Tanning

[phil h]

I have discussed this with several low carb dieters.Consensus is we tan faster and deeper.I have laid out a few times on my deck this spring and am bronze already.Traditionly I have been slow tanner.A nice benifit.

[emmie30]

Its so funny you should say that. I was out in the garden last week (we had a rare day of sunshine). I was only out there about an hour and when i came in i noticed i had caught the sun on my chest and arms. By the next morning it was a golden brown.
My sister and I spent a fortnight in Egypt last August and I came home paler than I am now.
This WOE just keeps getting better lol.

[Chelsey20]

Sweet! I just started tanning again indoors and I'm about maxed out and was going to buy a new lotion but now I probably won't need to!

[kibskix]

I don't tan at all (pale and proud!) but I did notice when I go outside i suddenly keep color. it normally would take an awful lot for me to tan, i just burn, but just going out in the sun is starting to give me tan lines and they don't go away as fast as they usually do.

[MrsChesterDogg]

I noticed last weekend that when I was out in the sun doing yard work I hardly even turned pink. I'm a redhead with VERY fair skin. I normally burn after 15 minutes in the sun. This is indeed a great benefit from this WOE.

[momtomany1]

I am a deep tanner naturally who now avoids the sun. I tanned so much as a teen that at 45 I think I need to minimize my risk, but this sure is interesting!

[Mrs. A]

This is very interesting as I'm thinking about going to a tanning bed to tan for my daughters wedding in August. Why would this WOE make you tan better?

[kibskix]

i haven't the foggiest! someone should research this.
I absolutely hate self tanners (no matter what they always streak on me) and once I get to the point where I actually -want- to wear shorts or skirts I need to have some kind of color on my legs, right now they're transluscent lol! It'd be nice to be able to just sit outside and get some color. when i was 14 my dad bought me 1 month of tanning for my birthday, and it literally took me almost the entire month to get a noticable tan. i don't tan as a rule anymore (i already have 1 cancer causing habit i dont need two) but if i could get some kind of color before my moms wedding next fall without having to toast myself for a month that'd be nice.

[phil h]

Consensus is that the increase in amino acids stimulate melanin production.Whether this is true is debatable.But you do tan faster if you eat meat fat and ditch the vegatables.I am fairly dark bronze with moderate exposure on my deck.It used to take me all summer to get this dark.

[Georgiana]

Originally Posted by Mrs. A

Why would this WOE make you tan better?

Tanning happens when your melanocytes are stimulated by a certain hormone (MSH) to produce melanin (a skin pigment) in reaction to UV exposure. This hormone is made when leptin activates its receptor in the leptin-proopiomelanocortin pathway. The leptin receptor is like a bad light switch -- sometimes it will turn on the light, sometimes it won't. When your body is producing too many pro-inflammatory cytokines, they will attack the leptin receptor, making it react slower/less often to leptin.

Studies have shown that a diet low in carbohydrate, like Atkins, decreases the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and some other inflammatory markers we really don't care about here. This will protect the leptin receptor, allowing it to be activated easier by leptin. Thus, the MSH production is enhanced, and what you get is more MSH reaching the melanocytes and telling them to release melanin.