So-called tanning pills are promoted for tinting the skin by ingesting massive doses of color additives, usually canthaxanthin. When taken at these large doses – many times greater than the amount normally ingested in food – this substance is deposited in various parts of the body, including the skin, where it imparts a color.
Canthaxanthin is the most common tanning pill ingredient. Canthaxanthin itself is a red-orange carotenoid that occurs naturally in certain foods, such as fruits and vegetables. It’s also used as a food additive for orange and red colors.
Tanning pills, shots, nasal sprays, and accelerators Tanning pills contain color additives similar to beta-carotene, the substance that gives carrots their orange color. Once swallowed, the additives are deposited throughout the body, especially the skin, turning it an orange-like color.
There are different types of tanning pills available and almost all of them need some sun in order to be effective. Even Melanotan 2, an injectable peptide used for tanning, needs some sun in order to promote a tan.
Tanamins have created a more natural tanning pill. It doesn’t contain any harsh colorants or pigments that are foreign to the skin. It is made with a blend of 2000mg of L-Tyrosine which is a naturally occurring amino acid that helps increase production of melanin.
Tanning accelerators are a type of tanning pill that when consumed are supposed to speed up the production of melanin in your body. They contain ingredients such as psoralen (a plant-derived ingredient that may increase your skin’s sensitivity to sunlight) and tyrosine (an amino acid the body needs to produce melatonin). Do they work?
Tanning pills contain canthaxanthin, a naturally occurring chemical found in several plants and animals. More commonly, it’s a color additive used to give foods a red or orange tint. It’s food coloring, pretty much.
Most tanning pills contain canthaxanthin, which is more commonly used as a reddish-orange food coloring. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its use in small doses as a color additive in foods, it has not approved canthaxanthin as a tanning agent. Despite this, many versions of these tanning pills are available to buy online.
In addition to tanning pills, there are a number of products marketed as tanning accelerators which claim to stimulate the body’s natural tanning process. Available in lotion or pill form, they contain an amino acid called tyrosine which is key in the body’s production of melanin. 2 
Ingredients vary, but most tanning pills contain high doses of compounds called beta-carotene and canthaxanthin, which belong to a group called carotenoids. Carotenoids are pigments made by plants and microbes, and can be synthesised by chemists using, for instance, genetically modified algae.
Tanning pills do not cause your skin to darken like a normal tan, instead, it tints your skin adding color. We’ll talk about this later in the article, but it’s important to know that there are many different types of tanning pills. Some, like the one I talked about above, use Canthaxanthin to color the skin.
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What is the most common tanning pill ingredient?
This form of vitamin A is responsible for giving carrots and sweet potatoes their notable orange color. Canthaxanthin is the most common tanning pill ingredient. Canthaxanthin itself is a red-orange carotenoid that occurs naturally in certain foods, such as fruits and vegetables.
The most common active ingredient in tanning pills is a food-coloring additive called canthaxanthin. When you ingest this color additive, it purportedly releases pigment-changing compounds in your skin, and long-term use will make your skin turn darker. Still, not all tanning methods are created equal. While actual tanning in the sun causes melanin …
lycopene. lutein. turmeric. These ingredients all have orange-to-red compounds. The idea is to darken your skin over time with long-term use. Tanning pills don’t contain the ingredients you might find in sunless tanners. These usually contain an FDA-approved ingredient called dihydroxyacetone (DHA).
Some reports have noted that canthaxanthin has stayed in some users’ bodies between 2 and 7 years. .
Another side effect is orange skin. While this doesn’t necessarily impact your health, orange skin can still be an unwanted consequence of taking tanning pills. Jaundice may develop from taking in too much vitamin A. This can make your eyes and skin look yellow.
Tanning pills may technically work, but there are several caveats to their efficacy: It can take up to two weeks for the dyes to build up in your body enough to show up on your skin. The resulting color will likely look more orange to orangish-brown compared to the bronze-like color that many people seek in tanned skin.
Common alternatives are sunless tanning products, which come in the form of gels, lotions, and sprays. There’s a newer, less common alternative that makes tanning purportedly even easier: tanning pills.
What is tanning pill?
So-called tanning pills are promoted for tinting the skin by ingesting massive doses of color additives, usually canthaxanthin. When taken at these large doses – many times greater than the amount normally ingested in food – this substance is deposited in various parts of the body, including the skin, where it imparts a color.
