Hmmm, let's hope famous American footballer Tom Brady (husband of model Gisele Bundchen) was taken out of context when it was reported that he claims to use hydration in place of sunscreen.
"Every day, he wakes up at six in the morning and immediately drinks 20 ounces of purified water, augmented with TB12 electrolytes, which, as he tells us, contain the '72 trace minerals' generally lost in perspiration," ESPN reports in a new profile on the 40-year-old athlete.
![New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has the experts scratching their heads with his health advice.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171101213049im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/y/d/2/o/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gzd117.png/1509530850745.jpg)
"As a result, he says, he is so well-hydrated that 'even with adequate exposure to the sun, I won't get sunburned', and he presumes that the muscles under his skin look like 'beautiful tenderloins' instead of 'shrivelled jerky'."
Uh-huh.
![Brady, with wife Gisele Bundchen, claims he is so hydrated the muscles under his skin must look like 'beautiful tenderloins'.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171101213049im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/0/i/y/i/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gzd117.png/1509530850745.png)
"That's not advice I had heard before. I've heard most of them but this is particularly unusual," says Craig Sinclair, chairman of the Public Health Committee at Cancer Council Australia, of Brady's Goop-ish approach.
Sinclair hopes he was misquoted, but in case he wasn't, he is clear: "I would not be recommending it."
Maybe Brady was confused. Is there a vitamin or mineral we can take orally that might provide protection?
"Uh, no," Sinclair says.
![Experts hope Brady's quotes were taken out of context.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171101213049im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/w/u/u/r/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gzd117.png/1509530850745.jpg)
But many, like Brady, are avoiding sunscreens.
New research by the Cancer Council found that more Australians than ever are confused about sunscreen with only 55 per cent believing it is safe to use. Concerns include the safety of chemical ingredients and whether use leads to vitamin D deficiency.
Rather, they are seeking alternatives they believe to be safer, be it a mineral/physical sunscreen instead of a chemical one or a sunscreen that doesn't contain certain ingredients. Specifically, oxybenzone, retinyl palmitate and methylisothiazolinone have all been called out by the Environmental Working Group as being "high hazard" ingredients.
The Therapeutic Goods Association of Australia permits all of these ingredients in sunscreen, within limits (every sunscreen approved by the TGA has an AUST L number).
"There's always been debate around sunscreens whether it's about nanoparticles or vitamin D or the individual ingredients," Sinclair says. "I can't reinforce enough the tightness of the controls that are in place around the manufacturing of sunscreen and the types of chemicals that are allowed to be used. We should feel confident ... The sunscreen industry is highly regulated in this country and the products are well tested, the benefits are known, the harms are insignificant compared to the benefits associated with their use.
"The biggest harm people have in relation to sunscreen is not applying enough of it."
Two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime and research reveals about 85 per cent of Australians don't apply enough sunscreen, don't apply it 20 minutes before going outside (the time needed for chemical sunscreens to become effective) or don't regularly reapply every two hours.
"They're getting sunburnt because they're not liberally applying enough and not reapplying. The best advice I give people is don't worry about the contents, don't worry if it's 30 or 50 SPF, choose a product that is at least 30 that you like the cosmetic feel. If you like the cosmetic feel you are likely to use more of it," Sinclair says, adding that allergic reactions to products is "less than 1 per cent" and require a change of product rather than stopping using sunscreen.
While many of those with concerns about chemical sunscreens (which absorb UV) opt for physical sunscreens (which block UV with a zinc or titanium oxide base), Sinclair has concerns about the way people use them.
"Many of those products, unless they contain nanoparticles, give you a ghosting effect, which cosmetically may not be that appealing, so what happens is that people don't apply enough of it meaning they're more likely to get sunburnt," he says.
As far as concerns about nanoparticles go, Sinclair agrees with the TGA's recent review, which found that they are not likely to cause harm.
"The advent of social media has created awareness where people are thinking about concerns with sunscreen and yet the evidence is now stronger than ever that sunscreen is beneficial for reducing risk of both melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma," Sinclair says.
And sunscreen does not prevent those problems while creating others, he assures.
"There's no weight of evidence to suggest that at all. While stories do get up about it, the weight of evidence is clearly on the side that the benefit of sunscreen far outweighs any concerns anyone should ever have about the product.
"We should be encouraging more people to use it because that will save lives in the end."
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