Study: Vegetables Can Give You a Better-Looking Tan Than the Sun

 

You might want to skip the beach this Labor Day weekend and hit up the farmers market instead. A new study (via The Telegraph) suggests that the glow you get from eating carotenoid-rich vegetables — sweet potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, spinach, broccoli — is better than the “healthy color” you get when you spend time soaking up the sun.

 

It turns out that the pigments in produce bring out skin’s yellow tones, while tanning turns skin brown. And a yellower complexion is apparently prettier. Researchers at Leeds and St. Andrew’s universities in the UK recruited 60 volunteers to rate the attractiveness of faces with either “carotenoid coloration” based on a fruit and veggie-rich diet or “melanin coloration” caused by tanning. The salad lovers’ skin won out more than 75 percent of the time.

 

Between these findings and that viral sun damage video, there’s never been a better time to try out a face-kini.

 

Healthy glow from vegetables is more attractive than a tan, scientists find [Telegraph UK]