Tom Brady's claim that hydration prevents sunburns raises eyebrows
The football star credits drinking water with keeping him from burning.
— -- Tom Brady's claim that staying ultra-hydrated helps protect him from the sun's rays is raising eyebrows on social media.
"When I was growing up, and playing outside in the sun, I got sunburned a lot. I was a fair-skinned Irish boy, after all. These days, even if I get an adequate amount of sun, I won't get a sunburn, which I credit to the amount of water I drink," the New England Patriots quarterback writes in his new book "The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance."
Brady writes that he drinks more than 150 ounces of water a day. On "active days," he says, he drinks "close to twice that."
The NFL star's comments quickly garnered backlash on social media, with many questioning the science behind his claims.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends seeking shade, wearing long-sleeved clothing, using a hat, wearing sunglasses, and applying broad-spectrum sunscreen on in order to protect yourself from sun exposure. The group does not mention on its sun safety website that drinking water can in any way help prevent a sunburn.
The CDC does state, however, that men are more likely than women to develop skin cancer, partly because men are less likely to apply sunscreen.
"When outside on a sunny day for more than an hour, only about 14 percent of men use sunscreen on both their face and other exposed skin," the CDC writes on its website.