays, and is less photoreactive and toxic than TiO2.
• Recommendation: choose products that contain ZnO over those with TiO2.

Oxybenzone:

• Oxybenzone is a US FDA approved product for protection against UVB rays. It was first approved in the 1970s.
• Recent studies by the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) have found that in laboratory settings, oxybenzone has been linked to "allergies, hormone disruption, and cell damage." It's even been shown to be linked to low-birth weight in baby girls. Definitely not so cool.
• Bottom line? The thing is that the studies on "allergies, hormone disruption, and cell damage" were done on murine (mouse models) and rat models. Inherently, mouse and rat skin is a lot more sensitive than human skin. Therefore, the results have to be taken with a grain of salt when applying them to human skin. However, it is probably safer to not use products with oxybenzone on babies.

Retinyl palmitate:

• Retinyl palmitate is a form of Vitamin A that is found in many sunscreens. It is often recommended by dermatologists as an anti-aging factor.
• In 2010, studies conducted by the Environmental Working Group proposed that this ingredient may increase the risk of skin cancer. However, this was done in murine models. Once again, since murine and human skin are different in many ways, conclusions must be applied with a grain of salt when looking at human skin.
• A 2011 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology disproved the EWG's results, suggesting that retinyl palmitate is actually safe.
• Bottom line? If you are extra scared, don't get sunscreens with retinyl palmitate. However, products with it shouldn't be too bad.

Overall thoughts:

• The thing is that a lot of these chemicals were tested in a lab and not actually on people. Also, a lot of these chemicals were tested in ways that were not taking into account their interactions with other ingredients that are in the sunscreens themselves. Think lack of accounting of synergistic effects of other ingredients.
• Fear also plays a factor here: think about all of the hype we hear about on the news. Some stabbing, some shooting, some poisoning, some threat out in in "foreign waters", etc. Very little portrayed news shows all sides of the story - often times, it is just the sensational parts that are published. Don't get sucked in - research all parts of the story before making conclusions.

With these factors in mind, here are the sunscreens that I've previously reviewed that people who are worried about these factors may want to think about:

Part 3: Solbar Avo SPF 32
Part 4: Pur~lisse Essential Daily Moisturizer SPF 30
Part 5: Coppertone Sport SPF 30

Part 8: Clean & Clear Finishes Oil-Free Pore Perfecting Moisturizer w/ SPF 15

Part 9: Coppertone Oil Free Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 30
Part 12: Avon Anew Rejuvenate 24-Hour Eye Cream, SPF 25
Part 15: Neutrogena Healthy Defense Daily SPF 50
Part 16: Murad Essential-C Day Moisture SPF 30
Part 19: Murad Essential-C Eye Cream SPF 15

Sources:
John Su - Futurederm: Toxicity of Inorganic vs Organic Sunscreen Ingredients
John Su - Futurederm: How does Octinoxiate Degrade Avobenzone?

Oxybenzone problems:

CNN
The Daily Green
The Environmental Working Group
FitSugar
US Health News

Retinyl palmitate:

CNN
The Daily Green
Futurederm
US Health News

How to get your caffeine fix

Hey guys,

So as you all probably know already, I am a college student. In fact, not to brag, I go to a pretty prestigious college in the US (which one it is, I will not say, but it was rated by USA today as one of the top 20 in the US). Sorry, I just wanted to support my school a bit anonymously. I love my school, its spirit, the dormitory system, the classes, my friends, everything. Anyways, sorry. Back to my point: my school life can be very busy, quite hectic at times. And it is for basically all college students these days. We have classes at 9 PM, review sessions at 11 PM or midnight, practices at midnight, etc etc etc. We have weekend parties, all-nighters, etc etc etc. It's absolutely crazy.

http://collegecandy.com/2009/02/03/weve-all-been-there-the-all-nighter/

So what do you do when you're in the middle of everything, and you have to stay up to do work and stuff? Well, you do what you need to do. You get your fix of whatever to keep you awake.

I've tried just about everything, and here's my two cents on all of those things....

1. Coffee - start with the basics. 

http://www.coffeehousemystery.com/UserFiles/Image/CoffeeWithHeart(1).jpg

Coffee does work, but only when your brain is in a stable state to tolerate it. This is going to get a bit sciency....

So basically, what your brain does is that when it is tired, in the synapses of the neurons of your brain (those are the gap spaces between your brain cells, which are linked together like pieces of wire) it releases a chemical called adenosine.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Adenosine.png

Adenosine triggers a signal in your body that tells your body that it is tired. Thus, you yawn, your attention span decreases, you have a yearning to drift off, etc etc etc.

Now, what caffeine does is that it stops adenosine from being released into your synapses, thus stopping you from feeling the effects of adenosine. In essence, it tricks your limbs into thinking that you are not tired. Tricky molecules... 

http://www.natural-remedies-review.com/image-files/chemical-structure-caffeine.png

Tricky molecules huh?? Here they are side by side for comparison:

http://img.search.com/thumb/5/53/Caffeine_and_adenosine.svg/350px-Caffeine_and_adenosine.svg.png

Anyways, sorry about that aside. I'm a bio nerd so I'm kind of obsessed about things like this. So, what happens is that the caffeine basically tricks your body, like before. But, the thing is that you caffeine doesn't work after adenosine has already been released. Thus, if you are already tired, caffeine won't help. This is why you can have 4 cups of coffee sometimes and still be able to fall asleep. You just have to drink it at the right time for it to work. So, the trick is to drink it when you know you will be tired later.

Anyways, thus, coffee works fine for me, but I have to add milk or stevia or agave nectar or something. If I don't add anything, all it does is make me nauseated and want to throw up. Alternatively, espresso shots also work, although you might want to dilute them with milk and sugar and stuff.

http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/14/1462/3TGQ000Z/posters/de-villeneuve-fabrice-espresso-cup.jpg

Tricky stuff eh?

To read more, click the jump!

Oblivious Alsk

So I was searching on Youtube the other day. There's this cool guy from the University of Houston named Alan Rask, a.k.a. Oblivious Alsk, or Alsk - a syncretic blend of "Alan" and "Rask." He aspires to become a science teacher someday and started a youtube channel series to help himself prepare. On his channel, he hosts a show called "Science or Not", where he features cool scientific and historical topics, while also bringing in non-scientific facts that he considers to be interesting.

So why do I think this guy is cool?

Well, first off, there's the whole cool ponytail thing. Sure, non-conventional. But at the same time, the news he talks about (the science or not part) is really really interesting. Exploding watermelons, 657 islands being discovered in one year, giant spiders half a foot wide, etc etc etc - things you wouldn't really think about on a normal day-to-day basis unless you were deliberately looking for them.

Here are some of his videos: