Miracle or myth? The cellulite cures
A new remedy for dimpled thighs leaves doctors sceptical, say Helen Rumbelow and Roger Maynard
Until the Sixties British women had never heard of cellulite. Not that it didn't exist, of course, but it was not until miniskirts were de rigueur that the term crossed the Atlantic to hit the consciousness of Vogue readers.
Thirty years later cellulite has become an industry in itself, and yesterday the exuberant London launch of the latest cellulite-banishing product was heavy with the kind of hype that only the beauty industry can inspire.
"World peace is a great thing to hope for and much more imporant than thin thighs," said a spokeswoman for Cellasene. At least, she continued enthusiastically, women can achieve one of these with the new product.
Her unspoken message was all too clear: forget world peace, what women really want is smooth thighs. If this seems like one of the more ridiculous statements made about cellulite (and there have been many) consider this: when the herbal pills were launched in Australia last year scuffles were reported in chemists. Fifty-thousand packets were sold within the hour, and one packet was auctioned for more than Pounds 500.
Yesterday at a Hyde Park hotel the audience was only marginally less excitable. They may have been well- groomed, but one could only assume that beneath the languid lines of their tailoring lurked dimples. Their enthusiasm for the free samples of Cellasene was undimmed throughout the two-hour presentation.
The new remedy is the brainchild of Gianfranco Merizzi, a a slim, dark scientist whose ancestors were apothecaries in the Italian Alps. Yet as every doctor will tell you, the medical establishment dismisses Cellasene and other such "cures" as modern-day snake oil, and men such as Dr Merizzi as deluded.
Cellulite is not a medically recognised term. The scientific world uses the more prosaic "fat", while marketing men call it "sellulite" (about 80 per cent of women have dimpled fat on their bodies, a statistic that has helped to prop up a cellulite-prevention industry that is worth Pounds 12 million a year in Britain alone).
Just listen to Dr Merizzi, whose remedy costs Pounds 70 for a three-month course: "There is a lot of confusion today as a lot of doctors do not understand what cellulite is; they say it is just fat." Instead, female hormones make the blood vessels more porous, he explains, leading to congestion in the tissue around the thighs, hips and bottom. This blockage starves the area of oxygen and the connective tissue degenerates, causing the dimpling effect.
Merizzi's product uses herbal ingredients such as ginkgo biloba, yellow sweet clover and iodine-rich kelp or bladderwrack seaweed, which, he says, increases the metabolic rate and stimulates circulation.
Since its launch in Italy five years ago, 50 women have participated in trials. A study released yesterday, using 40 women (too few to impress doctors) showed an average reduction of 2.47 per cent in hip measurements in eight weeks.
Tests on other anti-cellulite products carried out last year by Health Which? suggested that they were more likely to shrink bank balances than thighs. Ten leading creams had no effect on subcutaneous fat. The Consumers' Association magazine asked the manufacturers for clinical proof that the products worked, but said some of the theories put forward "bore no resemblance to any proven facts".
Yet listening to Dr Merizzi, all this forgotten. While British doctors advise people to lose weight and to exercise, he says that neither is important to shift dimpled blubber.
Anthony Chu, a consultant dermatologist at the Hammersmith Hospital in London, says: "From a scientific point of view cellulite doesn't exist - it's just fat. From a scientific point of view some herbs and a bit of iodine are not going to have any effect on fat.
"And from a common-sense point of view, if it has been on the market in Italy for five years and it really works, why haven't women been throwing their knickers in the air and demanding that it be sold everywhere immediately?"
Although Cellasene's manufacturers claim to be introducing "just a 50 per cent" mark-up on ingredients that they argue are much more potent than those sold by Chinese herbalists, others believe they are making much more profit. Trudy Mills, the information officer for the National Institue of Medical Herbalists, claims that the ingredients for one packet were likely to cost only Pounds 1.
But then some money must be left over for marketing, such as the 10,000 "Don't Panic, There's Still Some Cellasene Left" badges made for pharmacists in America.
After the initial hysteria has died down, Cellasene's claims can seem hard to swallow. Many Australian women are not so sure about its "miracle" qualities. One of them interviewed on Australian TV this week did not notice any change to her cellulite in the first month, but by the second she noticed some results.
