Tanning with Coca Cola has dangerous consequences, warn experts

The latest viral beauty trend to emerge online comes with potentially very dangerous consequences, experts have warned.

Some consumers have taken to using Coca Cola to help enhance their tan while sunbathing, believing the fizzy drink will give skin a caramel hue and accelerate a tan when activated by the sun.

The trend has been popularised by reality TV personalities who were recently pictured on holiday applying Coca Cola to their skin. Skin and sun care experts are now warning consumers against following their example, highlighting how dangerous the practice is given that the drink does not contain any ingredients that protect skin from the sun. Experts also want consumers to be reminded that having a tan doesn't prevent skin from burning.

Writing for Fitness Magazine, US dermatologist Mona Gohara branded the trend “a one-way ticket to developing cancer and wrinkles”, while others have pointed out that the acidity of the soft drink could further intensify the effect by exfoliating the top layer of the skin and leaving it even more vulnerable to burning.