...
"*The University of California at Berkeley Wellness Letter, June 1994
Most people know there is no way to lose fat without dieting and exercising. But a new "miracle" product has caught the attention of even confirmed skeptics: a fat-dissolving cream. It was developed and patented by Drs. George Bray and Frank Greenway, noted researchers in
the obesity field, whose academic credentials include Stanford, UCLA Medical Center, and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The cream--actually there are several competing products, with names such as Smooth Contours, Thermojetics, and Skinny
Dip--isn't being marketed as a fat reducer, but as a "thigh smoother,"in order to avoid potentially embarrassing confrontations with the FDA. It is considered a cosmetic, since its label makes no explicit health claims. But both buyer and seller know that the cream is supposed to reduce fat.
The cream contains aminophylline, a prescription drug for asthma when taken internally. The patent, held by Drs. Bray and Greenway, describes the "invention" as a means for spot reducing within a weight-loss program. As evidence that it would work as such, the patent cites an experiment with five obese women who were following a drastic diet (1,200 calories a day). However, this study tells nothing about aminophylline cream, since it used a different drug, which was injected into the women's thighs. And the results were hardly impressive, anyway.
According to Dr. Bruce Frome, who is involved in licensing the creams, women have high levels of a fat-conserving enzyme in their thighs and breasts, and aminophylline blocks this enzyme. Dr. Frome has licensed the product to three companies. One of these is Herbalife, which has been charged with making fraudulent claims for other products in the U.S. and Canada. But now still other companies are marketing "thigh creams" containing aminophylline and/or similar substances.
Aminophylline has been studied as a fat reducer--though, in studies published so far, only as an injection given to lab animals. There's no evidence that it would work as a cream applied to the skin of humans. Just as their product went to market, Drs. Bray and Greenway announced that 11 women who rubbed their thighs with a cream containing 2% aminophylline for six weeks reduced their thigh circumference by about 1/2 inch. A summary of the study appeared in Obesity Research last fall, but the full study has never been released.
According to Dr. C. Wayne Callaway at George Washington University, the theory of how aminophylline works might be reasonable, but nobody really knows what the drug will do when applied topically. The Bray and Greenway study, which is very small, can't be evaluated until it is
published. ``It's a shame it's out there," says Dr. Callaway of the product. No one knows how much of the drug, if any, might be absorbed through the skin. The published summary says none of it could be detected in the women's blood, so perhaps none was absorbed. One further catch: most creams on the market contain much less aminophylline than that used in the study.
The creams cost $30 to $40 for 4 ounces--about a two-week supply if you apply a teaspoonful daily to each thigh, as directed. Presumably, you'd have to use the stuff forever, or fat would build up again. Even if it works just the way Drs. Bray and Greenway claim, a reduction of half an inch is hardly going to make a person look willowy. And nobody knows if the cream is safe. If you want to reduce your thighs, forget about spot reducing, and simply try to lose weight with regular exercise and a sensible caloric intake. "
"Strong coffee, much strong coffee, is what awakens me. Coffee gives me warmth, waking, an unusual force and a pain that is not without very great pleasure."
...Jesus Christ forgave the bastards. But I can't. I hate them....