Heliocare, Sun Damage, and Supplements for PTs

 TLDR:

• A new supplement called HelioCare containing Polypodium leucatomos is out.
• Dr. Wells researched this compound and found a 2025 study where it was used in a syrup and demonstrated a 24% reduction in skin redness from UVB exposure, acting like an SPF of 4.
• Dr. Wells suggests this compound could be beneficial for individuals with sun sensitivity or a history of skin cancers, highlighting its potential to mitigate sun damage internally, something relevant for sport and generalist PTs.

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Transcript:

Hello everyone, Dr. Wells here from NutritionalPhysicalTherapy.com. Hope you're having a great day. If you notice, I'm inside now, out of the Florida sun, and that's partly because this research update today is actually about sun exposure. And I have a unique experience with sun exposure, especially being in Florida and being a surfer.

I have a lot of skin damage as well as I've had a squamous cell cancer removed from my head. So last month I was at the dermatologist talking with her and she recommended a supplement called HelioSun, or excuse me, HelioCare. It's basically a phytochemical compound from South Africa that helps to mitigate some of the DNA damage from the sun.

Admittedly, obviously being a nutritionally inclined physical therapist, I was a little skeptical and obviously I do trust my dermatologist, but I didn't know what was the next step if she was going to sell me some pills or what. Instead, she actually offered me some sample packets, and then I went home and did my own research. And interestingly enough, I found out that the compound that's in that supplement is actually called polypodium leukotomosis.

It's a mouthful. But basically, it's been involved in not just in supplements, but now in this particular study that we'll link in the article, it's actually being used now in syrups and other compounds to help with reducing damage from sun exposure. So this particular study was RCT done in nutrients in 2025 called the effects of eight-week supplementation containing red, orange, and polypodium leukotomosis extracts on UVB-induced skin responses.

So what's cool is they put this compound in a syrup, including these other extracts, right? So orange extract, red extract. And what they did is they exposed these individuals to UV light. And then they looked at the differences in time for basically turning red, and they saw about a 24% reduction in the group that received the syrup.

And again, I think what the authors are trying to do is instead of getting people to take pills, they're trying to put this compound in a syrup with these other dyes, and you add it to a drink to make it look colorful and maybe slightly sweeter too. So in effect, they said that this compound acted almost like a sun protection factor, right? The SPF of a four. I know that's not a lot, but again, if we're wearing something, say, like 30, and then we take this compound in our body and it's protecting us to a level of four, that's pretty good.

Also, in terms of redness, seeing a 24% time reduction to redness, for someone like myself, that's significant. I get red very easily just being in the sun. I'm fair-skinned.

And so it shows that it helps to prevent some of that damage. So I don't have any affiliation with HelioCare or this compound or any of those supplements. But if you have clients that are going outside, particularly if you're a sports physio or somebody that has had a lot of cancers, this type of compound might be really useful for them.

So anyhow, if you like this study, we have more things like this on our website. We do have some wound care-specific nutrition concepts in our board-approved continuing education courses. Check them out.

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