soy & sunburn ??

[Guest guest]

Does anyone know of anything showing a link between increased soy in the

diet and increased susceptibility to sunburn?

My husband has always been one of those people who just soak up the sun,

don't burn, and if he does burn, it's a tan by the next day. Suddenly a

couple of years ago he became quite sensitive to the sun, and burns very

easily and quite badly, and we're trying to figure it out. It was about

the same time he started the Atkins diet, so he's been eating lots of

protein and little carbs, but he also started eating more soy at that

time. I know, I know, but he and I differ on the advisability of eating

modern processed fake foods, so he added soy protein bars and shakes to

his diet, and eats them regularly. He also began taking the Atkins

supplements - better than the ones he was taking before, and higher in a

lot of the vitamins and minerals, and including EFAs.

Is there a possibility that the soy is causing his increased

susceptibility to sunburn? I know when I'm pregnant and nursing I

sunburn a lot easier, and the phytoestrogens in soy are supposed to

mimic female hormones, so I wondered.

~ Carma ~

" Self-reliance is the antidote to institutional stupidity. " ~

Gatto

[Guest guest]

Carma-

>Is there a possibility that the soy is causing his increased

>susceptibility to sunburn?

Quite possible. The nature of the fats one consumes is intimately involved

with one's tendency to sunburn. Saturated fats are stable in sunlight as

in cooking, and PUFA oils are extremely fragile and prone to oxidation. As

PUFAs are incorporated into one's tissues, one becomes more susceptible to

sun damage. I'm not sure what impact the phytoestrogens in soy would have

on burning, but there are plenty of other reasons to avoid them.

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