Lathering yourself with sunscreen is one way to protect yourself from the sun’s UV rays, but there are other ways to fortify your skin’s protective powers. You may just be surprised to learn that certain nutrients can lower your chance of sunburn while minimizing skin aging and reducing the risk of cancer.

Recently, Clean Eating Mag put together a list of five skin-saving supplements. You can find them below.

Vitamin C: While helping protect the skin from the sun’s damaging rays, studies show vitamin C may minimize wrinkles, improve elasticity, and fight visible signs of aging. 

Vitamin E: It’s the most abundant fat-soluble antioxidant found in human skin, and studies show it may aid in protecting against sun damage, reducing inflammation, and slowing the breakdown of collagen. Because vitamin E and C work synergistically, a combination of both may be more effective at potentially preventing DNA damage and reducing the risk of skin cancer, and studies show vitamin E and C when taken together may increase the amount of UV radiation required to cause a sunburn. 

Green tea: This tasty tea has an abundance of antioxidant polyphenols, which may help to protect skin from sun-related aging. A combination of green tea supplements and topical products maybe even more effective, potentially protecting skin from the sun’s UV rays and also improving texture and elasticity. 

Collagen: The most abundant protein in the skin, collagen is responsible for structural support and promotes elasticity. But UV exposure may cause the collagen in the skin to break down faster and inhibit the production of new collagen, leaving you more susceptible to fine lines, wrinkles, and sagging. Supplementing with collagen may protect against that damage; in one study, subjects who took collagen daily showed significantly less sun damage to their skin. 

Carotenoids: This broad family of pigments that have antioxidant properties is responsible for the orange, red and yellow colors in fruits and vegetables, and they may play a role in protecting against sunburn, UV damage, and skin cancer. Astaxanthin consistently showed the strongest antioxidant activity in studies compared with other carotenoids tested, and research suggests it may be effective in protecting against UV damage.