The Scam of Skin Antioxidant Testing
A while back, a friend of mine asked me about this product:
It's a biophotonic scanner made by a company called Pharmanex. This product measures carotenoid levels in the skin. Carotenoids are antioxidants found in many fruits and vegetables. Beta-carotene is one carotenoid that you may be familiar with. Other carotenoids include lutein and lycopene, to name just a few. Many scientists believe that carotenoids may be partly responsible for the observed associations between increased fruit and vegetable intake and lower risk of many diseases.
The company claims that this scanner can give you an "accurate and reliable biomarker of your overall antioxidant health status". They further state that, "Getting your Skin Carotenoid Score makes you aware of the antioxidant levels in your body-and gives you the push you need to improve your overall antioxidant health." To appear scientific, their website is complete with a scientific advisory board, a list of scientists, and even a list of studies that they claim supports their product.
Well, it's B.S.
OK, it's not complete B.S. The product does do what it claims to do....it measures carotenoid levels in the skin using a technique called Raman Spectroscopy.
While that's fine and dandy, what is B.S. is their claim that it is a reliable biomarker of your overall antioxidant status. There is simply no evidence that carotenoid skin levels reflect the overall antioxidant status of your body.
Carotenoid skin levels do correlate with fruit and vegetable intake, so the test can tell you if you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. But do you need an expensive scanner to tell you if you're eating a lot of fruits and vegetables?
And what do you think the company recommends you do if you have a low skin carotenoid score? Buy their antioxidant supplements, of course.
This isn't the first time Pharmanex has spread outlandish claims. In 1997, they were fined by the Federal Trade Commission over claims they made about two supplements they sold.
The fact is that this scanner is nothing more than a fancy way to take your money and to get you to buy things that you don't need. There is no evidence that skin carotenoid status is a reflection of overall antioxidant status. You do not need an expensive test to know if you're consuming a lot fruits and vegetables. Also, there is little scientific evidence that supplemental antioxidants have any health benefits. In fact, too many antioxidants can have a pro-oxidant effect, and may also reduce your own body's antioxidant defense systems. We are a bit too antioxidant crazy in our society....a topic that I will get to in another blog post.
One thing to look at is your caloric intake as well as your exercise. You may need more that you are putting in. Also, look at the quality of the vitamins that you are taking. I just had a scan done. My score was 48000. I have been eating paleo for a year, and I take pharmacy grade vitamins. I think there is some measurement that happens with the scanner. The guy showing me scored 40000. He said before their supplements he scored 19000. Are their supplements as good or better than mine? I’m not sure, but I do believe… Read more »
Dr. Mulvaney,
Excellent points!
The beautiful thing with the scanner is that it increases awareness about eating more volume of fruits & vegies each day, and helps people establish a baseline, and a means to manage their nutritional choices and lifestyle behavior changes. That’s exactly what my team of doc’s, health & wellness, and fitness professionals are using the scanner for. We want to get more people into the top of the health & wellness funnel in order to excellerate the rate of positive outcomes.
Dr Mulvaney, I also mostly follow a Paleo diet and exercise up to eight times a week (gym classes, jogging and walking). My reading yesterday was 58,000 so I’m happy. I just turned 60 last week.
I’m one of those people who is trying not to get scared into vitamin sales b/c of a medium low (32K) scan. Actually, I’m skeptical simply b/c I have been taking vitamins including anti-oxidants for years. Also I have been drinking a green drink daily with organic veggies and fruits for the past 3 months. In addition eating a raw salad of grated beets and carrots with apple cider vinegar. Grass fed meats/pastured eggs. I mean seriously how could I test questionable for anti-oxidants? My only guess is there is a situation in my body that is eating up anti-oxidants… Read more »
Laura, don’t be scared into buying vitamins – just understand the situation and educate yourself so you can make the right decisions for you. One thing I will tell you, the BioPhotonic Scanner does exactly what it’s supposed to. It accurately measures the level of protective Carotenoids in real time, at the cellular level. Whether or not your carotenoid status is an indication of your body’s overall antioxidant level is a separate issue – and I for one have seen plenty of research that says it is a good indicator, but that again is a question for another day. The… Read more »
I had a scan two years ago after following a raw plant diet for 3 months,it was 69 000. I had another one recently after 2 years on 90% raw vegan, it was 110 000, the rep said highest score she had ever seen. I do NOT take any supplements, I exercise a lot, consume a little red wine and dark chocolate daily. I am 44, have raised 4 children and weigh the same as I did at 21. You dont need pills! (I am also a naturopath who is very disillusioned with the way my profession has become pharmaceuticalized)
Paula, that’s awesome! Congratulations! I’m 52, a husband and father of two young girls, 8 &10, I train twice a week with a trainer doing HIIT, a couple days on my own, and play softball on Wednesday nights. Going on a plant diet for 3 months, and eating vegan is not something that I wish to do at this point in my life, but who knows about the future? Right now I scan on average around 72,000 consuming about 4-6 servings of fruits & vegetables everyday , and supplementing with a very high quality full-spectrum vitamin, mineral, and phytonutrient formulation.… Read more »
Go get banned from Wikipedia some more you corporate shill.
