Dr. Weil

[Lisa Simpson]

First off, it's not "Macy's line of Plantidote™ Mega-Mushroom Facial", it's Origins line of Plantidote Mega Mushroom Facial sold at Macy's. Origins also has stand-alone stores.

I subscribe to Paula Begoun's Cosmetics Cop Newsletters (if you have seen "Fountain of Youth" in S2 P&T's Bulls Hit, she was in it). In the March/April '06 newsletter, she discusses Dr. Weil's new line of cosmetics. Her complaint with them is not so much Dr. Weil's ingredients, but Origins':

This water-based serum has dozens of skin-beneficial ingredients, including efficacious, nonvolatile plant oils, glycerin, lecithin, and many antioxidants, including olive oil, turmeric, and several species of mushrooms. Things go awry because Origins just couldn’t resist adding irritating essential oils to their products. Lavender, orange, patchouli, geranium, and mandarin
oils all have volatile compounds that run counter to the soothing, anti-inflammatory effects of the ingredients that precede them. Dr. Weil could have easily found this out from a number of sources, including www.pubmed.com and www.naturaldatabase.com, among many other resources.

naturaldatabase.com is subscription only, so I can't do the research myself, but this makes me wonder--who is closer to the mark? Paula Begoun? Or Robert Todd Carroll?

[RSLancastr]

All I know is, I'm going to stop using them until someone figures it out.

[Lisa Simpson]

The natural medicines database says it is evidence-based:

Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database is built strictly on the evidence. Many aspects of medicine are influenced by tradition and beliefs passed from one person to another. This is especially true in the area of natural medicines. Some natural medicines are used due to traditional or folkloric beliefs, and some are the subject of excessive marketing claims or excessive extrapolations from test tube or animal studies.

Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database is a welcome addition to the world's literature on natural medicines because it curtails perpetuation of myths and age-old beliefs and replaces these with findings from reliable science. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database gives users reliable information that answers their practical questions about the use of any product in this Database.

To do this, each product monograph in the Database is supported by the best available scientific evidence. This evidence is analyzed and evaluated using the same high standards used to evaluate evidence related to pharmaceuticals. We do not believe that there should be different standards of evidence for pharmaceuticals and natural products. When evidence does not exist or is severely deficient for a particular product (which is often the case), this deficiency is clearly acknowledged with a statement indicating a lack of data.

To gather the scientific data, editors, researchers, and contributors systematically review medical journals from around the world. From these journals, hundreds of articles are reviewed and analyzed. Once filtered and analyzed, the reliable data providing clinically relevant information are then added to product monographs. This does not mean that only flawless studies are analyzed. But it does mean that the data that make it into the Database are scientifically reliable. The higher quality research data carry much more weight for addition to the Database.

This approach is highlighted by our Effectiveness ratings. Each natural product is assigned an Effectiveness rating based on the quality of the evidence for a given indication. See the table below.

Again, I can't access the actual data, so I don't really know if it's really evidence-based or not.

[Rip Van Woofer]

I dunno about holy basil as a skincare product ingredient, but it is a tasty ingredient in some of my favorite Thai dishes. Mmmm! ;)

(Sorry. We return you now to constructive dialog on the topic...)

[Almo]

"Yes, he proudly announces that all the after-tax profits go to the Weil Foundation, established to integrate quackery with 21st century medicine. What a guy!"

Hmm... this looks the same as the "Randi doesn't want to lose his money" claim. It's not Randi's money, because it belongs to a non-profit organization. I'll bet Dr. Weil's organization is similar.