In recent years, many people have turned to non-caloric sweeteners like sucralose to enjoy sweet tastes without adding calories to their diet. These sweeteners are popular for weight management, but there’s growing debate about whether they might actually affect hunger and health in unexpected ways. This study explores how sucralose impacts the brain’s appetite control compared to regular sugar (sucrose) and water. The research focuses on a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which helps regulate hunger, and examines how it reacts differently in people with varying body weights - healthy weight, overweight, and obese - and how it can indirectly affect cellulite…
Astaxanthin and collagen for cellulite and skin elasticity: how they work together
It is well known that hydrolysed collagen enhances skin firmness, as it provides peptides which are ready for use by skin cells in the production of collagen. Furthermore, it is also well-known that most "antioxidants" (polyphenols and carotenoids) assist in the prevention of collagen and elastin damage and boost it's production…
Spot fat reduction with exercise - does it exist?
Looking for exercises to reduce cellulite/fat on a specific part of your body like your butt, thighs or stomach? Well, stop looking, because those exercises DO-NOT-EXIST. They don’t. Forget what the tabloid newspaper, glossy magazine, instagram post, exercise blog, youtube vlog or tiktok reel says. It’s all misinformation based on IGNORANCE - or just good, old, plain lying (sorry, I have to call it out as what it is: LYING). Very simply, it is physiologically impossible to reduce fat (including cellulite fat) from a SPECIFIC part of the body with…
The connection between cellulite and hemorrhoids - and the flavonoids that can help both
Polyphenols such as flavonoids are widely researched for this blood vessel supporting and microcirculation boosting action. This can help in all conditions affected by poor circulation, anything from water retention to cellulite reduction to haemorrhoid improvement: the key issue is exactly the same: blood and lymphatic vessel integrity and function…
Red vine leaf extract improves chronic venous insufficiency [Research]
![Red vine leaf extract improves chronic venous insufficiency [Research]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5294cad9e4b009e918124a61/1651653880164-1X8RKS6I1OXO0ZY56B76/iStock-187264733.jpg)
Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is common in women, especially older or overweight women. Common symptoms include fat accumulation under/inside the skin, oedema (water retention), heavy legs, muscle cramps, pain and varicose veins. Several natural supplements are used for CVI which can help relieve symptoms of the condition, including centella asiatica/gotu kola extract, hesperidin, diosmin, butcher’s broom extract and escin/horse chestnut extract and red vine leaf extract among others.
Asiaticoside from Gotu kola reverses senescence and oxidative damage in blood vessels
Coffee, thermogenesis, weight loss and cellulite
A study has recently reported that coffee could help you lose fat by kickstarting a process called thermogenesis in humans. Thermogenesis is basically the process of burning fat in one of two special types of fat tissue called ‘brown fat’ and ‘beige fat’. But what is brown fat and what in God’s name is beige fat? And did you know that there is also a thing called white fat?
BPA, microplastics, forever chemicals and cellulite
The 500 Dalton rule for skin absorption of cosmetics
Hyaluronic acid: anti-aging, cellulite, weight gain, water retention and more...
Everyone is talking about hyaluronic acid. I have been researching and formulating skin products with hyaluronic acid (HA) since 2003 and I have seen HA starting to gain wider popularity from 2010 onwards. In the last five years hyaluronic acid has become the most well-known cosmetic active ingredient. But what is hyaluronic acid, what does it do, how does it work and what is really the best type of hyaluronic acid?
Where does fat go when you lose weight?
