NZ now has its second ingested product (opens new window) for sun protection being sold. The first hit the market a few years ago, and is from a company called Osmosis Skincare. Their product contains "harmonised" water, which is described as:

Every cell in your body has its own frequency, much like a fingerprint. Harmonized Water works by communicating therapeutic frequency messages imprinted on water. Harmonized Water assists in resetting cell frequencies to help restore the body to an optimal state.

The water contains a form of radio frequencies called scalar waves. When ingested, they vibrate above the skin to neutralize UVA and UVB, creating protection comparable to an SPF 30.

Obviously their description is total nonsense! Medsafe have been sitting on a complaint about that product since 2014, but still appear to have done nothing about it yet.

This new pill (opens new window), from established New Zealand company GO Healthy, supposedly gives 24 hour protection. This sounds too good to be true, which is unsurprising given the lack of evidence for it. Janeen Howard from GO Healthy has told the media:

"Advantages of sun protection you swallow are that it lasts for 24 hours, is not affected by water or sweat, and protects all parts of the body"

Product advertising states that:

"Taken daily NutroxSun™ offers significant sun protection"

What she neglects to mention is that this conclusion is not based on evidence. There's a single study of the product NutroxSun, which is in the pills. The study showed that by taking the active ingredient every day for two months you may up your skin protection from SPF1 (which is our body's natural protection level) to SPF 1.4. This is obviously nowhere near the level of protection that is recommended, which for outside activities in NZ is SPF30:

http://www.sunsmart.org.nz/be-sunsmart/use-sunscreen (opens new window)