Sunday, August 17, 2008

Miracle Cures... or are they?!

Ebene. I don't know how many people have heard of this product. It's been sold in most of the major pharmacies in KL. At least, that's what I've noticed. My dad wanted to buy it today, to which I strongly discouraged it. One of the main reasons is that it claims to use something called "Bio-Ray" to heal pains in the joints and promote blood circulation.


 

I just got home and did some research. Most of these "miracle-cure" products are based on something called FIR (Far Infra-red) rays. Basically, it says that FIR rays cause the cells to resonate at the optimal frequency to allows the alleged increase in blood circulation and what not. Apparently, it also heals cancer!


 

There has been to date, only a few journals on FIR and it has been tested on small animals only (i.e. rats). FIR is basically heat that is generated from ceramic being heated up. The main issue here is that when I examined the product at Guardian, there was no compartment that could contain the ceramic.


 

Ceramic is an inert material that can be used in the production of prosthetics, bone implants and a few surgical practices due to it inertness. I think some smart aleck must have found out about the ceramic properties and decided to start this mumbo jumbo on bio-rays and what not.


 

FIR may work in cellular form in ideal laboratory conditions, but in the real world, many factors come in. Everything from the temperature, moisture, the individual and the problem the individual is facing. Mostly, these products use pseudoscience to entice their customers. The product my dad wanted to get doesn't even have its own website!


 

It's too dodgy and the thing is costly. It costs some MYR157 for the knee guard. For MYR90, you can get something from pro-sport which is specially designed for athletes. Well, although it may work for some, this girl is still sceptical. Until I see a scientific journal stating the confirmed effects, I will remain a sceptic.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I should have googled in the internet before buying the EBENE knee guard. I bought it for my husband. IT HAS NO EFFECT at all. Infact my husband got rashes around his knee.

I called the hotline to get the 7-day guarantee, but no answer from morning to afternoon. I think I'll go back to Guardian where I bought it and make my point there.