FDA

Sunscreen Label Changes Improve Transparancy

Share this page

New Sunscreen Label ExampleConfusion about how much protection your sunscreen provides is widespread, but the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday took steps to make product labels more transparent in the information they provide starting in 2012.  There is much misunderstanding about what SPF really means and what rays do sunscreens really block.

The fact is that sunscreens don’t “block” the sun’s rays.   This is why the term “sunblock” will no longer be allowed on product labels under the new rules.  Additionally, the labeling of an SPF greater than 50 will not be allowed because there is no evidence of additional sun protection beyond SPF 50.  SPF or Sun Protection Factor is a measure of how much ultra-violet (UV) radiation is required to produce sunburn on protected skin versus unprotected skin.  The higher the number the greater the protection.

The myth about SPF is that it measures the time of sun exposure.  In fact it measures the amount of sun exposure which can vary due to time of day, latitude, altitude, skin type and so forth.  SPF only gives you a relative comparison of protection between products.

With the new labeling requirements, the F.D.A. hopes to clear up misconceptions like these among consumers.   Skin can be damaged by two types of solar rays, ultra-violet A (UVA) and ultra-violet B (UVB).  Some products can screen one type of ray but not the other.  Under the new rules, products that block both UVA and UVB rays will carry the designation “Broad Spectrum” along with the SPF rating number.  Products that are not Broad Spectrum, or are Broad Spectrum and have an SPF rating below 15 will be required to carry a warning “stating that the product has not been shown to help prevent skin cancer or early skin aging”.

In addition to eliminating the term “sunblock”, the terms “waterproof” and “sweat proof” will also be eliminated because they overstate the effectiveness of the product and no sunscreen on the market is waterproof.  The new rules allow for the term “Water Resistant” along with the number of minutes that the product has been tested to remain resistant to water and sweat exposure.

Ultimately, the F.D.A. is recommending the use of a Broad Spectrum sunscreen with at least an SPF of 15 applied to exposed skin every 1 1/2 – 2 hours, in addition to wearing protective clothing, a wide brimmed hat, sun glasses with 100% UVA and UVB protection, and minimize direct sun exposure between 10am and 4pm.

Let’s also remember however that the body manufactures Vitamin D from sun exposure, so before you go overboard with the sunscreen, remember that a little sun exposure is also healthy too.

About

Paul Kulpinski is a licensed massage therapist, holistic wellness educator and co-founder of Mountain Waves Healing Arts in Flagstaff, Arizona. Information contained in this blog should not be taken as medical advice. Readers are advised to validate the information presented here with other sources including your personal physician for information specific to you.

Lifestyle Beverages: The Perfect Life in a Bottle

Share this page

My wife startled me the other day when she showed me a sex-toy shaped bottle containing a pink colored beverage with the name Neuro Gasm.  I thought it was a joke.  The name, the packaging and the tag line:  “passion in every bottle”.  I could just stop here but it gets worse.  There’s a whole line of Neuro beverages for creating nearly every aspect of a perfect life.   While Neuro Gasm seems to be the flagship product, there’s also Neuro Sonic, Neuro Sleep, Neuro Trim, Neuro Bliss, Neuro Sport and if you want just plain water, there’s Neuro Aqua.

The products are marketed by Neuro Brands, LLC which is  the brain child of Diana Jenkins, a Bosnian refugee turned chic entrepreneur who has established herself into the Hollywood glamour culture.  It’s this culture that Jenkins is us using to help propel the Neuro beverages from regional fame to larger markets (right now the drinks are only available in California).  She’s recruited a lot of celebrity support for the products through slick marketing and event promotion.

So once you get past the packaging and branding (an presumably stop your giggling), is there any substance in the bottle?  I’m not convinced.   The drinks are basically blends of vitamins, minerals along with essential and non-essential amino acids blended to achieve specific effects – like the touted “increased blood flow” for the Neuro Gasm.

All of the ingredients in the Neuro beverages are either manufactured by the body or readily available through natural food sources.  Yet, some of the drinks seem to have competing ingredients.  For example, the  organic acid taurine is found in both Neuro Sonic and Neuro Sleep.  If your familiar with taurine, it’s been used in energy drinks along with caffeine to increase energy.  Yet in the Neuro line, we find it in two products that have competing intentions.  So what does taurine actually do?  We don’t know – or at least there is no solid research on taurine’s energy boosting potential.

Part of the problem for me is that there is scant research available on the benefits and side-effects of using individual amino-acid combinations to achieve specific effects.   The appeal of these products comes from the recent trends to blend a pharmaceutical type promise into an unregulated product with strong marketing and branding – yet fly under the radar of scrutiny because food is unregulated by the FDA.  Who reads the fine print on the label anyway that says:  “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease”?

