While we all know that to keep our bodies young and fit we need to exercise and eat right, keeping our skin as youthful as our body is another story. Along with healthy food, there are hundreds of creams and potions on the market all claiming to help you keep or restore your youthful glow. As most of us know, most products make promises they can’t keep.

It’s possible though, that in just a few years, you’ll be eating your anti-ageing treatment rather than slathering it on your skin. Researchers have discovered an antioxidant they call Tiron that protects 100% against damaging UVA radiation.

UVA is the radiation that goes deep into our skin and damages collagen and elastin which, with too much sun exposure, can make us look older than we are by causing wrinkles. Previously scientists studied antioxidants like resveratrol, curcumin, lycopene, and NAC which offered only partial protection against UVA rays. The finding of an antioxidant that protects against 100% of UVA rays is very exciting, especially considering that previously studied antioxidants offered a maximum protection of 22%. Resveratrol was the prior leader offering 22% protection against damaging UVA.

While testing of Tiron is still very early on in the process, scientists have said that they are hoping to eventually add this antioxidant to food or cosmetics which could mean that your food will literally be your medicine.

With scientists looking to put Tiron in food, there is of course the issue about keeping our food real and not modifying it. Tiron is not a naturally occuring antioxidant, so it is something that would have to be added via genetic modification. With a big push by consumers against GMOs, this may be something that still ends up in a cream.

The other big deal about Tiron is that it only protects against UVA, not UVB which our bodies need to produce vitamin D. So, we could eat (or slather on) our UVA protection and still get our 15 minutes of UVB exposure to help keep our bodies healthy, and our skin youthful all at the same time!