Take stock of Santa’s treats
Reading the labels on toiletry gifts ensures you don’t introduce toxins into your daily routine
The cosmetics and toiletries market benefits enormously from the Christmas trade but, as often as not, it’s the advertising message of the manufacturers – like ‘Because you’re worth it’ or ‘The gift of love’ – which actually decides the purchase. The well-known advertising message can actually constitute the reason behind the choice of brand: the recipient is ‘worth it’ and does warrant that ‘gift of love’.
But just because you’re given them with the best intentions in the world, using toiletries – even expensive brand names – that contain toxins is just not worth it. So resolve to do some cautious label-reading this New Year.
Amazingly, toiletry manufacturers do not have to produce safety data if a substance was on the market before 1981. And toiletries have had chemical origins since the first commercial shampoos, which is longer ago than I care to remember. The health-food world has long known that carcinogens Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulphate (SLES) have no place in shampoos or body lotions, but they’re often listed. Check your own bathroom products … and your Christmas booty! And while you’re at it, look for poisonous parabens (in many forms), mineral oil, collagen and pthalates. Ditch the products that contain them.
Knowledge is your best bet: visit www.Anousta.co.uk for my long-time friend Linda’s excellent advice on chemical-free toiletries. Look under the heading Information and select ‘chemicals’. This lists all the ‘baddies’ and Linda also operates a mail-order business sending her hand-made toiletries out to customers all over UK.
For more information, you can also visit www.epikurion.com, a German company with an excellent toxin information service found on their website under the heading Philosophy. I was given a printout from this site by Virginia Stefanoudaki, the Cyprus representative of the French cosmetics company GamARde, a new range of superlative natural products now available in local pharmacies in Cyprus. The range is exceptional, and the products all bear the Bio label which means that 100 per cent of the ingredients are from natural origins. GamARde’s Organic Phyto-Dermocosmetics have several special ingredients including purifying ‘thermal water’ from their spa source in France and ultra-nutritive, regenerating Argan oil. For more information and stockists visit www.vcare-ltd.com or call Virginia on 99 224321.
Finally, I’ve been using Rosveda’s Ayurvedic shampoo and hair products for a year and find them excellent: no SLS, SLES or chemical preservatives, just wonderful natural ingredients known to man for two thousand years. The word shampoo actually derives from an Ayurvedic word champoo to denote hair cleansing products that contain amala and aritha.. My choice is their aloe vera shampoo, which does not even require conditioner to leave the hair soft and silky. (Information on local stockists from [email protected] or visit www.rosveda.com.
Finally, if your hair is flaky or itchy just since the start of the Christmas period, chances are it could be due to too much champagne or white wine. Detox the effects from your system with Ripple Creek Milk Thistle supplement (www.oliveleaf.co.uk) with artichoke, and counteract the dandruff effect with Rosveda’s Hair Oil with pumpkin seed oil.
What is a double blind placebo controlled test?
Q. I recently read something about a ‘double blind placebo controlled’ test being applied to a health supplement containing minerals specific to helping PMS. Please explain the term.
Miss JA Makedonitissa, Nicosia.
A. The term indicates that a supplement – or medicine – has been studied for its efficacy using a group of volunteer ‘guinea-pigs’ over some months. The size of the study group is important: a group of 30, for instance, will not yield conclusive results, but often leads to further study. ‘Placebo-controlled’ is when a study gives the product to be tested to only half the study group, with the second half being given a ‘dummy’ or placebo pill with no known benefits. You may have heard of the placebo effect which is when a patient may begin to feel better just because they are being given a pill for their problem, not because the medication could actually be effective.
‘Double blind’ is when, for the duration of the study, neither the guinea-pigs nor the people administering the test – and compiling the resultant data – know which group of people is getting the supplement or the placebo. This generally means that the results cannot be rigged: the effects are monitored without any bias. Only after the protocol is revealed and the placebo group isolated is the efficacy of the test product evaluated.
In the case of PMS – Premenstrual Syndrome – there have been numerous studies into the supplementation with calcium, magnesium and potassium. Calcium in particular showed exceptional benefits in a large number of women with premenstrual problems in a double-blind study which gave quite positive results when 1,200 mg of calcium was administered over three menstrual cycles.
Calcium absorption also helps in preventing cancer – women eating an extra 400mg of calcium reduce their risk of colon cancer by 26 per cent. I recommend BioCalth (www.biocalth.co.uk) who also have a range of mail-order supplements. Seven Seas Borage and Evening Primrose Oil, available in local pharmacies, is also useful in combating PMS, as is the herb Agnus Castus.