"It's normally family and friends who ask. I have to show them and ask 'What do you think?'", she told Channel 9's A Current Affair. "Some people say it looks a little different and others say it hasn't done a thing," she added.
Another woman, Cheryl,said that she had not noticed any difference.
Jo also took Cellasene. Although she lost 3kg, the cellulite is still there. "I wouldn't take them - I think they are misleading," she said.
It seems that women may be disappointed yet again. Perhaps we should spend less time worrying about dimpled thighs and more about world peace after all.
Cellulite:the facts
CELLULITE IS the popular term for fat that is deposited beneath the skin on the buttocks, upper legs and arms, giving an orange-peel effect.
IS IT A MYTH: Cellulite is not a medical term. Doctors say that there is no difference between the composition of "smooth" fat on the body and the grainy kind known as cellulite. Their only advice is that sufferers should watch their weight and eat healthily.
REMEDIES: The most drastic action is to remould the body with liposuction, but this is not specifically a treatment for cellulite. Plastic surgeons say that a slight reduction in cellulite may occur but it is not guaranteed. There are less radical beauty techniques available - but at a price. Deep muscle massage and motorised rollers designed to improve circulation and to break down fatty deposits cost at least Pounds 50 a session. It is claimed that benefits will be visible only after a minimum of 15 treatments.
Most cellulite sufferers limit themselves to expensive creams and potions that claim to smoothe away orange-peel fat. Seaweed ingredients are popular. The equivalent of a luxurious two-hour algae wrap at health centres (around Pounds 50 a time) can be bought as a cream at the chemist. Prices vary but more reputable companies charge from Pounds 20 to Pounds 30. However, doctors say that creams definitely do not break down fat.
Until the Sixties British women had never heard of cellulite. Not that it didn't exist, of course, but it was not until miniskirts were de rigueur that the term crossed the Atlantic to hit the consciousness of Vogue readers.
Thirty years later cellulite has become an industry in itself, and yesterday the exuberant London launch of the latest cellulite-banishing product was heavy with the kind of hype that only the beauty industry can inspire.
"World peace is a great thing to hope for and much more imporant than thin thighs," said a spokeswoman for Cellasene. At least, she continued enthusiastically, women can achieve one of these with the new product.
Her unspoken message was all too clear: forget world peace, what women really want is smooth thighs. If this seems like one of the more ridiculous statements made about cellulite (and there have been many) consider this: when the herbal pills were launched in Australia last year scuffles were reported in chemists. Fifty-thousand packets were sold within the hour, and one packet was auctioned for more than Pounds 500.
Yesterday at a Hyde Park hotel the audience was only marginally less excitable. They may have been well- groomed, but one could only assume that beneath the languid lines of their tailoring lurked dimples. Their enthusiasm for the free samples of Cellasene was undimmed throughout the two-hour presentation.
The new remedy is the brainchild of Gianfranco Merizzi, a a slim, dark scientist whose ancestors were apothecaries in the Italian Alps. Yet as every doctor will tell you, the medical establishment dismisses Cellasene and other such "cures" as modern-day snake oil, and men such as Dr Merizzi as deluded.
Cellulite is not a medically recognised term. The scientific world uses the more prosaic "fat", while marketing men call it "sellulite" (about 80 per cent of women have dimpled fat on their bodies, a statistic that has helped to prop up a cellulite-prevention industry that is worth Pounds 12 million a year in Britain alone).
Just listen to Dr Merizzi, whose remedy costs Pounds 70 for a three-month course: "There is a lot of confusion today as a lot of doctors do not understand what cellulite is; they say it is just fat." Instead, female hormones make the blood vessels more porous, he explains, leading to congestion in the tissue around the thighs, hips and bottom. This blockage starves the area of oxygen and the connective tissue degenerates, causing the dimpling effect.
Merizzi's product uses herbal ingredients such as ginkgo biloba, yellow sweet clover and iodine-rich kelp or bladderwrack seaweed, which, he says, increases the metabolic rate and stimulates circulation.
Since its launch in Italy five years ago, 50 women have participated in trials. A study released yesterday, using 40 women (too few to impress doctors) showed an average reduction of 2.47 per cent in hip measurements in eight weeks.
