"Soy-Ya Got a Sunburn, Huh?"

Do you know what soybeans are? They're plump green seeds that come in a pod (photo link of soybeans), like peas.

If you've ever tried sushi ("SOO-shee"), then you might have eaten the beans as a steamed, slightly salted appetizer, called edamame ("ed-ah MAH-mee"). Soybeans are also an important source of vegetable oil for cooking and for making salad dressing and margarine.

Now, two chemists in Peoria, Illinois, are using soy oil to make an all-natural sunscreen product. Its name is SoyScreen (photo link of product).

They chose soy oil because there's plenty of it, it repels water, and it doesn't break down into things that could pollute the environment. Soy oil also has other useful properties, too, but sunburn protection isn't one of them, says Joe Laszlo. He is a chemist with ARS's National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria.

There, he and ARS chemist Dave Compton (photo link for Compton) figured out how to combine molecules of soy oil with ferulic acid ("fer RULE-ick"). Ferulic acid is a natural substance in rice, oats, and other plants that "mops up" or absorbs the sun's ultraviolet (UV) light, which causes sunburn.

Compton says soy oil can keep ferulic acid from washing off your skin, such as while you're swimming.

In laboratory tests, SoyScreen worked as well as four commercial sunscreens in absorbing UV rays. The difference? SoyScreen doesn't use chemical UV absorbers made from petroleum. Petroleum is a "fossil fuel" that isn't renewable. This means there's a limited supply of it.

SoyScreen's ingredients are considered renewable, though. That's because they come from crops that can be grown and harvested each year.

If a commercial developer can be found, and SoyScreen catches on with consumers, a new market could open up for farmers who grow soybeans.

Compton predicts there will be two markets: "Your general sunscreen lotions, lip balms, lipsticks, and hair- and skin-care products, and a small [specialty] market of soy-based lotions."

Who knows--farmers could even benefit from rubbing on some SoyScreen before driving their tractors under the hot sun!

– By Jan Suszkiw, Agricultural Research Service, Information Staff

(Sci4Kids's mission is to bridge the gap between science, agriculture and you. ARS's objectives include solving agricultural problems with science.)

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