Sunscreen In A Pill

Image: King's College London

Let's face it, putting on sunscreen is sloppy business. There's the slathery hands and the highly likely chance that you're going to miss a spot. Wouldn't it be great if we could pop a sunscreen pill and not have to worry about that?

Sounds hard to swallow, but some researchers from King's College London beg to differ. They recently discovered a compound naturally produced by corral that could be bio-synthesized into pill-form sunscreen.

The researchers travelled to Australia's Great Barrier Reef where the team collected coral samples for analysis. Accompanying the group were professors from from the Australian Institute for Marine Science and the University of Maine.

"What we have found is that the algae living within the coral makes a compound that we think is transported to the coral, which then modifies it into a sunscreen for the benefit of both the coral and the algae," said Dr Paul Long in a university news release. Long is a senior lecturer from the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at King's College.

"We already knew that coral and some algae can protect themselves from the harsh UV rays in tropical climates by producing their own sunscreens but, until now, we didn't know how," said Long.

But the algae and coral aren't the only ones that benefit from this compound.

"Not only does this [compound] protect them both from UV damage, but we have seen that fish that feed on the coral also benefit from this sunscreen protection, so it is clearly passed up the food chain," said Long.

He added, "This led us to believe that if we can determine how this compound is created and passed on, we could biosynthetically develop it in the laboratory to create a sunscreen for human use, perhaps in the form of a tablet, which would work in a similar way."

Long says that his team is very close to reproducing the compound and it could be available within the next two years.

The researchers also envision the compound being used to genetically modify plants to repel harsh sunlight in the drought prone regions of developing countries.

"This could be a way of providing a sustainable nutrient-rich food source, particularly in need for Third World economies," said Dr. Long
Story: Discovery News