“Smart” Supplements: DMAE Benefits, Side Effects and Considerations

Dr. Nicholas Perricone appeared on the Dr. Oz show to tout the benefits of DMAE, or dimethylaminoethanol. As a supplement, the chemical is used to treat a variety of symptoms; DMAE also appears in skincare and anti-aging products. Dr. Perricone is a vocal proponent of DMAE, and sells several DMAE products under the Perricone MD Cosmeceuticals label. In the video below, Dr. Perricone extols the benefits of DMAE:

We researched the DMAE benefits, side effects and considerations to evaluate whether this “smart” supplement will help or harm consumers.

What is DMAE?

DMAE is a liquid organic compound that’s naturally produced in the brain; it’s also found in sardines, anchovies, squid and salmon. It is sold in health-food stores as a supplement that enhances brain function and mood.

DMAE has several industrial and commercial applications. As of 2002, half of the DMAE producted in the United States was used to make flocculants, or substances that promote particle clumping, for wastewater treatment plants. Other industrial products that contain DMAE include polyurethane lacquers and foams, water-based paint and surface coating, and corrosion inhibitor formulas.

In pharmaceuticals, DMAE is used to treat central nervous system and brain conditions. Proponents claim that DMAE increases the brain’s production of acetylcholine, which affects functions such as short-term memory, learning, REM sleep and attention. However, research hasn’t established an ironclad link between DMAE and acetylcholine production. DMAE study findings are often contradictory, so the supposed benefits of DMAE are quite controversial.

DMAE Benefits

The most common DMAE claim is that it improves memory, concentration and intellectual function. According to the NYU Langone Medical Center, however, there aren’t any clinical studies that support this claim. DMAE has been used successfully to treat patients with ADHD, but was deemed unsuccessful in treating patients with Alzheimer’s disease or Huntington’s chorea. A 1995 study found, however, that rats that were given DMAE showed improvements in working memory performance.

Dr. Perricone alleges that DMAE decreases anxiety, boosts dopamine effects and improves energy. He also touts DMAE as a wrinkle-fighting agent that can tighten and tone skin and reduce the appearance of fine lines. A 2005 study found that consumer skincare products containing DMAE may have anti-inflammatory effects that improve skin firmness and muscle tone, but the study’s authors expressed a need for further studies that compare DMAE products to antioxidant creams and alpha-hydroxy acids.

DMAE Side Effects and Contraindications

Taking too much DMAE may lead to insomnia, headaches and muscle tension, according to Dr. Perricone. Dr. Perricone states that the recommended DMAE dosage range is between 100 mg and 300 mg per day.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences warns that those who are pregnant, lactating, or have schizophrenia and clonic-tonic seizure disorders should not take DMAE supplements.

DMAE Considerations

In a blog post, Andrew Weil, M.D. was phlegmatic on the benefits of DMAE, writing, “DMAE may be safe, but I currently see no evidence that taking it will do anyone any good.”

An article in the Calgary Herald interviewed pharmacologist Francois Marceau of Laval University in Quebec, who discovered that skin cells exposed to DMAE swelled up, which may explain DMAE’s ability to firm skin. “This is not necessarily very dangerous, but has not been properly analyzed scientifically,” said Marceau of his findings. “I would like to see [DMAE] follow formal FDA rules for drug development.

Simon Yoo, M.D., an assistant professor of dermatology at Northwestern University, was similarly unimpressed. “Go ahead [and try DMAE products], but it won’t do much more than a moisturizer that is a lot less expensive,” he told the Calgary Herald. “It won’t be any better than Neutrogena or Cetaphil for less than a 10th of the price or a 100th of the price.”

Dermatologists refute claims of anti-aging skin creams

Do anti-aging skin creams work?

Winter is not good to our skin. The wind chaps. The dry air wicks. The combination blows us into the arms of the billion-dollar cosmeceutical industry, which awaits with pricey over-the-counter potions and serums promising to undo the season’s damage.

But these companies often promise much more than simple moisturizing. Their products can, according to their advertising, “help to boost oxygen microcirculation.” They can reset “the skin’s aging clock by converting resting stem cells.” They contain ingredients that can “turn on digestive enzymes that will only go after scars and wrinkles” or “help to promote collagen production.” In short, they can utterly transform your old, dry, thinning, wrinkled skin.

Tempting. But is it true?

Yes and no, say dermatologists and scientists. Mostly no, but really it’s hard to say.

