Is It Safe to Tan with Olive Oil?
While olive oil can help you tan, it is not safe to do this. The same holds true for other types of oil. In fact, using oil for tanning may increase the risk of developing skin cell. This occurs partly because of free radicals, which are molecules that contain electrons and oxygen. They are produced when sunlight reaches the skin’s surface and may easily react with other molecules and lead to chemical reactions called oxidation in the whole body. Over time, free radicals may affect the replication of DNA and cause mutations, which would subsequently result in cancerous cells. Some people claims that polyunsaturated fats in olive oil would neutralize free radicals. However, there is no scientific evidence. Instead, scientists have found that tanning would actually increase the risk of melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, or basal cell carcinoma. [3]
