Most tanning pills on the market today can be split into two different types, each with their own unique characteristics and each providing secondary health benefits to aiding the tanning process.
The active ingredients in tanning pills are vitamins and minerals, and many of these act as potent antioxidants in the body. Antioxidants are molecules that prevent oxidation in the body, which is a process associated with ageing and disease. Many people who take tanning tablets to enhance a tan while in the sun may be unaware that UV light can cause oxidative stress on the body, and that making antioxidants available to the body may help protect the skin by building up its own natural defences.
A 1998 study1 concluded that combined vitamins C and E were shown to reduce the sunburn reaction which could indicate a lower risk of UV induced skin damage (both of these vitamins are included in certain tanning tablets together). Vitamins C and E are also essential for the production of collagen, which helps keep skin healthy and young.
The main ingredient in sunless tanning pills such as MyTan Bronze is beta-carotene, also known as pro-vitamin A. When taken in sufficient quantities, the body stores the excess beta-carotene under the skin, producing the bronze skintone as desired. When required, the body converts beta-carotene into retinol, more commonly known as vitamin A, which is required for healthy skin, immune system and good eye health and vision.
One of active ingredients in tanning pills that helps boost your tan is the amino acid tyrosine (more correctly known as L-tyrosine). Tyrosine is a pigment-producing agent in the skin and also has other benefits as it is also used in the production of neurotransmitters in the brain. Some researchers have shown that dietary tyrosine improves and reduces decline in mental, cognitive and psychomotor performance while under stress2, suggesting it may have a protective effect on the brain for people with demanding or stressful lifestyles. You can find a good supply of L-tyrosine in MyTan Boost.
Tanning tablets that help with the tanning process such as MyTan Boost, also contain many of the B-complex family of vitamins, one of the most notable being folic acid. Folic acid deficiency has been shown to have the same damaging effect on our DNA as exposure to radiation! It is also directly related to the ageing process and ensuring you have sufficient daily amounts of folic acid is directly linked to slowing down degeneration due to ageing3.
Vitamin D, found in MyTan Boost, has recently received a lot of interest due to new findings. Vitamin D is often classified as a hormone that controls the expression of over 1,000 genes in the body, and as a result of this, ample vitamin D levels have been directly linked to the slowing of the ageing process within the body.
PABA or para-aminobenzoic acid is another ingredient involved in pigmentation of the skin and contained in many sunless tan pills. While there are very few studies on PABA deficiency in humans, many claims have been made on the benefit of supplementing with PABA such as relieving fatigue, irritability, depression, weeping eczema (moist eczema), scleroderma (premature hardening of skin), patchy pigment loss in skin (vitiligo), and reversing premature grey hair.
In summary, tanning pills provide excellent multivitamin and mineral supplementation in amounts that are significant enough to provide secondary benefits to health, allowing you to not only look your best but also feel great from the inside out!
1http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9448204
2http://bit.ly/2RKsm22
3http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21793842
