Imagine the fresh, aquatic, scent of musk, vanilla, mandarin, grapefruit and bergamot, emanating from your body, and your ability to lose weight magically increasing as a result. “Too good to be true” says the healthy skeptic in you; however the French makers of a new perfume which is being touted for its “pleasant fragrance” and ability to help its wearers lose weight more effortlessly claim that their perfume can do just that.
The ‘Miraculous’ Weight Loss Fragrance
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The Fragrance Prends-Moi Eau De Minceur, which loosely translates to ‘Take Me Slimming Mist,’ was launched last year in France. Veld’s (the makers of the perfume) promise that their revolutionary perfume will not only help to reduce your appetite but also help to stimulate fat-digesting enzymes and promote good health by reducing stress and increasing sensations of well-being.
The perfume is currently being sold online for $50 for a 100ml bottle, and its popularity has spread like wildfire, with an estimated 6,000 women in the UK alone, currently waiting for this ostensibly miraculous weight loss and good health promoter. The fragrance website states that you should spray Prends-Moi on in the morning and “Every time that you feel the need to nibble something although you are not really hungry.
The ingredients are touted as all natural and the formulation contains an active ingredient called Betaphroline, which is derived from a plant that is native to Madagascar. Betaprholine is said to stimulate the release of beta- endorphins (which are sometimes referred to as pleasure hormones) in the skin resulting in “an immediate sensation of wellbeing, a reduction in stress and an increase in contentment reducing the need to overeat.” According to the company, spraying this perfume when a craving hits, can help to abolish the desire to snack, and in so doing, can help you to lose weight.
The perfume also contains a “slimming complex” . However, studies are saying that the minute amounts absorbed through the skin from a fragrance, are highly unlikely to produce any weight loss.
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The Science of the Weight Loss Hype
According to a 28 day study conducted on women aged eighteen to seventy at a private French laboratory, 75 percent of the women claimed that they enjoyed the scent of Prends-Moi and that the perfume boosted feelings of well-being; 82 percent of the women reported feelings of comfort while wearing the scent; and 70 percent of the women claimed that they felt an effect on their appetite and eating habits. Unfortunately this study examined how the women felt and it did not actually measure the women’s` weight or body size in order to substantiate the participant’s claims of altered eating habits or the manufactures claims of natural weight loss. In addition, Dr Kim Bell-Anderson of the University of Sydney warns that there are absolutely no peer reviewed publications to support the effectiveness of this product.” What`s more she states that there is not an ounce of evidence to suggest that the weight loss ingredient Betaprholine can even permeate the skin, which would be necessary in order for the perfume to produce any weight loss.
Despite the scientism of Dr Kim Bell-Anderson and many other scientists, you can’t dispel the positive claims made by the women in the French study. Bottom line, if you enjoy the scent, and you like how it makes you feel then use it, but don’t expect those extra points to magically vanish, just because you are wearing it!