IPL vs LED red light therapy for facial skin redness
Superficial facial vascular lesions (facial redness, thread/spider veins) can be an aesthetic problem as well as a symptom of different skin diseases. Risk factors include Fitzpatrick skin types I, II and III, significant sun exposure, rosacea, alcohol consumption and smoking. Facial spider veins and related facial vascular lesions are treated with laser, IPL and LED phototherapy treatments. The first two (laser and IPL) are generally more effective but also can cause side effects, such pain, erythema/redness and less often oedema, blistering, hematoma, crusting, hyperpigmentation, scarring, keloid formation and infection…
Infrared light therapy for achilles tendinopathy
The most common treatment regime for achilles tendon injury involves eccentric exercises to effect fibre remodelling. However, low level light therapy (LED or laser), usually in the infrared range for improved penetration, is also used for soft tissue / sports injuries, such as tendinopathies, always in combination with exercise. The randomized controlled trial listed below investigated the clinical effectiveness of an eccentric exercise regime for achilles tendinopathy and evaluated the additional benefits of photobiomodulation (low level light therapy, LLLT) as an adjunct treatment. The study challenged the necessity of the intensive Alfredson protocol…
Cranberry juice reverses glycation - and subsequently protects from skin ageing and cellulite
How does infrared / red light therapy work?
Energy in every single cell of the human body is produced in specialised cell compartments called mitochondria. Mitochondria is where oxygen is utilised to produce ATP, the energy currency of the cell. If mitochondria malfunction then the whole cell malfunctions and underperforms. On the skin, this can lead to aesthetic problems (dull, irritated, inflamed or unhealthy skin). In other organs and tissues this can lead to a poorer state of health, lower energy levels, slower recovery from injuries etc…
How does ultrasound cavitation reduce cellulite fat? [Research]
![How does ultrasound cavitation reduce cellulite fat? [Research]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5294cad9e4b009e918124a61/1672498468293-08ECBIGO47MMUBKEDXLU/iStock-912427208.jpg)
Ultrasound-induced cavitation is a phenomenon that occurs when high-intensity sound waves are used on certain tissues, such as human skin. When the intensity of the sound waves is strong enough, it can create small gas bubbles in the tissue. These bubbles can then quickly collapse, releasing energy in the form of heat and force. Research has shown that this process can reduce the amount of fat and shrink the size of fat cells in the skin.
Brown fat, white fat, thermogenesis and cellulite
Have you ever heard of white fat, beige fat or brown fat? I know it may sound weird, but indeed fat comes in three colours and each of them is different. White fat tissue is known to store fat, making you, well, fat. Could you lose that fat, as well as cellulite, by turning your white fat tissue a few shades darker, i.e turning it into "beige fat" or perhaps even “brown fat”?
Can chokeberry and tart cherry juice prevent or reduce cellulite?
The plant chemicals ‘polyphenols’ are important in maintaining skin and blood vessel integrity, as well as in inhibiting fat accumulation. As such, they are important anti-cellulite agents. Polyphenols are mainly found in red, yellow, purple, blue and black berries and other plants (e.g. blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, black rice, black beans, adzuki beans, purple potatoes, purple broccoli…
Acoustic wave therapy for cellulite: does it work?
What is now euphemistically called acoustic wave therapy (AWT) goes by several other names: pressure wave therapy, extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT, the correct name and the original one coined by scientists), shockwave therapy (the shortened version of the correct name) and lipotripsy (the most ridiculous one I have seen). Before shockwaves were used for (questionable) cellulite removal, they were initially used to break down kidney and gallbladder stones, hence the medical name lithotripsy, meaning breaking down stones. From that, one crafty marketer coined the term “lipotripsy”, i.e. breaking down fat, although shockwaves do NOT physically break down fat…
Pterostilbene, the polyphenol in blueberries, inhibits fat accumulation and fights overweight and cellulite
Pterostilbene, a small molecular weight stilbenoid compound chemically related to resveratrol and found predominantly in black grapes, blueberries and other berries, has important anti-adipogenic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and anticancer properties. Resveratrol is already widely known for its anti-ageing and anti-obesity properties and pterostilbene (3',5'-dimethoxy-resveratrol), being a more stable and more absorbable form of resveratrol, shows much more promise in fighting both ageing and fat accumulation…
