Marni writes: Hi Left and Right Beauty Brains. I love your website! And now I read all the contents before I buy my products. So on to my question, I was looking at Dr. Brandt’s Anti-Oxidant Water Booster
I’ve never been a big believer in using supplements. There are a variety of issues that start my skeptical senses stirring.
3 Problems With Supplements
First, their safety is dubious. In the US, dietary supplements are regulated under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). This means the FDA is not responsible for their safety, the manufacturer of the products are. Only when a product is proven unsafe can the FDA remove it from the market. You can imagine how difficult it is to prove something like this, especially if nobody dies. Imagine if drug companies could sell products without proving that their products were safe.
Second, supplement effectiveness is questionable. And guess who’s responsible for determining whether the product is effective? Not the FDA. Again, it’s the people who make the products. They don’t even have to provide any evidence to the FDA to show that they are effective. So, how do you know if they work? You’ve just got to trust what the people making the products say. That’s not comforting to me.
Third, you never know what’s in them. Again, the FDA has no power to regulate the “identity, purity, quality, strength or composition of dietary supplements.” All the power is with the people who make the products. They can sell you vitamins with almost NO vitamins in them and you have no way of knowing. And the FDA admits they aren’t checking up on these manufacturers because of limited resources. It’s really scary.
So, what about Dr. Brandt’s Anti-Oxidant Water Booster
Let’s assume that the product contains what it says it does and that it’s safe. The ingredients it claims to be active include include green tea extract, grape seed extract, and Lo Han.
Green tea polyphenols have been shown to have some beneficial effect on skin. However, this is when delivered to the skin surface from an ointment. When delivered from a drink it is much less effective. And you could get just as much benefit by drinking green tea. This would be much less expensive.
Grape Seed extract has also been shown to have some beneficial effects on skin but again it is more effective when delivered topically.
And Lo Han Kuo, this is a sweetener patented by Procter & Gamble back in 1995. It’s also a traditional Chinese food. There’s scant evidence that it does anything for your skin however.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
There is some science behind the ingredients claimed to be in the Dr. Brandt’s Anti-Oxidant Water Booster so feel free to click here to try it for yourself. But be aware that there is no definitive test to show using the product works. Personally, I would just drink green tea to get the same effect. If that’s too difficult then you might find some benefit from Dr. Brandt’s Water Booster. If you try it, tell us about it on the Beauty Brains forum.
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Gloria (taiwanesegurl) Says:
Oh great post! It’s really really important for people to be a bit skeptical of dietary supplements, especially popular ones like Hoodia. My lab was sent a 10 different samples of Hoodia, and guess what? 5 out of 10 did NOT contain any trace of Hoodia! Also, Hoodia gordonii cannot be distinguished from other Hoodia species with current molecular analysis. My friend’s research throughout the whole year showed that there was no differences in the DNA sequence in a certain region (can’t remember off the top of my head) between 4/5 different Hoodia species.
Another friend is currently doing research on dietary supplement safety for the LA County’s Public Health sector, and she tells me that many immigrants without access to regular health care often turn to these dietary/herbal supplements when they have any health problem. It’s soo dangerous because nothing is regulated!!
So my fellow beauty brains, please be careful!!
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nathalie Says:
What you say makes sense, however to ingest the same amount of green tea extract as the one promised by just one dropper full of Green tea extract I would need to drink 15 cups of green tea…which I just would not do
Left Brain Says:
Just because they promise that much doesn’t mean you’re actually getting that much. There is no way to know if they are telling the truth since they aren’t regulated by the FDA.
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John Says:
I found a really useful and down to earth site for eczema sufferers. It sounds like your kinda thing. Especially good if your child has eczema or very sensitive skin but also great for adults too. You will find lots of helpful tips and commonsense advice
Common Sense Help for Eczema