What Sunscreen Work Best?

Consumer Reports recently issued its annual sunscreen rankings. The consumer magazine ranked Coppertone Water Babies and Walmart’s Equate SPF 50 highest for lotions in terms of price and protection from UV rays; for sprays, Bull Frog WaterArmor Sport and Target’s Up & Up took the top rating.New research may provide a little extra motivation to use sunscreen.

Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Channing Lab examined survey data from more than 100,000 nurses and found that those who had at least five blistering sunburns when they were 15 to 20 years old had a 68 percent increased risk for common skin cancers like basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas and an 80 percent increased risk of the deadlier melanoma by the time they reached middle age, The Boston Globe reports.

“Sudden large amounts of sun exposure that cause major damage to the skin increased the risk of melanoma as much as having a family history,” said study co-author Dr. Abrar Qureshi, chair of dermatology at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School.