At FDA’s request, U.S. marshals seized 15 cases (24 bottles each) of tanning pills from Alberti’s home on June 24, 1988. The pills, valued at more than $4,000, were ordered destroyed in the October 1989 court decision.
Alberti acknowledged that each tablet contained 30 milligrams of the color additive canthaxanthin, which has not been approved for use in cosmetics. But she claimed that because small amounts of canthaxanthin are used legally in foods and drugs, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act approval extended to use in cosmetics.
At least one company submitted an application for the approval of canthaxanthin-containing pills as a tanning agent, but withdrew the application when side effects, such as the deposition of crystals in the eye, were discovered. In the August 1993 issue of American Pharmacy, Darrell Hulisz, Pharm.D., and pharmacist Ginger Boles described this condition – called “canthaxanthin-induced retinopathy” – as “a common adverse effect associated with canthaxanthin use,” adding: “The patient experiencing this form of retinopathy rarely is symptomatic, although decreased visual acuity has been reported.”
‘Tanning Pills’ Are Not FDA-Approved. Although canthaxanthin is approved by FDA for use as a color additive in …
U.S. Court of Appeals Judges Irving Kaufman, Richard Cardamone, and Daniel Friedman last October rejected an appeal by a tanning pill distributor to keep her product on the market by claiming its sale was legal under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Although canthaxanthin is approved by FDA for use as a color additive in foods, where it is used in small amounts, its use in so-called tanning pills is not approved. Imported tanning pills containing canthaxanthin are subject to automatic detention as products containing unsafe color additives.
What is a tanning pill?
Tanning pills are a fairly new product in the market of self-tanning products. The thought behind these tanning pills is that by consuming them over a period of a few weeks, the pills will cause your skin to darken or add pigment to your skin, giving it an artificial tan.
Your skin tans when the melanin in your skin darkens under the UV rays of the sun. Tanning pills work differently to this. The Canthaxanthin in the tanning pills is dissolved in the adipose tissue in the skin, beneath the epidermis. It accumulates in the fatty layer of the skin, and when taken in high doses continuously, …
To be clear, tanning pills are not FDA approved because of the coloring chemicals they contain. While the FDA approves the use of Canthaxanthin in food manufacturing, the dosage is much higher in tanning pills and is not always safe.
How Tanning Pills Work. Tanning pills contain active ingredients called carotenoids, a range of colors from yellows to reds. Canthaxanthin (from carotenoids) is a food coloring additive that is used in the manufacturing of food. It is also known as Food Orange 8, Carophyll Red or Roxanthin Red 10.
Check it out on Amazon. These tablets are 100% natural and herbal, so they do not contain any of the harsher chemicals that other tanning pills may contain. The 30 pack of pills contain 5mg of Beta Carotene, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Modified Maize Starch and Magnesium Stearate.
These are the pigments that cause the skin to actually turn orange or tan, but tanning pills do contain other ingredients as well. Vitamin D : Fat solubles that we usually get from the sun and our diet. Vitamin D helps promote bone health, calcium absorption and supports immune function.
Some people who consumed tanning pills for extended periods of time suffered from canthaxanthin retinopathy, a condition where the pigments from the tanning pills build up in the retina of the eye and form little crystals. This can cause irritation and pain in the eye, and can even do some permanent damage.
How long does it take for a tan to wear off?
Like a tan, the color tends to wear off after a few days. A commonly used FDA-approved color additive for sunless tanners is dihydroxyacetone (DHA). Applying these products by hand can sometimes lead to uneven coloring, so some tanning salons have begun to offer whole body sprays in tanning booths.
People who choose to get a DHA spray tan should make sure to protect these areas. These products can give skin a darker color (although some people may notice a slight orange tinge), but unless they contain sunscreen ingredients, they don’t offer much protection from the damaging effects of UV radiation.
The main ingredient in most sunless tanning pills, canthaxanthin, can show up in your eyes as yellow crystals, which may cause injury and impair vision. There have also been reports of liver and skin problems. Tanning accelerators, such as lotions or pills that contain the amino acid tyrosine or its derivatives, do not work and may be dangerous.
Several products claim to give a person a tan without exposing them to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Some may be safe and effective, but others might not work , and some could even be harmful.
Two other sunless tanning products, bronzers and sunless tanners, are considered cosmetics for use on the skin. They are not thought to be harmful when used properly. Bronzers, made from color additives approved by the FDA for cosmetic use, are applied to the skin to tint its color for a short time.