The makers of Harmonized Water (a.k.a. drinkable sunscreen) do a “clinical trial.” Hilarity ensues. [View all]

[SidDithers]

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/08/06/the-makers-of-harmonized-water-a-k-a-drinkable-sunscreen-do-a-clinical-trial-hilarity-ensues/

It's a Wednesday Dose of Woo, from Orac.

About a week ago, my good bud Steve Novella noted a tasty bit of silly pseudoscience finding its way around the usual places, such as Facebook, Twitter, and the like. It was one of those times where I smacked myself on the forehead (metaphorically speaking, of course) and asked, “How on earth did I miss this bit of pseudoscience?” It is, after all, more than Your Friday Dose of Woo-worthy, even though I haven’t done a YFDoW segment for over a year. (Remember, I found that my creation had become too constraining; so I retired it. I might bring it back someday, but today is not the day, obviously, because it’s Wednesday, not Friday.) In any case, Steve had fun with something called Harmonized Water by Osmosis Skin Care.

The website claimed these sorts of miraculous properties for its “drinkable sunscreen”:

- A new technology that imprints frequencies as “standing waves” onto water molecules.
- The ability to “stack” thousands of frequencies onto one molecule, for better “healing” effect
- Revolutionary formula that allows Osmosis Skin Care to reverse engineer the frequencies of substances found in nature and/or the human body.
- Recently identified frequencies that have beneficial effects on the body.

As Steve noted, if all these claims were true, and “Harmonized Water” could do all the things claimed for it, in particular to “vibrate above the skin to neutralize UVA and UVB, creating protection comparable to an SPF 30,” the creators of this magical water would be in serious consideration for a Nobel Prize. When you look at the ingredients listed, they’re listed as “Distilled Water and Multiple Vibrational Frequency Blends,” whatever that means, and the company claims that “similar to how noise reduction headphones work, these waters cancel out UV rays by delivering targeted wave patterns to the skin in the form of water.” So what’s more likely, that this company has made a Nobel Prize-worthy discovery and is marketing it as a “drinkable sunscreen” or that Harmonized Water is complete and total pseudoscience? I mean, come on!

I think you know the answer to that one.

More hilarity at link.

Sid