Is Your Fake Tan Habit Seriously Damaging Your Health?

When it comes to fake tan, we’re a nation of women who love to have a ‘healthy glow’ about us. Not only is Ireland the largest consumer of fake tan in Europe, 40 per cent of us use it on a regular basis. But could our fake-tan addiction be putting our health at risk?

According to some worrying new research, the answer is yes.

The Irish Daily Mail reports that women who use fake tan could be putting themselves at an increased risk of fertility problems. They could also increase their chances of having children with birth defects.

While fake tan is generally seen as a safe alternative to using sunbeds, experts are warning that the products can contain a ‘cocktail’ of chemicals which can pose a major risk to health and have a damaging impact on the development of babies.

Fake tan can contain carcinogens such as formaldehyde and nitrosamine, as well as skin irritants, and the fact that we apply fake tan all over our bodies is causing health experts to issue warnings.

Speaking about fake tan, Jacqueline McGlade, the executive director of the European Environment Agency, said that the cocktail of chemicals “may be a contributing factor behind the significant increases in cancers, diabetes, obesity and falling fertility.”

“It’s the cocktail effect,” she said, adding that a “precautionary approach” to many of the chemicals within fake taken would be sensible until “their effects are more fully understood.”

Although no tests have been carried out that show the impact that fake tan can have on human health, US researchers have expressed their fears about the safety of the product.

“What we’re concerned about is not so much that reaction that creates the tanning, but reactions that may occur deeper down with living cells that might then change DNA, causing a mutation, and what the possible impacts of that might be,” said Dr Lynn Goldman, the dean of the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University.