I was in a bookstore a few days ago with my family. Since I was becoming “dated” in my clothing style choices, I gravitated over to the Men’s magazine section and began flipping through them. As I was taking mental notes on the fashion trends and combinations, I stumbled upon an article on antiaging products aimed at men.

In the article, it listed three compounds that work topically to help in the quest for younger, more beautiful skin with decreased wrinkles and lines. These compounds are: polyphenols, Co-enzyme Q10, and Alpha-lipoic acid. Of course, from this point on I became intrigued by the article. I began wondering how the author was going to demonstrate how these anti-oxidant compounds actually get absorbed through the skin to produce their anti-oxidant effects. The more I read, the more disappointed I became. As a healthcare professional, I was looking for data on absorption effectiveness, that is, until I realized that the population doesn’t care too much about the science of how, or even if the cream works. All they care about is that the compound is an anti-oxidant and then the assumption is drawn that because the compound has anti-oxidant properties, it must be effective if applied to the skin from these skin care products. And this is how the cosmetic industry has made billions on the properties of these compounds.

To add insult to injury, I remembered an incident where a vitamin store employee was advising a customer about a specific vitamin. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about, but to the knowledgeable healthcare professional, the employee never answered the customer’s question directly and “danced” around the topic – leaving the customer to make assumptions and draw their own conclusions.

After doing a bit of research on anti-oxidant absorption properties, I found out that these compounds have to be formulated in such high concentrations and specific “vehicle-transport” formulations to be marginally effective. The only one that showed a benefit in regular mass-produced cosmetic products was alpha lipoic acid. The other two compounds through oral ingestion had better anti-oxidant skin benefits, but were temporary.

Often, my patients come to me for validation on a specific topic. Then I ask their source of information – as soon as I hear it’s not a scientific publication with multiple studies to support the claim, I advise against putting any validity in it. The take home message here is to be very skeptical about the “health information” published in non-scientific magazines and any obtained from vitamin store employees. Please be careful and do your homework before investing in a product that promises certain results and doesn’t deliver.

Until next time, be well.
Dion