Healthiest sunscreens

What makes a sunscreen healthy? It should be safe (doesn't contain harmful chemicals) and effective (adequately protects your skin from both UVA and UVB rays and remain stable in sunlight).

A new Environmental Working Group (EWG) report found that the majority of sunscreens lining store shelves don't meet those requirements. Of the 1,571 brand-name sunscreens the watchdog group tested, 3 of 5 offer inadequate protection from the sun and have significant safety concerns. Ironically, EWG says 41 percent of the products it tested contain ingredients that break down in the sun within minutes or hours.

So what should you do? The easiest way to find healthy sunscreens is to check out EWG's ratings. The group recommends 83 sunscreens that offer very good sun protection with ingredients that have minimal health risks.

There isn't one Coppertone product on EWG's list of recommended sunscreens and only two of the 50 Banana Boat and Neutrogena products tested met its criteria. One downside is that all of the products on EWG's list are pricier than your average sunscreen, some slightly more so and others are significantly more expensive.

Here are the most affordable sunscreens on EWG's recommended products list (calculated based on price per ounce):

• Badger Balm, SPF 30
• Caribbean Solutions Sol Kid Care, 25 SPF
• Mexitan Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 50 or SPF 30
• Tropical Sands, SPF 50 or SPF 30
• Solbar Shield Sunscreen, SPF 40
• Vanicream Sunscreen Sensitive Skin, SPF 60 or SPF 35 version
• Goddess Garden Kids Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30
• Solbar Zinc, SPF 38
• Jason Natural Cosmetics, Mineral Based Sunblock, SPF 30

There are also ratings for best moisturizers and lip balms with SPF.

Prefer to read labels? Here's what they tell you: 

• SPF factor is solely based on UVB protection, with higher SPFs indicating more protection against sunburn radiation.


• As of now, there's no easy way for consumers to know if a sunscreen offers adequate protection against UVA rays (associated with skin cancer and aging skin). Today there are four strong UVA filters that are approved for use in the United States: zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, avobenzone, and mexoryl.

If you want to play it completely safe, then you might want to stay away from powder or spray sunscreens since tiny "nano" particles and other harmful ingredients might be more easily absorbed through the lungs than the skin.

It's also worth mentioning that using sunscreen is only one part of smart sun protection. Limit your time outside in the middle of the day when the sun's rays are most intense. Wear a hat, sunglasses, and protective clothing (dark and tightly woven). Coolibar and Solumbra are two lines of sun-protective clothing that are worth checking out. Get more sun safety tips from EWG.

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Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com.