Solar Defense Supplements Probably Don’t Work

 Supplements are an interesting beast. 

There is the occasional supplement that has demonstrable, proven benefits, although these are almost always for a subsection of the population. Iron supplements for menstruating women who have a heavy flow and fatigue, for example. The supplements that work also tend to have trade-offs — iron supplementation improves fatigue, but makes a lot of people nauseous. That’s just how most real medical treatments work.

The vast majority of supplements, however, are ineffective or unproven. This week, I came across a brilliant example that really encapsulates how problematic most over the counter supplements are — ‘solar defense’ pills. There are dozens of different ones you can find online, but the specific pill I was asked about on Threads was this one. It’s basically a pill that is sold as extra protection against the sun, with the main ingredient being an extract from a species of fern. If you search for the fern — Polypodium leucotomos, or Phlebodium aureum — you’ll find dozens of similar pills with the same claims.

So, I took a look at the literature behind these sun defense pills. It’s very unlikely that a fern supplement will help prevent sunburn, skin cancer, or any of the other issues.