Who got banned?
You are very blessed. Everybody has different body chemistries. I have had scores as high as 84,000 – No Supplements with clean living. I have also had scores as low as -10,000 taking supplements. Your body absorbs well – Good for you! If the scanner didn’t work, the technology would not have won 2 Nobel Prizes and the Business Intelligence Group would not have awarded the new scanner as one of the top new innovations of 2014.
Some people benefit from QUALITY supplementation and I would not take anything else.
Perhaps the hog farmer also started to eat sausages covered in tomato ketchup!
Recently, I leaned from this same gentleman that he was introduced to a hog farmer who had been treated for cancer with radiation & chemo, but had reached a point where it was recommended that he arrange for Hospice to take care of him because the Oncologist indicated that he only had about 2 more weeks to live. He was introduced to the LifePak Nano vitamins, & they performed their usual job of building up this farmer’s anti-oxidant level so well that the man is still operating his hog farm 3 years later.
From a massive attack of Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2001, it was recommended from a book entitled: “There is a Cure for Arthritis” by Dr. Paavo Airola that I follow a particular diet, perform recommended exercises & take 17 different vitamins. This did put my arthritis into remission. Then, after 5 years of following this I was introduced to a gentleman who had some 50 years of medical experience & had become an expert nutricianist., as well. He confirmed that I was on the right track, especially when my first reading from the BioPhotonic Scanner was 28,000. However, after taking the… Read more »
Needed to put you that very small observation in order to thank you very much again for your awesome tactics you’ve shown at this time. This is simply shockingly open-handed with you to grant easily what many people would’ve distributed as an electronic book to get some bucks for themselves, most notably since you could have tried it in the event you decided. Those smart ideas as well acted to become a fantastic way to know that many people have the same zeal really like my personal own to learn somewhat more with regard to this issue. I am certain… Read more »
It’s a scan and that is all it is. It gives you an idea of where you are at at that particular moment. There is NO laboratory test that is 100% accurate. There are many costly tests available if you want to look at nutritional status. The reality is, the recommendations for fruit and vegetables is 9 to 13 servings daily and the American public is only eating 2 to 4. Oxidative stress contributes to diabetes, cancer, joint pain, alzheimers disease, inflammation etc. all of which affect longevity. I have an in-house screening test that I have been using in… Read more »
I was scanned back in the summer of 2012 and was in the green; I became much more diligent in taking my supplements (not from NuSkin), multivitamins, etc., in order to get into the blue zone and eat relatively healthy. I was scanned last night and had dropped into the yellow zone. I don’t believe in the scanner, was very skeptical last year when scanned and am now more convinced that this scanning business is simply a way to get money out of you for THEIR supplements.
Have you considered that your supplements may not be effective?
If people taking their supplements move up in score… and if the scanner measures antioxidants in the skin… then it seems pretty obvious that their vitamins are more effective at getting antioxidants in the skin.
Whether this relates to health or not… that seems to be the unknown. However, it does seem like your supplements are not effective at raising the antioxidant levels in the skin. Perhaps change your brand.
Personally I think it is a scam. The scanner tells you if you are supposedly low in antioxidants but doesn’t tell you which ones. I see a Naturepathic doctor and the only way to get an accurate story of what vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, etc., is to have a blood test. The blood test is quite accurate and say if you are low in Vitamin D or Vitamin A or CoQ10 – the blood test will report that – you will only need to supplement where you are deficient not waste your money on vitamins, minerals, antioxidants that your body… Read more »
A lot of people I known it take the lifepak Nano and G3 get higher score and in the Blue Zone. It really work.
DON’T WASTE Money on this if you NOT CONCERN about your Health.