Daily Archives: 23 July, 2012

Fake tan products and your health

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Fake tan users have been warned harsh chemicals in the lotions could cause serious health risks.

A cocktail of ingredients in the creams include poisonous substances like cancer-causing formaldehyde and nitrosamines.

While pregnant women have also been warned the lotions cause a higher risk of birth defects.

Experts have also said the creams could also cause fertility problems.

Some which will be worrying for millions of women who lather themselves with the creams on a weekly basis.

Ingredients such as MSG and tartrazine are also found in the lotions and can cause concern for allergy sufferers if the product is used on a long-term basis.

Other chemicals found in the creams include Sulphur Dioxide and Benzophenone-3, a gender-bending chemical which mimics the effect of oestrogen, among others.

Elizabeth Salter-Green of the UK charity Chem Trust told the Sun on Sunday that harsh chemicals in the creams are toxic to reproductive systems and could harm a foetus.

Fake tan

Fake tan

Jacqueline McGlad, executive director of the European Environment Agency added: ‘It would be prudent to take a precautionary approach to many of these chemicals until their effects are more fully understood.’

She added that increased use in the product could be linked to the significant rise in cancers, diabetes and falling fertility levels.

The UK’s fake tan industry is thought to be worth £100 million a year and it is one of the fastest-growing products in the cosmetic industry.


It is thought a third of women and one in ten men use the product regularly and is favoured by many celebrities including stars like Katie Price and Chloe Sims from TOWIE.

Majority of the products use dihydroxyacetone (DHA) which reacts with amino acids in the skin, causing it to turn darker.

Alyson Hogg of Vita Liberata, the only self-tan on the market which is free from harmful chemicals, said that many cosmetic companies used the potentially harmful ingredients because they were cheap and easy.

Sims, who admits she has been using ‘lashings of it since she was 16′ said she was astonished that experts had taken so long to warn people about the risks.

‘What next? Everybody in Essex uses fake tan as who wants to be pale? People wouldn’t recognise anyone without their fake tan,’ she said.

Do sports drinks work ?

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They claim to increase energy levels and help you exercise better.

But specialist sports drinks are a waste of money and could actually be harmful, say researchers.

They warn that rather than being beneficial to our health, popular brands such as Lucozade and Powerade contain large amounts of sugar and calories which encourage weight gain.

The academics from Oxford and Harvard universities also accuse the manufacturers of ‘misleading’ gym-goers by convincing them they are on the verge of dehydration.

They point out it is probably more dangerous to drink too much liquid because it can cause the deadly condition hypernatremia, where brain cells swell up.

The sports drinks market in Britain rose 10 per cent last year to more than £1billion. Around 440million litres of products are drunk annually – enough to fill 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Although the drinks are marketed at gym-goers, they are also bought by office workers who just want an energy boost.

The study published in the British Medical Journal looked at 104 products, including sports drinks, protein shakes and trainers, and studied more than 400 health claims made in adverts.

In one 1997 advert for Lucozade Sport, footballer Alan Shearer is seen saying the drink is ‘designed for top athletes’. He adds: ‘It delivers fluid and energy fast so I’m always on top of my game.’

Energy drinks

Energy drinks

In 1985, former Olympic gold medallist Daley Thompson endorsed Lucozade. A TV advert showed him drinking a bottle as he waited for traffic lights to change before sprinting off.

In another, Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney is seen drinking Powerade and is shown scoring a goal against his body double, who has only drunk water.

The researchers warned that, despite such claims, there is a ‘striking lack of evidence’ the drinks do any good.


Deborah Cohen, investigations editor at the BMJ, said: ‘These misleading messages filter down to everyday health advice by company-sponsored scientists who advise high-profile sports bodies.

‘For instance, fear about dehydration has become gospel and influences what we drink when we exercise. It’s a triumph of marketing over science.’

The authors also warned that protein-shakes are no better than drinking milk.

Their study, to be shown tonight on BBC1′s Panorama, concluded: ‘There is a striking lack of evidence to support the majority of… claims related to enhanced performance or recovery. The absence of high-quality evidence is worrying.’

A spokesman for GlaxoSmith-Kline, which makes Lucozade, said: ‘More than 40 years of research and 85 peer-reviewed studies have supported the development of Lucozade Sport and all our claims are based on scientific evidence that has been reviewed by the European Food Safety Authority.’

Coca-Cola, which makes Powerade, said: ‘Sports drinks are among the best-researched beverages in the world. There is a wealth of scientific research that can be relied upon.’