Tests on other anti-cellulite products carried out last year by Health Which? suggested that they were more likely to shrink bank balances than thighs. Ten leading creams had no effect on subcutaneous fat. The Consumers' Association magazine asked the manufacturers for clinical proof that the products worked, but said some of the theories put forward "bore no resemblance to any proven facts".
Yet listening to Dr Merizzi, all this forgotten. While British doctors advise people to lose weight and to exercise, he says that neither is important to shift dimpled blubber.
Anthony Chu, a consultant dermatologist at the Hammersmith Hospital in London, says: "From a scientific point of view cellulite doesn't exist - it's just fat. From a scientific point of view some herbs and a bit of iodine are not going to have any effect on fat.
"And from a common-sense point of view, if it has been on the market in Italy for five years and it really works, why haven't women been throwing their knickers in the air and demanding that it be sold everywhere immediately?"
Although Cellasene's manufacturers claim to be introducing "just a 50 per cent" mark-up on ingredients that they argue are much more potent than those sold by Chinese herbalists, others believe they are making much more profit. Trudy Mills, the information officer for the National Institue of Medical Herbalists, claims that the ingredients for one packet were likely to cost only Pounds 1.
But then some money must be left over for marketing, such as the 10,000 "Don't Panic, There's Still Some Cellasene Left" badges made for pharmacists in America.
After the initial hysteria has died down, Cellasene's claims can seem hard to swallow. Many Australian women are not so sure about its "miracle" qualities. One of them interviewed on Australian TV this week did not notice any change to her cellulite in the first month, but by the second she noticed some results.
"It's normally family and friends who ask. I have to show them and ask 'What do you think?'", she told Channel 9's A Current Affair. "Some people say it looks a little different and others say it hasn't done a thing," she added.
Another woman, Cheryl,said that she had not noticed any difference.
Jo also took Cellasene. Although she lost 3kg, the cellulite is still there. "I wouldn't take them - I think they are misleading," she said.
It seems that women may be disappointed yet again. Perhaps we should spend less time worrying about dimpled thighs and more about world peace after all.
Cellulite:the facts
CELLULITE IS the popular term for fat that is deposited beneath the skin on the buttocks, upper legs and arms, giving an orange-peel effect.
IS IT A MYTH: Cellulite is not a medical term. Doctors say that there is no difference between the composition of "smooth" fat on the body and the grainy kind known as cellulite. Their only advice is that sufferers should watch their weight and eat healthily.
REMEDIES: The most drastic action is to remould the body with liposuction, but this is not specifically a treatment for cellulite. Plastic surgeons say that a slight reduction in cellulite may occur but it is not guaranteed. There are less radical beauty techniques available - but at a price. Deep muscle massage and motorised rollers designed to improve circulation and to break down fatty deposits cost at least Pounds 50 a session. It is claimed that benefits will be visible only after a minimum of 15 treatments.
Most cellulite sufferers limit themselves to expensive creams and potions that claim to smoothe away orange-peel fat. Seaweed ingredients are popular. The equivalent of a luxurious two-hour algae wrap at health centres (around Pounds 50 a time) can be bought as a cream at the chemist. Prices vary but more reputable companies charge from Pounds 20 to Pounds 30. However, doctors say that creams definitely do not break down fat.
Is Alteril helpful for Sleep?
Insomnia; Health
If you can't get a good night's sleep, be reassured you're not alone. Insomnia affects a third of men in Britain and almost half of women, and when the clocks go forward next week, insomniacs may find their problems get worse.
There are many reasons for insomnia, from lifestyle causes (eating late at night, jet lag), through stress and grief, to physical illness. It can last a few nights, or it can stay for years. It leads to exhaustion and irritability, can dent productivity, and worse, can increase the risk of cancer, stroke and heart disease.
But you can improve the quality of sleep by making simple lifestyle and environment changes. First, improve the sleeping environment by turning the bedroom into a sleep sanctuary, cutting out light and noise and removing distractions such as computers and television sets. It goes without saying that the bed should be supportive, warm and comfortable. Taking products like Alteril http://sleepsilproducciones.com/alteril-the-truth-is-here/ also help improve sleep.
Heartburn, indigestion and wind can hinder sleep, so avoid spicy food and cut down on stimulants -obvious ones are tea, coffee and nicotine. Smokers take longer to fall asleep, wake more often and experience more sleep disruption.
