Key to a perfect tan? Sunbathe every other day

ARE you one of those holidaymakers who hits the beach every day in pursuit of the perfect tan?

Well, according to scientists, you’ve been doing it all wrong.

A study suggests that sunbathing every other day – rather than daily – will lead to a darker tan and also cut the risk of cancercausing skin damage.

The reason is because the body’s response to sunshine follows a 48-hour cycle.

The scientists found that exposing skin to ultraviolet light every two days led to darker pigmentation but less radiation damage than daily exposure.

Study author Carmit Levy said: ‘The damaging effects of high doses of ultraviolet rays are known, but we were curious to see the effect of exposure frequency on skin. It turns out that, if you are going out daily to the beach, you might be interfering with the natural scheduling and synchronising of the skin protection systems.’ Ultraviolet light leads to tanning. It does this by triggering inflammation and an immune response in the skin.

This results in the skin producing melanin, the pigment that leads to browner skin in tanning, which acts as a natural sunscreen The researchers at Tel Aviv University found that production of melanin was based on a 48-hour cycle – and further exposure to UV light disrupted the cycle.

The findings were based on tests on mice and human skin cells grown in a laboratory and were published in the journal Molecular Cell. In tests on human skin cells in the laboratory, the team found that a 48-hour cycle of stimulation produced the most pigmentation in the human cells while minimising stress damage.

The researchers speculate that the cycle arose in ancient humans when we lost our protective fur, which many believe occurred when we descended from the trees and began to walk around on two feet.

Others have theorised that we lost our fur as a response to the savannah heat, for hygienic purposes, or by sexual selection.

Dr Levy said: ‘We will continue to study these cycles, and we would like to better understand the effect of ultraviolet exposure on the proteins in our cells and bloodstream. I think there are more “clocks” in our body to discover.’

Too much exposure to the Sun can lead to skin cancer of which there are two types, melanoma and non- melanoma. Nonmelanoma is a leading cause of disfigurement, with an estimated 250,000 cases a year in the UK.

Melanoma is a major cause of cancer deaths in younger adults. More than 2,000 people die from it every year in the UK.

The NHS and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence warn that all tanning is unhealthy. The NHS insists: ‘There is no safe or healthy way to get a tan’.