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.
This is just another Multi-Level Marketing scheme like Herbalife or Shaklee. The parent company is Nu-Skin, which has a history of being sketchy and has been called out on stock market scam sites. Most of the people responding here need to read the article again. The genius of this scam is having a machine that validates the scam. Of course the machine verifies an increase in numbers, but the machine itself is the scam. There’s no proof that skin levels of carotenoids indicate the same levels in the rest of the body.
Funny how the good doctor who advocates the use of this NUSKIN/Pharmanex Scanner works for NUSKIN. Oh, and his URL does not work. Fishy, Fishy… WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! This thing has got SCAM written all over it.
If you are not getting enough antioxidants, then eat some more colorful fruits and veggies! They are the only natural and cheap way. Why do you need to pay $20 a scan and then $100/month for the vitamins to improve your scan results? Oldest trick in the book. BULLSHIT ain’t nothing but chewed grass!
I went for the antioxidant skin scan as well. I never used or bought pharmanex supplements but I do take various brands and varieties from everywhere during sale times. My score was in the very good to excellent range. You can have great antioxidant levels by making good lifestyle choices in terms of good food / supplements intake, good exercise and good rest. You do not need to be brand or type of supplement specific. Take a good wide variety of foods and supplements, they all work.
Someone came to my office today and I let them test me for anti-oxidants. Well, I came in at 15,000, which seems to be the second to worst level on the scale. I then explained that I eat a diet very high in fresh fruits and vegetables, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke and only swear when it slips out. And I also have a low body-fat index. And I’m 67, nearly 68. So why did my result show that I was just about to catch Ebola, keel over and die? He was a little nonplussed so I then explained… Read more »
I have been a Nu Skin Distributor for 4 months and was scanned 3 months ago – my results were dismal dispite stuffing myself with loads of fruit and veg every day – mostly organic. Stress is what caused my low anit-oxidant levels – certainly not bad eating habits. All I can say is that since being on the ageLOC Vitality and the LifePak Nano nutritional supplements – I and three of my “preferred customers” feel like spring chickens – our vitality and energy levels were up after only a few days and as an insomniac – I am sleeping… Read more »
Just had a rep for the company come to my house. The entire company is a amway type of deal. A vendor buys a vitamin pack for 65 and then sells it to consumer for 65. So how does vendor make money? He needs to sign up other people to sell the product. That’s how. Then vendor makes 5%. For every level down on the marketing chain (up to 6 people). He gets 30% of that $65 sale. And the parent company gets 65% share at least and maybe 95%. That’s the real secret with multi level marketing or what… Read more »
Bobby, you have no idea how the consumer win with the best price and loyalty program. the seller spent time to ensure customer is looked after both price, value and benefits that comes with money back guarantee. The company wins because of word of mouth recommendation cost little but the commission is really profit sharing incentive to ensure no one lose on the transaction. When you have 5 x 6 you already have a good cash flow foundation. Your calculation is linear not geometric and that is why you fail to understand the implication that leadership is well rewarded. Leaders… Read more »
Thank you Bobby for explaining, and Chia’s response was informative showing the defense of the system in place. If they are all about nutrition, why the payment structure? Why not simply inform people?
Well, couple of months ago I scored 49.000 and then I switched to vegan diet and I scored 60.000+ so I’m super excited and happy.
I am typically a skeptic when it comes to things like this. I tried Mona Vie from a friend but I didn’t like that i was being pushed into selling and network marketing. The product is great (like most network marketing). We try to eat good, organic produce all day, juicing often and blending, as well as getting an acai bowl instead of ice cream or frozen yogurt. I’ve done the scan (19k) and was disappointed but motivated. I’m not scammed into buying all their vitamins and crap. In fact, my daughter was over 56k. I do agree that the… Read more »
I couldn’t help but notice that one of the major proponents of this gadget and posting on this site has a list of high-ORAC foods on his website. He claims above: “Backed exclusively by science, the antioxidant scanner ….” and yet his comprehension of the underlying science is not sufficient that he doesn’t know that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has removed all reference to the ORAC tables from its website due to lack of relevance in human health. This happened in May 2012. Don’t believe me; you can read about it here.http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=15866 Man has existed on this planet… Read more »
Just eat fruits and veggies like you should so you wouldn’t to spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on so called supplements. The sales people want their commissions. When I took the scam test, the sales Guy didn’t even know what a Vitamix was. It wasn’t profitable enough to know.