Forget the nightcap. While alcohol has a sedative effect that helps you fall asleep, that's very fleeting, and it worsens the effects of sleep deprivation by tending to wake you prematurely, feeling dehydrated. So instead opt for warm milk, which contains tryptophan, a substance the body uses to create serotonin, an essential sleep-promoting brain chemical. A warm bath before bed can lower body temperature, telling your brain to ready itself for sleep.
Keeping a consistent bedtime and waking time improves sleep quality, and reading, soothing music, meditation and yoga help prepare the mind and body. Avoid the stimulation of television and games; instead use relaxation techniques (see illustration). Over-the-counter antihistamine preparations help you sleep, but take a small dose to avoid feeling bleary the next morning.
Above all, if you have trouble dropping off, don't worry. Instead, get up and do something relaxing, then return to bed when tiredness hits.
TAKING SLEEP FURTHER
Good source of information on sleep. Includes tips on buying a bed and choosing the right mattress
sleepsilproducciones.com
US-based organisation promoting better sleep, with essential facts about sleeping disorders
Relaxation techniques
1 Progressive muscle relaxation Beginning with the toes and moving up the body to your head, slowly tense each muscle group for five seconds, then relax for 30 seconds. The whole process should take around 15 minutes
2 Relaxed breathing With your mouth closed and shoulders relaxed, inhale slowly and deeply to the count of six.
Hold the air in your lungs for a count of six, then release slowly to the count of six. Repeat five times
3 Autogenic training Imagine yourself in a peaceful setting. Then, moving from the feet to the head, focus on different physical sensations, say, the warmth and heaviness of your limbs or the dull thud of your heartbeat.
If you can't get a good night's sleep, be reassured you're not alone. Insomnia affects a third of men in Britain and almost half of women, and when the clocks go forward next week, insomniacs may find their problems get worse.
There are many reasons for insomnia, from lifestyle causes (eating late at night, jet lag), through stress and grief, to physical illness. It can last a few nights, or it can stay for years. It leads to exhaustion and irritability, can dent productivity, and worse, can increase the risk of cancer, stroke and heart disease.
But you can improve the quality of sleep by making simple lifestyle and environment changes. First, improve the sleeping environment by turning the bedroom into a sleep sanctuary, cutting out light and noise and removing distractions such as computers and television sets. It goes without saying that the bed should be supportive, warm and comfortable. Taking products like Alteril http://sleepsilproducciones.com/alteril-the-truth-is-here/ also help improve sleep.
Heartburn, indigestion and wind can hinder sleep, so avoid spicy food and cut down on stimulants -obvious ones are tea, coffee and nicotine. Smokers take longer to fall asleep, wake more often and experience more sleep disruption.
Forget the nightcap. While alcohol has a sedative effect that helps you fall asleep, that's very fleeting, and it worsens the effects of sleep deprivation by tending to wake you prematurely, feeling dehydrated. So instead opt for warm milk, which contains tryptophan, a substance the body uses to create serotonin, an essential sleep-promoting brain chemical. A warm bath before bed can lower body temperature, telling your brain to ready itself for sleep.
Keeping a consistent bedtime and waking time improves sleep quality, and reading, soothing music, meditation and yoga help prepare the mind and body. Avoid the stimulation of television and games; instead use relaxation techniques (see illustration). Over-the-counter antihistamine preparations help you sleep, but take a small dose to avoid feeling bleary the next morning.
Above all, if you have trouble dropping off, don't worry. Instead, get up and do something relaxing, then return to bed when tiredness hits.
TAKING SLEEP FURTHER
Good source of information on sleep. Includes tips on buying a bed and choosing the right mattress
sleepsilproducciones.com
US-based organisation promoting better sleep, with essential facts about sleeping disorders
Relaxation techniques
1 Progressive muscle relaxation Beginning with the toes and moving up the body to your head, slowly tense each muscle group for five seconds, then relax for 30 seconds. The whole process should take around 15 minutes
2 Relaxed breathing With your mouth closed and shoulders relaxed, inhale slowly and deeply to the count of six.
Hold the air in your lungs for a count of six, then release slowly to the count of six. Repeat five times
3 Autogenic training Imagine yourself in a peaceful setting. Then, moving from the feet to the head, focus on different physical sensations, say, the warmth and heaviness of your limbs or the dull thud of your heartbeat.