The creams do moisturize - even the cheapest ones will do that - and that does help make the skin appear more supple and healthy. As for the other claims, few studies have been published in medical journals to show the products work as advertised or are safe to use. And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t require companies to prove that cosmetic products are safe or effective.

“Efficacy is very vague in terms of over-the-counter products,” said Dr. Simon Yoo, assistant professor of dermatology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “Without any oversight, it is difficult to say whether these do anything.”

At the same time, the FDA has expressed concerns over some claims made by companies selling anti-aging creams. Marketers of cosmetics are generally are not allowed to state that their product alters the structure or function of the body or treats or prevents disease - to make a “drug claim.”

The FDA maintains a list of more than 80 companies - including such beauty giants as L’Oreal, Avon and Revlon - that the agency believes may be importing, manufacturing or shipping creams with drug claims.

The FDA also has sent a handful of warning letters to cosmetics companies, mostly small ones, for making drug claims, a spokeswoman for the agency said.

“It is a good example of how people can use science-y-ness to try and sell a product,” said Dr. Ben Goldacre, who wrote about moisturizers in his book “Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks and Big Pharma Flacks.” “It is used decoratively as marketing in a way that is meaningless.”

Companies rarely publish studies showing their products are effective, said dermatologist Dr. Vesna Petronic-Rosic of the University of Chicago Medical Center, though they generally look into the potential for skin irritation.

Some companies cite scientific evidence that anti-aging ingredients work, but they decline to provide those studies or to show that the product contains enough of the substances to have an effect.

Take, for example, “The Youth As We Know It Moisture Cream” from Bliss, which sells for $79 for 1.7 ounces at Sephora. The package says the cream contains the “10 most important anti-aging ingredients we’ve found in 10 years of giving ‘great face.’”

The label also says it helps to “promote collagen production,” “boost oxygen microcirculation” and “improve skin’s firmness,” among other things.

Asked to provide scientific studies showing that the anti-aging ingredients work, Bliss spokeswoman Brooke Temner wrote in an e-mail: “There are studies on the raw materials executed by our raw material suppliers that demonstrate the ingredients’ functionality, however, Bliss is not at liberty to share this proprietary information.”

“When formulating our products, we adhere to the standards of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act,” Bliss vice president of communications Katie Welch wrote in an e-mail.

The press materials for ReVive Peau Magnifique Youth Recruit, which costs $1,500 for four ampuls of serum at Neiman Marcus, say it “resets the skin’s aging clock by converting resting adult stem cells to newly minted skin cells.”

But ReVive founder Dr. Gregory Bays Brown acknowledged that “we did not do peer-reviewed studies. There is literature out there that other people have done.”

Brown, a plastic surgeon, said the company has done a study, included in his patent, to show that one of the ingredients, epidermal growth factor, gets into the lower layers of the skin and increases cell turnover. The research was not published in a peer-reviewed journal.

“It is inefficient, but it’s enough to increase cell turnover,” he said. “It is sort of crude, and we were able to show that.”

Scientific data do exist on epidermal growth factor, some of it published by Brown in peer-reviewed medical journals before he founded ReVive.

“There is quite a lot of information on these active ingredients in the scientific and patent literature - most can show effects on cell proliferation (in a test tube or petri dish) or in animal models of wound healing,” said Natalie Medlicott, an associate professor at New Zealand’s National School of Pharmacy at the University of Otago and an expert in epidermal growth factors.

But without published studies on the creams themselves, it’s impossible to know whether the epidermal growth factor in them is effective. “The usual difficulty with such products is whether or not the large protein molecules such as the epidermal growth factor remain active in the formulation and, if they are active, whether they actually get delivered across intact skin,” Medlicott said.

Telomerase, another ingredient in Peau Magnifique Youth Recruit, is “an enzyme that activates and differentiates dormant adult stem cells into brand new skin cells” and “repairs DNA fragmentation,” according to the product’s press materials.

But what effect does the telomerase in this product have on a customer’s skin? “We don’t know exactly,” Brown said. “We know stem cells line the hair follicle and sweat glands. They are on the surface. We don’t know if it has an effect on those cells.”

Brown added that ReVive tests the safety of each product it puts on the market.

Perricone MD Cosmeceuticals stated in a company blog post that an ingredient called DMAE in its Face Finishing Moisturizer “allows for face-lift-like benefits as well as other long lasting anti-aging contributions when applied to the face or taken as a supplement.”

