What to eat and drink while a sunburn heals

Most sunburn care happens on the surface of the skin and on the clock, but what you put on the inside plays a genuine supporting role. A burn is an inflammatory injury that pulls fluid toward the skin and puts the body into repair mode, so how you eat and drink in the days afterward can either help that process along or quietly work against it. The core first-day steps still come first, as covered in the first 24 hours of a sunburn, and nutrition sits alongside them rather than replacing them.

Hydration is the piece that matters most. Sunburned skin draws water away from the rest of the body, and combined with a hot day outdoors that can leave you meaningfully dehydrated, which slows healing and worsens the fatigue and headache that often follow a burn. Drink water steadily rather than all at once, and if you have been sweating heavily, an electrolyte drink helps replace the salts you lost. Water-rich foods like watermelon, cucumber, oranges, and leafy greens add both fluid and micronutrients, which is a gentler way to top up than sugary sports drinks.

On the food side, the useful theme is anti-inflammatory and repair-supporting, not any single miracle ingredient. Colorful produce supplies vitamin C, vitamin E, and carotenoids like the lycopene in cooked tomatoes, antioxidants that help the body manage the oxidative stress a burn creates. Adequate protein gives the skin the building blocks it needs to rebuild its barrier, and omega-3 fats from fish, walnuts, or flax are associated with calmer inflammation. This is the same everyday pattern that supports skin generally, which is why it overlaps with a good daily routine for sun-prone skin.

A fair word on expectations: food and water support recovery, they do not reverse the DNA damage a burn causes or dramatically speed the visible timeline. Skip the internet claims that a specific juice or supplement heals a burn overnight. The honest version is that staying well hydrated and eating a varied, produce-heavy, protein-adequate diet gives your skin the best internal conditions to do its own repair, while gentle topical care and sun avoidance do the rest.

Related reading: How your skin heals after a sunburn and Antioxidants and the science of protecting skin from the sun.