Like every summer for the last hundred years, millions of people around the world have already begun their annual obsession. sunburnt. Some people just lie in the sun hoping that their skin cells, called melanocytes, produce melanin as a shield against the star king’s radiation. Other people, on the other hand, prefer to help their melanocytes through tricks like self-tanners and sun creams, oils and tablets.
Self-tanners give tanned skin color without the need to expose it to the sun, while bronzers need the effect of sunlight to darken the skin. The same goes for tanning tablets. Now, to what extent do the latter work?
It should be noted that tanning tablets it’s not drugsand nutritional supplements. Thus, they contain ingredients that can be found in food, but concentrated in a formula, the purpose of which in this case is to obtain tanned skin. And yes, it is true that these ingredients are associated with How does the skin react to sunlight?. In a way, they can help intensify the tan. But they are not the panacea that we would like.
Fashion for a tan over the years
A few centuries ago, it was fashionable to have as white skin as possible. A tanned complexion was associated with peasant labor, so it was not well seen among people of high social status. In fact, the obsession with pale skin was so great that many aristocrats powdered their skin daily to make it appear whiter. In some countries, such as Italy, women rubbed their skin arsenic, also looking for pallor. Obviously, they were unaware of its ill effects. But maybe if they knew them, they would do it too, just look how many people are taking risks today to have a good time. sunburnt.
But why are they now looking for brown skin? There are several reasons, but basically it all started with the famous French designer Coco Chanel. 100 years ago, Chanel returned from a vacation on the French Riviera with tanned skin. After that, without the slightest hint of embarrassment, he displayed his tanned complexion in yacht trip in paris And with that, everything was done.
The tan has gone from something negative to a new style. The designer turned brown leather into a trend that led women to exercise outdoors without fear of the sun. But not only that. Many directly began to consciously sunbathe, on the beaches and in the parks, in order to have more than just the skin of Coco Chanel. And the famous actress Josephine Baker, whose caramel-colored skin has become the envy of women around the world. Men also began to look for darker skin, and little by little bronzers made from oils became a staple of any travel kit.
The dangers of the sun were not taken into account
The ultraviolet radiation from the sun causes mutations in the DNA of skin cells which can eventually lead to blemishes, wrinkles, and even worse, skin cancer. Our body’s DNA repair systems address some of these changes, but do not achieve them all. For this reason, skin cells have a different defense system, which is to produce a dark pigment called melanin, which absorbs these radiations before they reach the DNA. Therefore, when we tan, it is actually the result of our skin being exposed to radiation, which can cause a lot of damage.
The problem is that melanin production is not enough if we stay in the sun for too long. There comes a time when melanocytes they can’t handle. This is where burns begin to occur, indicating that damage has penetrated the cells.
So when those people a hundred years ago sought to get a tan by spending hours and hours in the sun, they bought many tickets to skin cancer. Same when they used oils to further attract such harmful radiation.
For this reason, you should always use sun protection, which is responsible for adding another protective barrier to the skin, preventing or absorbing UV radiation. We won’t get that brown, but we’ll do it with more health.
Luckily that’s what’s pretty today accepted by a large part of the population. That is why self-tanners and tanning tablets have come into fashion, which allow you to combine sunscreens with an oral tanning effect.
How do tanning pills work?
There are many types of tanning pills. As a rule, they all tend to contain ingredients such as lutein, lycopene, or vitamins C, D, and E. Now, the effects of these ingredients may not be quite what we think.
explained it hypertext Dr. Rosa Taberner, dermatologist at Son Llátzer Hospital in Palma de Mallorca, member of the Spanish Association of Dermatologists and Venereologists.
“There are various substances which have been shown to have preventive effect of damage caused by ultraviolet radiation when taken orally with different mechanisms of action, providing a protective effect due to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory or immunomodulatory effects“, says the dermatologist.
Some of these substances are plant originsuch as caffeine, extract Polypodium leucotomy, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, genistein and carotenoids (beta-carotene, lycopene) and others. There may also be some fats such as fatty acids. Omega 3. “Oral photoprotection usually combines substances with an antioxidant effect, which enhances the overall photoprotective effect,” continues Taberner.
It will be, for example, the case vitamins C and E. “Referring to Vitamin D, does not really have a protective effect, but is sometimes added to these compounds to complement it in those patients who, because they need very strict photoprotection, would not be able to synthesize it sufficiently on their own. We must remember that vitamin D is essential for many bodily functions, such as proper bone development, and that for the most part synthesized under the influence of solar radiation. There is a balance. You have to expose yourself long enough to get this vitamin, but then protect your skin.
But then it doesn’t light up?
So far, it is amazing that these ingredients have a photoprotective effect, and not a tanning effect. And that’s really what tanning pills are based on. They delay the time it takes for us to start burning, so we can sunbathe without getting burned. However, these nutritional supplements always come with a warning to use sun protection, which is why they have their back. And they are doing well.
“Until now, oral sunscreens have not been proven to significantly reduce skin cancer. But they give, by combining local photoprotection, increased resistance to ultraviolet radiation. They don’t approve of tanning either, but since they help prevent burns, maybe that’s the point of the message, I understand that advertising“.
Rosa Taberner, dermatologist
Therefore, tanning pills are not what we would like. They may help us get a little tan, but we won’t get Beyoncé’s skin from taking them regularly. But the good part of all this is that it doesn’t matter. If before Coco Chanel went on vacation, only white skin was worn, and then brown came into fashion, then it is clear that the aesthetics of a tan It’s completely subjective. Perhaps the best thing to do is to learn to enjoy who we are without allowing ourselves to be carried away by imposition. But above all, without endangering our health in order to achieve this.
Source: Hiper Textual
