When you spend time out in the sun, your body produces more melanin. The substance absorbs light from UV rays and redistributes it toward the upper layers of skin. It also protects the genetic material stored in your cells by keeping out harmful UV rays.
Melanin helps protect the cells of the epidermis, or outer layer of the skin, from UV light. This protection extends to all forms of UV light (UVC, UVB, and UVA) as well as blue light. It does this by absorbing the UV light before it's able to damage the sensitive DNA of the skin cells. Melanin has a vital role as an antioxidant by neutralizing the free radicals that cause stress on many parts of the body. Melanin is well known for its antioxidant property by reducing the generation of reactive oxygen species.
Besides dark skin looking younger, the dermis is thicker in darker skin. The melanin in darker skin also prevents photoaging by helping to protect the elastic fibers, etc. Therefore, deep wrinkles are less common. Vitamin A, C and B12 are the most needed vitamins to increase the melanin production in your body. Add citrus fruits like oranges, grapes, pineapple, and melon to your diet. Also eat vegetables like potatoes, carrots, beans, etc. Non vegetarians can try adding red meat, chicken liver, fish, and eggs to their diet.
Contrary to popular belief melanin is even protective for Arctic peoples, such as native peoples of Alaska and Canada, who are fortunate to remain dark-skinned even in low UV areas. In the summer they get high levels of UV rays reflected from the surface of snow and ice, and their dark skin protects them from this reflected light. Eumelanin black or brown skin acts as a photoprotective anti-oxidant, whereas pheomelanin is phototoxic and a pro-oxidant. Phototoxicity (photo-irritation) is defined as a toxic response that is elicited after the initial exposure of skin to certain chemicals and subsequent exposure to light.
A sun allergy is common when people without eumelanin stay in high UV sunlight for a long time. A phototoxic reaction to sunlight can result in an exaggerated sunburn reaction and no immune reaction is involved. A sun allergy is an immune system reaction to sunlight, most often, an itchy red rash. The medical term for this condition is Polymorphous Light Eruption (PMLE). The most common locations include the "V" of the neck, the back of the hands, the outside surface of the arms and the lower legs. In rare cases, the skin reaction may be more severe, producing hives or small blisters that may even spread to skin in clothed areas.
When Caucasians move to warm climates with high UV their birthrates decline drastically. researcher Leon Shwartz noted "In general there seems to be widespread agreement that fertility began to decline among all major population groups in South Africa in the years prior to the end of apartheid. It occurred at a much faster level for Whites and Asians as compared to Africans and (other eumelanated peoples)."
The South African population policy (Dept. of Welfare, 1998) argued that the basic demographic factors fertility, immigration and mortality were an integral part of poverty prevalence in South Africa. These demographic factors (pertaining to the Dutch descended Afrikaner) cannot be seen in isolation from social factors such as education, unemployment, poor health and housing quality and their interrelationships with poverty. Thus, on the one hand, poverty persists, while on the other hand, fertility declines. This is in stark contrast to the experience in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa that are highly melanated, where poverty usually goes hand in hand with high fertility.
The South African fertility rate is significantly lower than that of other countries in Southern and East Africa. A steady decline in fertility in developing nations took place in the late 1980s and 1990s, especially in the regions of Europe, Asia, and Latin America. In contrast, Africa and particularly sub-Saharan Africa did not experience a significant lag in fertility terms. Reasons for South Africa’s low fertility compared to its neighbors is multifaceted as the eumelanated (Black, Brown) population did not experience massive drops in fertility.
Some black scientists, including professor of black studies Leonard Jeffries and psychologist Frances Cress Welsing, argue with significant evidence that higher levels of melanin give black people inherently superior survival qualities than white people in areas of higher UV radiation and heat, including quicker brain synapse response abilities and more intense sensory abilities like superior hearing, taste and vision due to increased levels of Melanin. The reduction of melanin in the eye can result in reduced visual acuity. The dark brown melanin pigment, eumelanin, colors hair and eyes, and protects our skin from sun damage. It has also long been known to conduct electricity, but too little for any useful application until recently.
There are five types of melanin in the human body and they have varied uses such as protection of the liver, intestines, and even the immune system. Melanin denotes a group of black or dark brown pigments occurring naturally throughout the body–e.g. skin, hair, choroid coat of the eye, and Central Nervous System (CNS). A lack of Melanin is directly related to the malfunctioning of the CNS. From an Ancient African Spiritual and Metaphysical perspective, Melanin forms a network between all the Spiritual-Material planes of the Cosmos. It also provides, in various aspects of each Black person’s life, the mental activity that fashions Order, Harmony, and Prosperity. For one to be a part of that Melanin Network implies one possesses the potential for high intelligence. Lack of melanin pigment in the inner ear is associated with greater susceptibility to noise damage and poorer localization of sound in space.
Neuromelanin can sequester redox active iron ions, reducing the formation of free hydroxyl radicals. Thus, in normal subjects, neuromelanin may play a protective role by inactivating the iron ions that induce oxidative stress. A new study has shown that people of Black ethnicity experience taste more intensely than Asians or Caucasians, and contrary to popular belief it’s men who have the sweetest tooth.
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