Tanning pills are probably the biggest myth in the history of sunless skincare products.

They have proliferated on a market that supports and promotes their use as supplements by all the marketing techniques available, from women's publications, ads and web pages to promotions in drug stores. Tanning pills are known as dietary supplements but they are not FDA approved and they all include the disclaimer that they are not designed to treat, cure or prevent any health issue whatsoever. It was more than once that the tanning pills safety should become subject for virulent debates, but no decisive measures have been taken to decrease their use. What efficiency rate do tanning pills have? Do they have a 99% safety level?

Knowledge of the elements that have an impact on tan formation could prove helpful for the understanding of the working principle behind tanning pills and their efficiency or lack of efficiency. This means that anatomical predisposition and the level of exposure to ultraviolets are the two main elements that put their imprint on tanning. As for nutrition, diet has a very little influence in the matter of getting tanned. Consider for example a fair-skinned Caucasian person; regardless of how many tanning pills she/he will use, tanning will still be a challenge given the low melanin presence in the skin cells.

Some tanning pills contain canthaxanthin which is also used as a color additive in the manufacturing of food products. Though the Food and Drug Agency has approved this use, not the same thing can be said about the assimilation of cantharxanthin as a tanning agent. The disapproval comes from the fact that in food, only a small quantity of chemical is necessary, whereas in tanning pills, very large concentrations have to be added. The effect of the chemical consists in the depositing of the substance under the skin layers giving it the brown orange-brown color; unfortunately, serious side effects are related to the administration of this kind of tanning pills.

Liver disease cases have been related to the use of canthaxanthin tanning pills; FDA banished these products and passed warnings in relation to their use. Another kind of tanning pills that are under test in Australia rely on the hormonal stimulation of the secretion of melanin; it appears that this drug increases results when combined with UV exposure too. Besides these two drug alternatives, there are all sorts of herbal products labeled tanning pills. Yet, nutrition does not seem to play such an important role in the quality of the tan, and thus the efficiency level of tanning pills remains pretty low.