Products like the Neuro beverages are trying to find a niche for those  seeking external solutions to the poor lifestyle choices.  Jenkins promotes the use of the Neuro beverages through out the day.  On one of her blog posts, here’s what she recommends:

“Neuro products support around-the-clock activities:
7:00 a.m. Start the day with Neuro Sonic – Mental Alertness (Supports Brain Function)
8:30 a.m. De-stress in traffic with Neuro Bliss – Happiness in a Bottle (Happiness Enhancer)
11:30 a.m. Prepare for a Light Lunch with Neuro Trim – Appetite Suppressant (Supports Healthy Weight Loss)
6:00 p.m. Workout with Neuro Sporti – Recovery in a Bottle (Replenishes & Hydrates)
8:00 p.m. Have a Happy Hour cocktail with Neuro Gasm – Passion Enhancer (Supports Circulatory System)
11:00 p.m. Prepare for a restful night with Neuro Sleep – Sleep Enhancer (Promotes Restful Sleep)”

Can it be that all you need is the complete line of Neuro beverages for a happy life?   That’s what Diana Jenkins would like you to believe.

If you know anything about me, you know that I constantly remind people that what you believe is key to what you will experience.  So is it possible that someone can lose weight after drinking Neuro Trim, or have great sex after drinking Neuro Gasm?  Absolutely you can.  But more importantly, where is one placing the power of their belief.  Is it within or is it in the product.

This is why I don’t support this product.  The message steals your power to have the life you seek and places it in the product.  The message distorts your power to make you think that you need the product to achieve your dreams.  The fact is that you don’t.  The fact is that you have the power to heal and renew yourself and create the life you want.

Now if you want to drink the beverage because you like the taste, that’s another thing.  How it tastes is a different discussion.  My preference is just plain old water.  Plain water is what your body really needs and best of all, it’s free!

Sources:

Neuro Brands

Introducing Neuro

Diana Jenkins:  Accidental Philanthropist

WebMD

Andrew Weil, MD

About

Paul Kulpinski is a licensed massage therapist, holistic wellness educator and co-founder of Mountain Waves Healing Arts in Flagstaff, Arizona. Information contained in this blog should not be taken as medical advice. Readers are advised to validate the information presented here with other sources including your personal physician for information specific to you.

Sunscreens and Our Worship of The Sun

Share this page

The human love affair with Earth’s nearest star – the Sun, has had an on-again, off-again cycle through history that rivals some of the star-studded headlines of the grocery store tabloids. In ancient times, the sun was a central part of the religions of the Egyptians, Greeks and Peruvians. Having sun tanned skin was a good thing then.

Later, as societies developed systems to distinguish social class, the color of the skin was a determining factor in what class you were in. Those with tanned skin were the laborers working out in the fields, while the upper class remained indoors away from the sun or under fashionable parasols and wide brimmed hats. Having a sun tan during these times was to be avoided in order to ensure that you were associated with the upper class – a group of people who were generally Vitamin D deficient and suffering from rickets because of their low sun exposure.

Today the reverse is true. In our society, having a golden tan means that you have the ability to spend lots of time lounging in the sun, “working on your tan”, while the laborers of today are indoors in factories, warehouses, and offices under artificial light. A tan has the implication of health, youth and prosperity.

But it’s all relative to the society you live in and your culture’s definition of beauty, that defines the status of your love affair with the Sun. In American culture, we’re actually in the middle of a love-hate relationship or rather a love-fear relationship with the Sun. We love the tan, but fear the future probability of skin cancers from that tan. Well, thank the sun-gods for sunscreen which allows us to have our tan and age with it too – or so we hope.

How do you know whether your sunscreen is actually protecting you from your fear of the sun? According to a new study from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), most of the commercial sunscreen products on the market do not meet their standards for sun protection and health safety. Only 15% of the 952 sunscreens they analyzed were effective in reducing exposure to UVA and UVB radiation and did not contain ingredients known to be human health hazards. Here’s the big suprise, the best selling brands were some of the worst products on the market!

Some dermatologists have criticized the study saying that it lacks scientific rigor and that the group’s rating system is arbitrary. Perhaps, but the interesting point that the EWG reveals is the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has wasted the last 30 years debating sunscreen effectiveness and safety and has failed to implement any mandatory standards, even though Congress passed a law in 2006 requiring them to do so.

This means that sunscreen manufacturers are free to make exaggerated claims of effectiveness with minimal product quality assurance. The American College of Preventative Medicine in an article published in 1998 concluded that there is insufficient evidence to recommend for or against the use of sunscreen as protection from skin cancers. They do however, recommend some conventional sun avoidance measures like wearing protective clothing and avoiding direct sunlight during peak times of the day for long periods.

While I don’t fear the sun, I do respect it. Personally, I don’t typically apply a sunscreen, unless I’ll be in an exposed area for a long period. I prefer sitting in a shaded area while receiving the benefit of the sun through reflected sunlight where the ultra-violet rays are less intense, wearing a hat and protective clothing. But for my next sun-bathing experience, I’ll be looking at my sunscreen brand and checking how it ranked on the EWG’s list.

For more healthy sun habits, check out these links:
http://www.skinbiology.com/morehealthysuntanning.html

http://jhcpan.nutrition.tufts.edu/consumers/sun_exposure.html

About

Paul Kulpinski is a licensed massage therapist, holistic wellness educator and co-founder of Mountain Waves Healing Arts in Flagstaff, Arizona. Information contained in this blog should not be taken as medical advice. Readers are advised to validate the information presented here with other sources including your personal physician for information specific to you.