May 30, 2006

Sun Protection in a Pill?
By LAURA JOHANNES
May 30, 2006; Page D3

When planning a day at the beach, should you add Polypodium 
leucotomos to your picnic basket? The company that sells the natural 
fern extract says a daily dose can help protect against sunburn, sun-
related aging and even genetic mutations that cause skin cancer. 
Dermatologists say preliminary evidence suggests the extract does 
protect against the sun -- but don't throw away your sunscreen yet.

* * *

Every year, 36% of U.S. adults get at least one sunburn, according to 
the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to 
the American Academy of Dermatology, any prolonged exposure to sun is 
unhealthy. Too much sun can cause burns, wrinkles and skin cancer.

Polypodium leucotomos is a tropical fern found in South America. The 
extract has recently become available in the U.S. as a dietary 
supplement. Marketed by Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. 
under the brand name Heliocare, it costs about $60 for a bottle of 60 
capsules. Teva asks pharmacies to store the extract behind the 
counter, so you need to ask for it.

Dosage recommendations vary. Teva recommends you take a pill a day 
generally and two on days you expect heavy sun exposure. Some 
scientists say to take a pill every three hours you are in heavy 
sunlight since research has found its sunburn-protecting effects wear 
off in that time.

Two small but rigorously designed studies published in recent years 
offer the principal support for Heliocare. In the December 2004 issue 
of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Harvard 
University scientists found that the pills dramatically decreased 
sunburn in nine test subjects. The researchers exposed a small test 
square of skin to a lamp designed to simulate real sunlight and 
compared it to a control square of skin on the same person exposed to 
the same light on an earlier day. In addition to less redness, skin 
exposed after the pills exhibited fewer types of genetic changes that 
cause skin cancer.

How the extract works isn't fully understood, says Harvard scientist 
and senior study author Salvador González, but it is believed to be 
an antioxidant that acts like a "sponge" to soak up potentially 
harmful free radicals created by sun exposure.

Dermatologists say the science behind Polypodium leucotomos is solid 
-- but that much more research is needed before we can be sure it 
cuts the incidence of skin cancer or keeps wrinkles away. One catch 
is that much of the research supporting Heliocare -- including the 
two recent human studies -- has been funded by Spain's Industrial 
Farmaceutica Cantabria SA, which manufactures the product for sale in 
the U.S. "It's very promising, but the jury is still out," says James 
Spencer, a clinical professor of dermatology at the Mount Sinai 
School of Medicine in New York.

As research continues, Dr. Spencer and others recommend that 
Heliocare be used in addition to sunscreen to provide extra 
protection for people who are at particular risk for sun-related skin 
damage, such as those with a history of skin cancer.

No large-scale safety studies have been published on Heliocare, but 
Dr. González says it has been sold for three decades in Spain and 
Portugal, and so far no negative side effects have been reported.

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