One of the big health problems during the summer is taking care of your skin. Every time we sunbathe we protect ourselves with creams and ointments that prevent us from getting burned and our outer layer from being damaged. Now an experiment has shown that strawberry extract acts as a protector against UVA radiation, reducing the damage it produces on the DNA of our cells. This discovery opens the doors to new creams based on strawberry extracts.
To demonstrate that this fruit can protect the skin from the harmful action of the sun’s rays, the researchers prepared various samples of human skin cells (fibroblasts) and applied different concentrations of strawberry extract to them. Later they exposed the samples under the light of ultraviolet lamps that simulated the action of 90 minutes under the sun. The experiment showed that in the samples that had a higher concentration of strawberry extract, a greater number of fibroblasts survived . Basically it increased the survival of these cells and decreased the DNA damage compared to the control cells.
As Maurizio Battino, a researcher at the Polytechnic University of the Marche, explains to the SINC Agency, “these aspects are very important because it is a protective action for cell lines subjected to conditions that can cause cancer and other inflammatory and degenerative diseases of human skin “. But, what is this protective activity due to?
Scientists think the key may lie in anthocyanins, the pigments that make fruits red. As explained by another of the study authors, Sara Tulipani, from the University of Barcelona, “these compounds have important anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-tumor properties and are capable of modulating enzymatic processes”. Of course, the researcher points out that “we have not yet found a direct relationship between its presence and the photoprotective properties “.
The finding is only the first step, but it may be the door to new treatments that protect against radiation, either through diet or with cosmetic innovations.