But the product packaging does not state how much DMAE is in the cream, which sells for $65 for 2 ounces at Sephora.

A search of medical literature turned up no clinical trials on the product to show it works, though several small published studies have looked at DMAE’s effect on skin cells and skin and suggested that it can help with firming.

How? Pharmacologist Francois Marceau Laval University in Quebec found that when skin cells were exposed to DMAE, tiny compartments inside the cells swelled up and some cells died. The swelling, he said, is a likely explanation for the skin thickening, or firming.

“This is not necessarily very dangerous, but has not been properly analyzed scientifically,” Marceau, whose study was published in 2007 in the British Journal of Dermatology, wrote in an email. “I would like to see them follow formal FDA rules for drug development.”

Perricone MD Cosmeceuticals did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Dermatologists interviewed for this story said most skin creams are harmless. If you like a product, enjoy it, they said, but realize your skin likely won’t be miraculously transformed.

“Go ahead, but it won’t do much more than a moisturizer that is a lot less expensive,” Yoo said. “It won’t be any better than Neutrogena or Cetaphil for less than a 10th of the price or a 100th of the price.”

Dmae Cream: Choose To Never Look Old

Dr Oz did a segment called Dr Oz’s Alternative Health All-Stars and then followed it up with a segment on advice from Dr Nicholas Perricone, on how to get rid of wrinkles and prevent skin cancer. Have you heard of DMAE Cream or of eating watercress or Sulforaphane Supplements to prevent Skin Cancer? If you haven’t, then you definitely need to read what Dr Perricone told Doctor Oz!

Keep reading to find out more!

Dr Nicholas Perricone said that by using DMAE Cream on your skin, you will almost immediately see a change in your skin and an increase in your skin’s radiance. Look for the ingredients list on the product your buying, and make sure one of the ingredients is the ingredient DMAE or Dimethylethanolamine. It will take around 35 days to get the best results. Dr Oz showed a before and after picture of a woman who used DMAE Face Cream, and the results were really impressive – even better than some plastic surgery treatments for aging that I have seen!

Marvin Sease

Marvin Sease. (Memphis, Tennessee) Blues
legend Marvin Sease died today at 64. Sease started his
career with a gospel group
called the Five Gospel Crowns
out of Charleston, South
Carolina. After singing with
them, Marvin then left at age 20 settling into New York.
There he joined another gospel
group called the Gospel Crowns.
Marvin left the gospel circuit to
form his own R&B group. In this
group Marvin Sease was accompanied by his own three
brothers and named the
backing band Sease. Sease was a staple of the
traveling chitlin circuit artists
who performed Blues festivals
and clubs over the past 4
decades. His suggestive lyrics
and rich soul singing brought him fame and steady audiences
full of fans. In 1986 he recorded
a self titled album featuring one
of his more popular songs,
“ Ghetto Man.” After limited success with this
self-produced independent
release, Sease entered a record
contract with Polygram. With
this contract, he was able to
launch his music nationally with the re-release of his self titled
L.P. on the Mercury label in
1987. This included a new ten
minute track “ Candy Licker,” which became an instant
success for Sease throughout
the South where it was steadily
played on jukeboxes. Success
came to Sease despite a lack of
airplay as the media deemed his lyrics too explicit. Over the next ten years, Sease
recorded a string of albums for
London/Mercury (Breakfast,
1987; The Real Deal, 1989; Show
Me What You Got, 1991) and
the New York-based Jive (The Housekeeper, 1993; Do You
Need a Licker?, 1994; Please
Take Me, 1996) that sold
consistently well, although none
have yet matched the
performance of the self-titled album Marvin Sease, which hit
number 14 on Billboard’ s R&B chart and number 114 on the
pop chart. Several more
releases were issued before the
’ 90s came to a close: Bitch Git It All (1997), Hoochie Momma
(1999). Women Would Rather Be
Licked was issued in early 2001.
The live CD and DVD Live with
the Candy Licker both appeared
in 2005. Marvin Sease was booked to
headline the Greensboro Blues
Festival and was scheduled to
appear with Mel Waiters, Latimore, Clarence Carter, and
Theodis Ealey on February 13.
He was also booked to headline
Cincinnati Blues Festival on
Ferbruary 18. Sease died in Vicksburg,
Mississippi. on February 8, 2011,
eight days before his 65th
birthday. The cause of death is
not yet know but sources state
that he was suffering from pneumonia.

Source:
http://www.ameriblues.com/