eugenez@azure.UUCP (Eugene Zinter) (05/07/84)
I would think that increasing your intake of foods that contain Beta-Carotene would help reduce the skin aging problems associated with excessive exposure to the sun. Beta-Carotene of one of many free-radical scavengers. It is stored up in the skin (where it is most needed). It is basically two vitamin-A molecules tied together. When your body needs vitamin-A, it tears them apart---so there's no danger in overdosing from the Beta-Carotene form of vitamin-A because it is gotten only when the demand is up. Otherwise, it is safely stored very conveniently in the fatty areas of the skin and other places. When radiation from the sun strikes your skin, singlet oxygen is the byproduct produced. Singlet Oxygen is a free-radicall that does the major damage. It is very reactive. The beta-carotene deactivates it and makes it harmless. For dosages, I imagine about 20,000 to 50,000 I.U. per day for the first couple of weeks would do it and then you could probably drop down to 10,000 to 20,000 I.U. per day to maintain it. You might be able to find more exact information on dosages. Eating 5 or 6 RAW carrots per day would do it. Or try extremely delicous RAW carrot juice---I always thought carrot juice was awful until I tried RAW freshly squeezed (I had gotten hold of canned stuff years ago---UG!). Then I fell in love with it. Warning: Too much will turn you YELLOW. You would probably have to drink a quart of carrot juice a day to do this. ECZ