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Now you can accurately measure these important protective molecules in your body in just 5 minutes with a non-invasive laser technology.

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Technology:

A new technology using Raman Spectroscopy is showing up in more and more holistic physicians’ offices, medical spas, and health and fitness facilities.  Over 6 million people worldwide have received this important measurement.  Clearly, there is something novel and compelling about this technology.  At the core, however, the question remains:

Is it valid?

Does the measurement it obtains really “mean anything” in the hard light of the peer-reviewed medical literature?

A quick review of the important points relating to this technology:

This technology is the only method to obtain any reasonable approximation of total body antioxidant status by a laser scan and readout of a “skin carotenoid score.”

This measurement has been clinically proven to be more accurate than blood testing for carotenoid antioxidants.

Simultaneously, there is only one company that has an antioxidant supplement – should a deficiency be indicated – guaranteed to perform in any specific manner. In their case, the guarantee is to raise the skin carotenoid score – something which is globally associated with improving antioxidant status.

No other company can offer a performance guarantee in the consumers own body, since no other company has a measurement tool to track their product’s absorption.

Science:

A review of the original patent for this technology is instructive.  Here follow relevant excerpts from the United States Patent Application 6,205,354 – granted March 20, 2001, and awarded to Werner Gellermann and colleagues at the University of Utah.  All quotes are directly excerpted from the patent.  It should be noted that the patent was granted as specified, meaning that the US Patent Office was satisfied with the claims and the supporting documentation.

Specifically, the patent claims (Claim #9):

“A method for non-invasively determining the antioxidant status in skin tissue.”

From the Abstract:

“A method and apparatus are provided for the determination of levels of carotenoids and similar chemical compounds in biological tissue such as living skin.  The method and apparatus provide a noninvasive, rapid, accurate, and safe determination of carotenoid levels which in turn can provide diagnostic information regarding cancer risk, or can be a marker for conditions where carotenoids or other antioxidant compounds may provide diagnostic information.  Such early diagnostic information allows for the possibility of preventative intervention.”

So, how does it work?

Also from the Abstract:

“In this technique, laser light is directed upon the area of tissue which is of interest.  A small fraction of the scattered light is scattered inelastically, producing the carotenoid Raman signal that is at a different frequency than the incident laser light, and the Raman signal is collected, filtered, and measured.  The resulting Raman signal can be analyzed such that the background fluorescence signal is subtracted and the results displayed and compared with known calibration standards.”

History of the Raman detection method:

Sir C.V. Raman

Interestingly, the first hint of the discovery of the “Raman effect” occurred when Sir Chandrashekhar Venkata Raman was on a sea voyage and became fascinated with the extremely deep blue color of the Mediterranean Sea and attempted to discover the reason.  He rejected the theory that it was caused by a “reflection from the sky” and showed in 1922 that it was the scattering of light by water molecules which accounted for the “color shift.”   For the discovery of the “inelastic scattering of light,” he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.  His discovery became extremely relevant with the advent of lasers and was soon applied to use in spectroscopic applications for identifications of compounds -  using the same effect he had witnessed so many decades ago on the opalescent Mediterranean Sea.