Fake Tanner Protects Against Skin Cancer
by MaxPower
Researchers have found a chemical from a tropical mint plant that works both as a sunless tanner and as a solar shield in fair-skinned mice. Unlike sunless tanners that simply dye the skin, this chemical prompts the body to produce a real tan, protecting against ultraviolet radiation. This allows people with fair skin to tan rather than burn.
Most people with fair skin burn instead of tanning because they have a disfunctional skin protein called the melanocortin-1 receptor (Mc1r), which normally produces an ultraviolet-protecting pigment called melanin.
It's not ready for prime-time yet, as they just found what it could do in mice and they don't know what impact it'll have on human skin. But sounds interesting in protecting against one of the most prevelant cancers.