Curious about the Pink Patch? Read more here but BEWARE!

Shelley is shocked: Wow! I was on Facebook today and saw an advertisement for this amazing little patch that’s supposed to make you lose weight and prevent ovarian cancer all at once! I found these claims dubious at best, but it would be great if you all could work your magic and let me know if there’s even a sliver of truth to them. I found it interesting that they would advertise on a site where lots of impressionable high school and college age girls with body image issues are likely to be active.

The Left Brain is perturbed about Pink Patch:
Frankly, Shelley, I think Pink Patch is trying to exploit young women based on their self image and I find that appalling. Given their dubious claims about weight loss, mood elevation, and breast/ovarian cancer prevention, it’s surprising the FDA hasn’t shut them down already.

Active ingredients used in the Pink Patch

The Pink Patch website list several key active ingredients. Including 5-HTP, Fucus Versiculosus (a type of seaweed), yerba mate, and lecithin.

Claims from the Pink Patch website

• A natural mood enhancer and also helps curb your appetite.
• A natural mood enhancer and also helps curb your appetite.
• It reduces excess weight, increases your metabolism and energy - so you can forget about those pesky five pounds!
• Aids your body’s breakdown of fats and cholesterol, it helps distribute body weight — no more disproportion!
• It boosts your immune system, is good for your heart, and lowers your cholesterol. All of these benefits dramatically increase your body’s ability to loose excess weight.
• According to the United States National Institute of Health, Fucus Vesiculosus can lower the risk of breast and ovarian cancers and cholesterol. For example, women in Japan are 30% less likely to develop breast and ovarian cancer than women in North America - due to the amount of seaweed, including Fucus Vesiculosus, consumed in their diet.

The Truth about The Pink Patch

The Pink Patch’s approach is to pick and choose bits of information about various ingredients and slap them together to entice young girls into trying their product. 5-HTP for example, has been studied clinically and does have some evidence it can help with mood elevation. But studies showing a link to weight loss are mixed. And The Pink Patch conveniently fails to mention side effects, like nausea. But perhaps most importantly, all the studies cited in the literature were based on relatively high dosages (100 to 300 mg per day). The Pink Patch gives no information on the dosage of their ingredients so it’s impossible to tell if they are using very low and ineffective levels, or very high and potentially dangerous levels. For more information read this review of 5-HTP from Vanderbilt University.

Similarly, The Pink Patch exaggerates claims related to Fucus Vesiculosus and weight loss. To claim that the use of their patch containing this sea weed derivative can have the same effect as a long term diet rich in this material without the research to back it up, is unfounded and misleading. But don’t take our word for it, the US Federal Trade commission filed suit against similar weight loss patches that make claims based on sea kelp. I urge you to read the FTC report on weight loss patches.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

As usual, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Without specific, long term clinical studies showing that this patch is effective, I have absolutely no faith in any of the claims made by this product and would strongly urge anyone to reject it. Please pass the word to anyone considering using this product. This probably won’t work.

Have you tried The Pink Patch or any other crazy weight loss schemes? Don’t be embarrassed - share what’s worked (or not worked) for you so the rest of the Beauty Brains community can learn.  Share anything, even if it’s body wraps.

Curious about the Pink Patch? Read more here but BEWARE!

At long last, the answer to the latest Beauty Brains poll.

We said that recent research suggests that most college students want to be thinner. Then we asked, which of the following statements are NOT REAL findings of the study? Over 300 people responded and here were the results. Were you one of the people who figured out the BS headline?

1. Women are more dissatisfied with their weight than men.

FALSE.  18% of you thought this was the fake headline, and you are correct! In the study about college students and their thoughts about their weight, men and women were similarly dissatisfied with their weight. However, women were much more dissatisfied with their bodies. Men wanted to either gain or lose weight.

2. 50% of underweight women want to maintain or lose weight

TRUE.  20% of you thought this was the fake story but it’s true. Half of women who are deemed underweight by doctors want to maintain or even lose weight. And as we see from this study about the mortality of people in the US, being underweight is not the healthiest way to be.

3. 10% of normal weight women want to lose enough weight to make them underweight

TRUE.  28% of you thought this one was fake but it wasn’t. It’s true that 10% of normal weight women want to lose so much weight that they would be considered underweight.

4. Underweight people have higher mortality rates than overweight (but not obese) people

TRUE.  This one fooled more voters than all the rest. 34% of you thought being underweight was not worse than being overweight. But the truth is, according to this study by the CDC, underweight people have a higher mortality rate than overweight people. In fact, being slightly overweight actually decreased your chances of dying from non-cancer, non-Cardio Vascular Disease causes of death. But don’t go filling up on donuts just yet. People who are overweight had a higher chance of dying from diabetes or kidney disease. Your best bet is to have a BMI in the normal range. Curious about your own BMI? Check it with this BMI calculator.

So, did you get this one right?  Why did you answer the way you did?  Leave a comment and let the rest of the Beauty Brain community know.