"I cannot put this poison on my skin," the 30-year-old said. "I do not use anything synthetic."
Although some people may criticize the leggy Brazilian model's anti-chemical obsession, there is actually a lot of truth in Bundchen comments.
While the sunscreen industries are quick to tell you to layer on copious amounts of sunscreen every day, especially any time you come in contact with the sun, that may not be such a great idea. When you liberally apply sunscreen to your skin, the chemicals in sunscreen actually absorb into your blood stream. Some of the chemicals found in sunscreen are not ones you want to be putting on your body on a daily basis, including estrogenic toxins and chemicals that generate harmful free radicals.
"Organic chemists have been long aware of the dangers of compounds in chemical sunscreens. Such chemicals are widely used to start free radical reactions during chemical synthesis. These chemicals are the dangerous types that one carefully keeps away from your skin while working in a laboratory. To use them, you mix them into a combination of other chemicals, then flash the mixture with an ultraviolet light. The ultraviolet absorbing chemicals then generate copious amounts of free radicals that initiate the desired chemical reactions."
"Benzophenone (and similar compounds) is one of the most powerful free radical generators known. It is used in industrial processes as a free radical generator to initiate chemical reactions. Benzophenone is activated by ultraviolet light energy that breaks benzophenone's double bond to produce two free radical sites. The free radicals then react with other molecules and produce damage to the fats, proteins, and DNA of the cells - the types of damage that produce skin aging and the development of cancer."
"This may be a factor in the large increases in cancer (breast, uterine, colon, prostate) observed in regions, such as Northern Australia, where the use of sunscreen chemicals has been heavily promoted by medical groups and the local governments. Many sunscreens also contain triethanolamine, a compound that can cause the formation of cancer causing nitrosamines in products by combining with nitrite used as preservative and often not disclosed on sunscreen labels."
While it may seem strange that something marketed to prevent any skin damage by doctors and skin care professionals could actually be quite harmful, it's important to consider events of the past, in which serious errors were made by doctors through public promotions by the health care pros.
In 1927, physicians endorsed smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes, saying it was a healthy activity. And in the 40s and 50s, thousands of prominent surgeons were used in national cigarette ads, assuring the public about the safety of smoking cigarettes. And in the 60s and 70s, physicians promoted diets high in partially hydrogenated fatty acids, like those found in margarine and safflower oil, saying that they would help reduce heart disease. While long term studies may have supported their claims of a decrease in heart disease, the effects of this sponsorship produced accelerated aging and increased the total death rate and the cancer rate.
Unfortunately, history stands to prove that not everything doctors endorse or support is true; in fact it seems that when there is a product with money backing it, there are doctors who are willing to support it.
So while some of Miss Bundchen's fears about toxic elements may be a little over the top, it is important to consider what it is you're actually putting on your body.
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