By pH health care professionals

Looking for beauty products to even out your skin tone and provide a more youthful complexion? Be sure to check the labels before you buy! The FDA warns that certain products that are marketed as skin-lighteners and anti-aging treatments actually contain the metal mercury. People with mercury levels above what the body can tolerate can experience fatigue, numbness, nerve damage, atherosclerosis, heart attacks and high blood pressure.

Be proactive about what you’re putting on your skin (your body’s largest organ) so you can protect your complexion and your health!

Products to watch for

When you’re hoping a product will be good for you skin, but it actually contains a toxic metal -- that’s just wrong. Such products may promise to remove age spots, freckles, blemishes and wrinkles, the FDA says. The label may have words like “mercurous chloride,” “calomel,” “mercuric,” “mercurio” -- all words that mean mercury. It may even say “mercury” on the label (are they hoping we won’t notice?).

If the ingredients aren’t listed, that’s a red flag, too. The FDA states that cosmetics are required by law to list their ingredients on the product labels. The labels should also be in English. Cosmetics labeled in another language may have been brought from another country and could contain harmful ingredients. It may be marketed to you illegally.

Many of these mercury-filled products have been marketed abroad and are being sold illegally here in the U.S. If the product doesn’t have a label, has a label you don’t understand, or says it contains mercury, stay far away. And tell your friends!

Enjoy Your Healthy Life!

The pH professional health care team includes recognized experts from a variety of health care and related disciplines, including physicians, attorneys, nutritionists, nurses and certified fitness instructors. To learn more about the pH Health Care Team, click here.