Getting the sunburn has nothing to do with your body’s inflammatory response.
Like, taking aspirin won’t keep you from getting sunburnt. Same way it won't prevent you from getting burned if you touch a hot stove. It makes no sense.
Actually aspirin totally does have a powerful effect on sunburns... the aspirin probably doesn't actually protect your skin from damage, but it reduces the painful inflammation afterwards, which is the part we actually feel and consider a 'sunburn.' I know several people that take aspirin instead of using sunscreen.
Sunburns are absolutely an inflammatory response. Nearly any given academic literature will state that it is definitively. It's dumbfounding how you state sunburns have "nothing to do with inflammation." Feel free to check out the links I'll add below for more info.
Second, yeah, of course aspirin won't stop sunburns. Sunburns, being inflammatory, are caused by damage. In particular, the inflammation is responding to damage from UV radiation. Aspirin can only somewhat reduce inflammation after the damage has taken place, but it can do nothing to prevent the damage itself.
As inflammation is a response to damage, and nothing (known) about any diet can stop UV damage, so yeah, you are right that my diet won't prevent sunburn. It's not like I actually said that it would in the first place. The idea is that if one doesn't already have a level of inflammation then something like a sunburn won't get as aggravated or aggravated as quickly. As I said in my original comment, it's speculation. I just don't think it's as farfetched as you seem to believe per your aspirin-stove analogy.
> UVA and UVB rays both play a role in sunburn, though UVB rays are responsible for directly damaging DNA by inducing the formation of thymine-thymine cyclobutane dimers.[6] When these dimers are formed, the body generates a DNA repair response, which includes the induction of apoptosis of cells and the release of inflammatory markers such as prostaglandins, reactive oxygen species, and bradykinin. This leads to vasodilation, edema, and pain which translates into the classically red, painful skin seen in a sunburn. Additionally, skin exposure to UVB causes an increase in chemokines such as CXCL5 and activates peripheral nociceptors, which results in over-activation of the pain receptors of the skin.
"What Inflammation Is And Why Is It Dangerous?" (Harvard Medical Publishing)
> But sometimes this immune response occurs when it shouldn't. It can be triggered, for example, when you are exposed to toxins, and by other causes such as chronic stress, obesity, and autoimmune disorders. In these cases, instead of moving in, healing the problem, and then returning to normal, the inflammation persists over time. It's thought that this chronic state of inflammation can lead to numerous health problems, including heart disease, arthritis, depression, Alzheimer's disease, and even cancer.
That's a whole lot of links that make no connection between a low-inflammation diet and getting sunburnt. So you're right, I'm dumbfounded. Why would you think there's a connection there? Maybe it hurts less, but you're still doing damage to your skin.
Again, it's like thinking taking asprin (an anti-inflammatory!) is going to prevent the sunburn itself. The mechanism of a sunburn is like touching a hot pan, not an allergic reaction or a bruise. It'll make it feel less painful, sure! But you're still sunburnt.
> Maybe it hurts less, but you're still doing damage to your skin.
I think this is where we're both getting dumbfounded. (or maybe just me!)
My conception of a "sunburn" is more about the symptoms than the underlying damage. Since you seem to be thinking in terms of damage as well, perhaps regardless of actual symptoms, yes, the sun still damages skin regardless. I wholeheartedly agree.
Though we might not be on the same page about the level of damage or what that even means.
> The mechanism of a sunburn is like touching a hot pan, not an allergic reaction or a bruise.
No, a sunburn and a heat burn is not equivalent.
An aspirin might alleviate sunburn symptoms because everything from the redness to the pain to the peeling are biological responses. It's meant to both be protective and to kill or remove cells that have had their DNA or RNA damaged. That's the level at which the damage is occurring. Without the inflammatory response, it's unlikely you'd even know you were damaged by the sun at all. Well, in the immediate sense. Lingering damage can certainly become cancer down the road.
Aspirin won't prevent harm from touching a hotplate because most of the symptoms are caused directly by the thermal energy itself. In that case, you're transferring enough energy into the skin that it's denaturing and even combusting. The pain is not just from any inflammation but from nerve endings being affected.
In principle, UV is capable of doing the same, but that's simply not the level of power we're dealing with from sunlight. You might know that it's possible to cook food using the sun's rays, but if we cut out the rest of the light spectrum except for UV, that food won't ever cook.
To summarize: Sunburns are from UV damage to DNA, and hotplate burns are from thermal damage to tissue.
> Why would you think there's a connection there?
Because in such a case you're adding inflammation on top of more inflammation. A chronic level of inflammation means the body is already in a more sensitive state. This can aggravate acute forms of damage because the inflammatory response is already heightened.
Inflammation also is not necessarily in proportion to the damage being done. The inflammatory responses are important for survival, but more inflammation isn't necessarily better. If a healthy person who's not in a pro-inflammatory state doesn't suffer sunburns as easily as others, there's no reason to believe that there's some sort of malfunction or that it's any more dangerous. But getting burned easily by the sun is not only worse from a practical standpoint but, in my hypothesis, might be a result of over-sensitivity.
By no means am I saying that I actually know that's what's going on with sunburns in particular, but hopefully you can understand where I'm coming from.
And good luck ever having this studied in humans or animals. Such experiments wouldn't be allowed for ethical reasons, and pharmaceutical companies would have no incentive in funding such research.
To try and hit the point home, I have secondhand experience with incongruent inflammation.
One of my good friends has a condition called CRPS, or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. It's ultimately an inflammatory response gone haywire, so much so that it is more painful than childbirth if left untreated.
If you have the stomach for looking at photos of medical conditions, look up CRPS on Wikipedia. There's photo in the article of a severe case, and you'll notice it looks uncannily like a bad sunburn.
Like, taking aspirin won’t keep you from getting sunburnt. Same way it won't prevent you from getting burned if you touch a hot stove. It makes no sense.