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March 15 Sharon Kirkey
The Ottawa Citizen
Tiny capsules that sent Australians into frenzy
on sale here
A pill that claims to help reduce the puckered, orange-peel look of cellulite,
and has caused frenzies in Australia and New Zealand, is coming to Canada.
Cellasene, a "potent blend" of fat-fighting fish and plant extracts,
will be available in health-food stores and pharmacies starting March 15. The
little red soft-gel capsules will cost $69.95 for a bottle of 40, about a two-
to three-week supply.
The product was developed by an Italian chemist and has been available in Italy
for five years. After a television segment on Cellasene aired in Australia in
November, the capsules flew off the shelves of drug, health-food and department
stores. One pharmacist auctioned off his last two packages of the pills for a
reported $2,500.
The product will be sold in Canada as a nutritional supplement, according to
its Canadian distributor, Purity Life Health Ltd., located near Toronto.
Because the product is being sold as a food supplement, not a drug, the company
says it doesn't need approval from Health Canada. Under the Food and Drug Act,
only food products that claim specific therapeutic results have to undergo the
same testing as drugs and get a drug identification number (DIN).
Without that number, manufacturers are prohibited from making therapeutic
claims.
Purity Life is being labelled a "cellulite formula" in Canada
"We're basically tacking the tack with Health Canada, if they ever ask us,
that this is a (nutritional product) that helps the body works better. It's all
based on good herbs," said Purity Life president David Chapman.
"For us to go out and make a blatant claim probably would never get past
Health Canada without zillions of dollars of research and this and that and
everything else."
But a press release yesterday announcing the product's Canadian debut didn't
shy from making claims.
According to the release, Cellasene "increases the body's metabolic rate,
improves blood circulation in cellulite areas, stimulates fat-burning" and
helps reduce the buildup of "waste and toxins" in the body.
The capsules contain plant extracts including evening primrose oil, dried fucus
extract, soya oil, grape seed, dried sweet clover extract and dried gingko
bilboa extra, as well as fish oil.
Mr. Chapman cited a study by an Australian physician that found that 69 per
cent of people who used the product felt they had a reduction of orange-peel
skin cellulite, and most said their skin felt smoother.
People are advised to take two or three capsules a day for eight weeks, then
one a day for maintenance.
Mr. Chapman says there are no known side effects. However, the product contains
iodine and its label warns it should not be used by pregnant or lactating
women.
Purity Life expects to distribute several hundred thousand packages of the
capsules in Canada over the next few months. The product will be available in
health-food stores and pharmacies across the country.
"You know yourself there are an awful lot of (anti-cellulite) products
that go on the market," Mr. Chapman said. "I know a lot of women are
tired of rubbing creams on themselves."
An Ottawa plastic surgeon declined to comment yesterday. But Cellasene has
reportedly found a defender in New York plastic surgeon George Beraka.
"My initial reaction was immense skepticism," Dr. Beraka, an
assistant professor of surgery at Cornell University Medical School, told the
New York Post last week.
But Dr. Beraka, who is scheduled to attend the North American launch of
Cellasene in New York on Tuesday, was reportedly impressed by two clinical
trials funded by the product's Italian manufacturer that showed a decrease in
thigh measurement among women who took Cellasene.
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