Buyer Beware

Everybody wants healthy looking, radiant skin. You take care of your skin, eat right, exercise and take supplements to help nourish your skin and improve your health. Everyone knows that truly healthy skin starts from the inside. Then why are the wrinkles still appearing and it looks dull, lifeless or oily? The answer might be in your supplements and skin care products.

Millions of Americans take one or more supplements everyday in the belief that they are receiving a health benefit. Supplements, as a part of good nutrition, are suppose to be the building blocks for the body to create healthy tissue. While the theory is correct, the probable outcome is that it is making you toxic. With so many products on the market, how do you know what you are taking is doing what is intended?

When supplements are not pharmaceutical grade, they may contain lead, mercury, arsenic, tin, silver and cadmium just to name a few! These metals can build up to toxic levels in the body and cause chaos in your body chemistry, disrupt hormonal function and damage tissues. JAMA, Dec. 15, 2004, found that 20% of the products tested contained numerous heavy metals. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), does not require proof of safety or efficacy.

Recently, as a routine part of our therapy, a long time patient had a test for heavy metals at our office. The results, were basically normal with the exception of a couple of elements. Detoxification would be needed in order to bring down these elements into a normal range. However, afterwards, in an effort to save money, instead of purchasing quality supplements as are offered in our office, the patient decided to go on her own and, on the advice of a book, she purchased numerous non-pharmaceutical grade supplements. Several months later she came to the office complaining of new symptoms that recently appeared. She confessed to taking supplements she bought recommended from her book and the doctor immediately ordered a toxicology test. Confirming the suspicions of the doctor, the supplements that she purchased elsewhere in just two months, had caused a toxic build-up in her system (See below).

This type of situation is seen over and over again. When lab reports for body chemistry come back abnormal, patients are advised to stop taking all supplements and then retest. To their amazement, their body chemistry returns to normal. Pharmaceutical grade supplements are subject to stricter manufacturing guidelines and therefore, are purified of their heavy metal burden.

Ingredients in skin care can also be loaded with toxic ingredients that are stored in the body and accumulate in the human fatty tissues and can become ticking time bombs. Recent evidence indicates that topical parabens have been detected in human breast tumors. Parabens can also cause allergies that result in the flare-up of a rash or the spread of an existing treated rash. Paraben allergic hypersensitivity is no uncommon. Many preservatives release trace amounts of formaldehyde into the skin creating a toxic effect at a cellular level and are the primary cause of contact dermatitis. It is also not a substance the body can easily remove. There are supplements that can break is down into a removable form. Fragrances, synthetic colors (FD&C or D&C) can all irritate the skin and can be carcinogenic. The oils in some products can oxidize and turn rancid very quickly creating free radicals which set up a carcinogenic environment in the system. Antioxidants help to mop up highly reactive molecules called free radicals which can cause damage to the body’s tissues.

Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not review cosmetic ingredients for safety they cannot require companies to do safety testing. In fact, one of every 100 products on the market contains ingredients certified by government authorities as known or probable human carcinogens, including shampoos, lotions, make-up foundations, and lip balms—according to a recent report by the Environmental Working Group.

Toxic build up in the body can lead to several different skin conditions such as, sensitive to hyper-sensitive skin, thin skin, ruddy complexion, acne, rosacea, hyper and hypo-pigmentation, oily skin with large pores and perpetual blackheads, etc.

The next time you purchase a product for consumption or skin care, read the label very carefully and ask yourself if you really want it in your skin. Bodies with low levels of free radicals, toxins and heavy metals create healthier skin cells and that is when you truly will have radiant, healthy skin.

If you would like to find out more about quality supplements, please schedule a consultation for a recommendation.