Wellness

[hildyjohnson]

Very long article but I'll post snips. Please consider reading the complete article at link if you're interested. This is posted only as food for thought and hoping we all can share sources and opinions. Thanks for reading.

vox.com/2018/4/9/17199164/beauty-vitamin-collagen-turmeric-biotin

4.9.2018

"Even beauty mogul Bobbi Brown, who left her namesake beauty brand in 2016, has a new line of supplements and protein powders called Evolution 18. The brand’s newly minted Instagram page claims they will give you “gorgeous skin, strong bones, and overall glow.”

Beauty supplements aren’t a new concept either. We’ve been able to buy hair and nail formulas for decades at the drugstore.

But this new iteration of shiny, celebrity-endorsed supplements is smack in the middle of the Venn diagram of three huge and utterly modern obsessions: wellness, skin care, and Instagram, helping to drive their popularity like never before.

Take away the shiny packaging and celebrity endorsers, though, and you’re left with products plagued by the same problems as dietary supplements:

There’s no good evidence that they can deliver on the results they promise, and a lack of government oversight and clear standards puts consumers at risk."

"A beauty industry analyst told Business of Fashion last year that the category had doubled in the previous two years, with “strong growth” noted. "

"Hair, nail, and skin vitamins are not new. The techniques used to market them are."

"But do beauty supplements do anything?

For all the modern, social media-savvy marketing, the claims these supplements are making are as dubious as ever.

Companies will cite a study to validate one or several of their ingredients, but the truth is that very few supplement ingredients have been thoroughly studied in humans. Many products have no data at all to substantively support their claims."

"Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, has studied dietary supplements and is a noted critic of the industry.

He pulled no punches when it came to his opinion on the efficacy of beauty supplements: “It’s just magical thinking. It’s taking advantage of people who will spend money.”

"Safety is definitely a concern

As Vox’s health reporter Julia Belluz has written, the safety, efficacy, and even contents of supplements cannot be trusted. We’ve seen this play out in multiple categories across the supplement industry. It’s an issue in beauty too."

"Too much vitamin A and E can actually cause hair loss.

Hooper says anecdotally she sees liver function variations in her patients who take a lot of supplements. The bottom line is that we don’t really know conclusively what these supplements can do, in terms of risks or benefits."

"Additionally, biotin is not as harmless as has been presumed.

In fall 2017, JAMA published a small study indicating that taking 10 milligrams (10,000 micrograms) of biotin daily was associated with false lab results.

Two months later, the Food and Drug Administration posted a safety alert about the risk of high doses of biotin, which it designated as a dose over the recommended daily allowance.

It noted that the ingredient can “significantly” interfere with some lab tests, producing both false negative and false positive results.

The agency attributed one death to the phenomenon, in a patient who was tested for the blood marker that can indicate you’re having a heart attack.

Lab results are obviously an important part of the data a health care provider collects to determine diagnosis and treatment, so the risk of inaccurate results is concerning."

But the FDA must be keeping tabs on these companies, right? Nope.

Unlike prescription drugs, which are heavily regulated by the FDA and whose claims and safety have to be proven before they can be sold, supplements are barely subjected to government scrutiny.

Due to a law pushed through in the mid-1990s ......, supplement manufacturers pretty much have free rein to say anything and do anything.

...The FDA can’t force companies to remove products or ingredients until it can prove that they are really harmful, resulting in potential injury and even deaths in the meantime."

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[momoftwo2007]

Thanks for sharing the article.  I watched a few minutes of Bobbie Brown's vitamin presenation and I don't find her very knowledgeable about it. I felt the same way about Tati when she launched her vitamin, too.  I have no problem with celebrities endorsing fashion or home products, because the stakes are low.  It will not harm you if the prodcuts don't work out for you. But you do not want to take some supplements that you don't know what it will do to your health.

[151949]

I buy my hair,skin & nail vitamins at CVS - on bogo , and much , much cheaper than the ones on HSN.

[151949]

I buy my hair,skin & nail vitamins at CVS - on bogo , and much , much cheaper than the ones on HSN. CVS has great prices on vitamins. 

[LTT1]

@hildyjohnson@151949@momoftwo2007

i have IBS. Three years ago I started up-chucking plain old vitamins. (Guessing additives...these were cheap vitamins).

I take any Lessman vitamin on an empty stomach...except men’s elite multi.

My hairdresser told me yesterday  that my hair is healthier and in better shape. So that is a YAY🎉 

PS I simply cannot tolerate biotin except in very low doses. My hair has benefitted from more digestible foods, plant sterols, healthy hair products.

The less ingredients in a product (generally) more luck.