Cosmetic Surgery Blog

Sunless Tanning Pills a have been a leading controversial topic for many years. I am sure you remember the oompa loompa body builders of the 70’s and 80’s. Unfortunately tanning pills are considered a supplement and by definition with the FDA, supplements and vitamins do not have to go through the same rigorous trials and are not bound by the same control as medications. Scary thought, huh?

So how do tanning supplements make you tan? Well, they actually don’t make you “tan” they just dye your skin using carotenoids (like beta carotene, canthaxanthin, and lycopene). Carotenoids are normally found in vegetables like carrots and red/orange peppers and obviously won’t hurt you if you eat them (unless you have an allergy, of course). However, you can eat carrots until you puke and you’re still not going to get a ‘tan’. You have to ingest enough carotenoids to actually work its way up to the superficial fatty layers in your skin, until you’re pretty much oozing with pigment. And to do that, you need to ingest a LOT. What’s worse? You can’t
control how much pigment you get or where the pigment is deposited. Imagine bright orange patches or yellowing of your sclera (the whites of your eyes). You’d look jaundiced, not tan.

Melanin Pills for Sunless Tanning 

Still others claim to stimulate melanin production by using L-Tyrosine, however this has not been proven to cause a tan to form either. Many tanning accelerator pills needlessly contain L-Tyrosine as well.

Products currently on the known market:

1. Canthorex (canthaxanthin)
2. Tanamins (L-Tyrosine)
3. No Sun Tan ( Xanthophylls)

You get a tan by the stimulation of your own melanin productsion. No medication, vitamin or supplement can. Melanin production is triggered after exposure to UV radiation. So if your looking for this from a sunless tan, tanning pills are not going to give you that.

More reading: FDA on tanning pills: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-tan2.html on the