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CNN Live Today

'Daily Dose'

Aired June 25, 2003 - 11:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Well there are a lot of products and treatments that claim to reduce cellulite, but do they work, and what is cellulite anyway?
I know it doesn't look good.

CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with answers in our "Daily Dose" of health news.

Very interested in this. Not because I have any.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh no, of course not. You are a little skinny...

COLLINS: Sure.

COHEN: Most women have cellulite, that is the difficult truth. So there are obviously going to be products on the market that are going to claim to help.

So, Heidi, if you could help me here, take a look at these products. We bought these in, sort of your basic drugstore. Tell me, what do they all claim?

COLLINS: This one says "visibly reduces the appearance of cellulite."

COHEN: OK. And the next one?

COLLINS: The next one says "treats the appearance of cellulite by visibly improving skin tone and texture."

COHEN: There you go.

COLLINS: This one, this says "noticeably smoother, less dimpled skin, reduces the appearance of cellulite."

COHEN: Reduces the appearance of cellulite. Isn't it interesting they all claim the same thing? I called the FDA and said what is that? Could I put cornstarch in a bottle and sell it and says it reduces the appearance of cellulite? And the FDA said, absolutely, you can do that. If all you're claiming is to reduce the appearance of something, you can claim that. That's a legitimate thing to do.

Now if you went ahead and said, it actually gets the cellulite at its source and removes it from your body, then they might go after you because you are making a different kind of legal claim, but they said you can go right ahead and appear to reduce the appearance of cellulite with anything you wanted. So the bottom line when you talk to folks in the government and talk to the American Academy of Dermatology is that they say that there are no independent studies that show that creams like this actually that do work.

And so, buyer beware. They also said it's not going to hurt you, but there's no good independent studies that shows that they actually work.

COLLINS: I'm so not shocked. But I mean, who would want to still try this? People are out there obviously buying this stuff.

COHEN: Right. And it was interesting. We asked a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Dermatology, all right, you have this cellulite, you really want to do something about it, and you want to spend the money, these things cost between $5 and $25, should we do it? She said, go ahead, if you want to do it, they're not going to hurt you, maybe they will help. There's a possibility that even though there are no good independent studies that show they work, maybe they'll for you.

So go ahead, but don't be disappointed if they don't work. And decide how much money you want to lose. It's kind of like going to Vegas -- if you want to lose 30 bucks, go ahead and buy a $30 cream, try it for a month; if it doesn't work and you want to spend more money, go buy another one. She said maybe one will work for you, and just decide how much money you're willing to spend.

COLLINS: Well, I find that interesting. I mean, it's possible that something could work.

COHEN: Sure, anything is possible.

COLLINS: So, now we have to talk about my favorite part, what exactly is cellulite?

COHEN: Its fat deposits, and just to prove the world was invented by a man, only women get cellulite. Men do not get cellulite. Men have fat, but it doesn't get in those pockets the way that cellulite is. What happens with cellulite is...

COLLINS: There's my favorite picture again.

COHEN: What happens with cellulite is that it is just plain old fat that gets stuck in these little pockets. If you can imagine honeycombs filled with fat, that's basically what cellulite is.

COLLINS: I can imagine that.

COHEN: And it's pretty icky when you think about. Men don't have that same honeycomb structure. So just women get cellulite. It doesn't mean you are overweight; there are perfectly thin women who get cellulite.

COLLINS: It's just not our fault, is it?

COHEN: No, it's not our fault No, we didn't do anything wrong. Absolutely.

COLLINS: Thank you so much, Elizabeth Cohen, our "Daily Dose."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired June 25, 2003 - 11:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Well there are a lot of products and treatments that claim to reduce cellulite, but do they work, and what is cellulite anyway?
I know it doesn't look good.

CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with answers in our "Daily Dose" of health news.

Very interested in this. Not because I have any.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh no, of course not. You are a little skinny...

COLLINS: Sure.

COHEN: Most women have cellulite, that is the difficult truth. So there are obviously going to be products on the market that are going to claim to help.

So, Heidi, if you could help me here, take a look at these products. We bought these in, sort of your basic drugstore. Tell me, what do they all claim?

COLLINS: This one says "visibly reduces the appearance of cellulite."

COHEN: OK. And the next one?

COLLINS: The next one says "treats the appearance of cellulite by visibly improving skin tone and texture."

COHEN: There you go.

COLLINS: This one, this says "noticeably smoother, less dimpled skin, reduces the appearance of cellulite."

COHEN: Reduces the appearance of cellulite. Isn't it interesting they all claim the same thing? I called the FDA and said what is that? Could I put cornstarch in a bottle and sell it and says it reduces the appearance of cellulite? And the FDA said, absolutely, you can do that. If all you're claiming is to reduce the appearance of something, you can claim that. That's a legitimate thing to do.

Now if you went ahead and said, it actually gets the cellulite at its source and removes it from your body, then they might go after you because you are making a different kind of legal claim, but they said you can go right ahead and appear to reduce the appearance of cellulite with anything you wanted. So the bottom line when you talk to folks in the government and talk to the American Academy of Dermatology is that they say that there are no independent studies that show that creams like this actually that do work.

And so, buyer beware. They also said it's not going to hurt you, but there's no good independent studies that shows that they actually work.

COLLINS: I'm so not shocked. But I mean, who would want to still try this? People are out there obviously buying this stuff.

COHEN: Right. And it was interesting. We asked a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Dermatology, all right, you have this cellulite, you really want to do something about it, and you want to spend the money, these things cost between $5 and $25, should we do it? She said, go ahead, if you want to do it, they're not going to hurt you, maybe they will help. There's a possibility that even though there are no good independent studies that show they work, maybe they'll for you.

So go ahead, but don't be disappointed if they don't work. And decide how much money you want to lose. It's kind of like going to Vegas -- if you want to lose 30 bucks, go ahead and buy a $30 cream, try it for a month; if it doesn't work and you want to spend more money, go buy another one. She said maybe one will work for you, and just decide how much money you're willing to spend.

COLLINS: Well, I find that interesting. I mean, it's possible that something could work.

COHEN: Sure, anything is possible.

COLLINS: So, now we have to talk about my favorite part, what exactly is cellulite?

COHEN: Its fat deposits, and just to prove the world was invented by a man, only women get cellulite. Men do not get cellulite. Men have fat, but it doesn't get in those pockets the way that cellulite is. What happens with cellulite is...

COLLINS: There's my favorite picture again.

COHEN: What happens with cellulite is that it is just plain old fat that gets stuck in these little pockets. If you can imagine honeycombs filled with fat, that's basically what cellulite is.

COLLINS: I can imagine that.

COHEN: And it's pretty icky when you think about. Men don't have that same honeycomb structure. So just women get cellulite. It doesn't mean you are overweight; there are perfectly thin women who get cellulite.

COLLINS: It's just not our fault, is it?

COHEN: No, it's not our fault No, we didn't do anything wrong. Absolutely.

COLLINS: Thank you so much, Elizabeth Cohen, our "Daily Dose."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com