Look, it’s 2018. We don’t have to tell you that a UV-created suntan is capital-B bad. (Why else would we slather ourselves in totally-not-smelly self-tanner?) And now, for reasons beyond our comprehension, you can buy tanning vitamins to (apparently) help get your glow on.
Tan Gummies are marketed as an “edible tan supplement,” in the form of gummy bears, from tanning company UTan & Tone. What? What does this even mean?
According to the brand’s website, the vitamins “allow potent actives to be held in the buccal cavity for a considerable time, resulting in ‘direct absorption’ through the membranes in the cheek walls.” OK, now we’re even more baffled. To add to our confusion, it turns out the gummies don’t contain any magical ingredients: just sugar, flavoring and lots of vitamin A.
So basically, because it’s impossible to tan from the inside out, what you’re really doing when you take these gummies is OD-ing on beta-carotene, which will turn your skin a lovely shade of yellowy orange. Although the National Institutes of Health tells us it’s not technically harmful to consume too much beta-carotene, your skin probably won’t have the golden glow of someone who just got back from Hawaii. (Maybe a bit more like a Halloween pumpkin.)
