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November 22, 1998
A LITTLE red pill that is said to burn up
cellulite is having a Viagra-like effect on millions of women who are desperate
to get rid of the unsightly telltale "orange-peel" dimples of
advancing age.
Although the pill, called Cellasene, has been on sale in Italy since 1994 - and
could be available in South Africa early next year - demand for the herbal
remedy boomed worldwide this month after an Australian TV programme carried a
report on its success.
Women stampeded and rioted in Australia's pharmacies after the current affairs
programme reported how lives had been changed by the pill "with the power
to restore the joys of youth in ways at least as dramatic as the famous
anti-impotence drug Viagra".
Almost 100 000 boxes of the pill were sold out within a day in Australia at
A$20 (about R74) each, with one pharmacist reported to have auctioned off his
last box for A$1 000. In Sydney, a pharmacy with supplies still in stock hired
security guards to protect its premises.
Robyn Coats of Sydney said she was desperate to try the remedy after her
11-year-old son told her she had "jelly legs". Another woman had to
be consoled after being told supplies had run out.
"It was very sad because her husband had told her she looked awful and she
saw this as her last hope," a spokesman for the Australian importers of
the pill said.
"We had no idea how strongly women felt about cellulite."
Coats told journalists that after taking part in trials for two months, during
which she took two pills a day, she had lost more than 5kg and that the dimples
on her thighs and legs had disappeared.
"A lot of my friends are taking the pills after seeing the difference they
have made to me," she said.
The remedy is undergoing trials in Britain ahead of its expected debut on
pharmacy shelves in March or April next year. It is expected to be available in
South Africa at about the same time.
About half a million packets of Cellasene are sold throughout the world each
year, mainly in Italy, but also in France and Australia, the only other
countries where distribution agreements are in place.
The pill is a mixture of dried sweet clover, grape seed oil, evening primrose
oil and gingko, a herbal remedy grown in China and Japan. Cellasene is made on
a production line near Rome by a US subcontractor on behalf of a company called
Medestea.
The company was founded by Italian chemist Gianfranco Merizzi, a
sixth-generation apothecarist and a graduate in pharmaceutical technology from
the University of Turin.
Merizzi said he had been "inspired" to make Cellasene after he was
asked to judge the Miss Italy beauty contest in 1992.
"I was approached by the runner-up, Monia Lazzaro, who asked if Medestea
made anything for cellulite. I realised that if girls like her wanted help,
then there had to be a huge market for it."
Lazzaro, now 23, said that cellulite had been a major problem for her until she
turned to Merizzi's preparation. "In my late teens cellulite was creeping
into my legs. It afflicts all the women in my family and it's a major problem
in my industry.
"I took Cellasene two months on, one month off, for a year and it got rid
of my cellulite.
"Now I take two courses a year as a preventative measure. It makes me feel
well and helps ease my period pains. I definitely couldn't manage without
it."
Another testimonial was provided by a 36-year-old obstetrician, Daniela Manes,
who said that cellulite had become "a serious problem" after her
second child was born. "After taking Cellasene I lost 5kg and a lot of the
orange-peel skin vanished. Now I can wear short skirts and show off my
legs."
Merizzi says Cellasene helps to improve blood circulation to celluliteafflicted
areas, helping to shift the fatty tissue trapped beneath the skin.
However, British scientists are sceptical about the claims for the pill.
"It is highly unlikely that it might affect cellulite," said Dr David
Fenton, a consultant dermatologist at St Thomas's Hospital in London.
And Dr Peter Houghton, a pharmocognosist at King's College Hospital in London,
said: There's no evidence that gingko stimulates the metabolism of fats
Sun Times (New Zealand), November 22, 1998
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