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Article: The best defense: free radicals from pollution and the sun take a terrible toll on your skin. Go on the offense with topical antioxidants.(Natural Beauty: look as good as you feel)
- Article from:
- Natural Health
- Article date:
- May 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Weider Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SUNSCREEN PROTECTS SKIN from the sun's burning, age-accelerating, cancer-causing ultraviolet rays. But it doesn't necessarily shield you from free radicals, those unstable molecules that can damage your complexion, much as oxygen turns a peeled apple brown. Free radicals are a byproduct of exposure to UV light and other environmental factors like pollution; they break down the skin's fibrous support structures--collagen and elastin--which triggers premature aging and even skin cancer.
So sunscreen is vital--but it's not enough. "Even when applied properly, sunscreen blocks only half the free radicals in the skin generated from the sun, and it offers little ...