A Cream to Reduce Breast Size?

There is some coverage in the less credible media today about a cream that is supposed to reduce breast size.  I don’t want to add to their publicity bandwagon by naming it.  Knowing how many women resort to breast reduction surgery I have to say it would be a fantastic product to have created.  Not only would it be profitable, which is always nice, it would meet a very real need.  Anything that reduces surgery is a good thing,  Quite apart from the discomfort it is easy to forget that any medical intervention that breaks the skin is potentially risky.  The only trouble is, I have no idea how such a product could be produced.

I am assuming that this is a product that works by effectively reducing the deposition of fat specifically in the breast area.  I can only think of two ways it might do this.  One would be to modify the body’s hormone system in some way to alter the pattern of fat deposition.  This is way beyond any scientific knowledge that I have seen.  We don’t know enough about the various messengers the body uses to do this.  And even if we did, affecting it through the skin would be a tough proposition.  Not many biologically active molecules are able to get through the skin.  As any diabetic will tell you, we can’t get insulin through the skin.

Off the top of my head I can only think of a handful of chemicals that have any effect when applied to the skin.  These include nicotine and caffeine.  Caffeine is an interesting one – this can get through the skin quickly enough to be measured in the blood stream.  It also speeds up metabolism, a fact a lot of us take advantage of to get going in the morning.  So in principle you could apply a cream containing caffeine to a local area like the breasts.  This might have the effect of speeding up the burning of the fat stored in the locality.

This sounds like it might work.  But the idea has been around for years and I’ve never seen any real evidence that it works in practice.  This is a great shame because it would be really handy.   Breast reduction isn’t the only application.  I’d love to have a way of controlling the bulge around my waist.  The reason is probably that the bloodstream quickly dilutes and disperses such a small and water soluble molecule.   And in any case the body rapidly breaks down caffeine anyway.

So count me as skeptical on this one.  I can see the temptation, but I suggest you keep your money in your purse.

[hana-code-insert name=’General Interest’ /]