Dr. Joseph Mercola's Body Butter

Lee Swanson, President of Swanson Health Products ®

mercola

Joseph Mercola, O.D.
www.mercola.com

Dear Friends and Valued Customers,
Last month I sat down with Dr. Joseph Mercola at his home in Schaumberg, Illinois to discuss the newest product in the Swanson-Mercola partnership, Body Butter. In this exclusive inteview, Dr. Mercola explains what makes Body Butter the best all-natural skin moisturizing formula he’s ever used and the only product he recommends to his clients.
Lee Swanson

Ultimate All-Natural Moisturizer!
Dr. Mercola's Organic Body Butter Unscented

SWANSON: Dr. Mercola, you’re very selective about the products you develop and recommend. Why develop an external organic skin moisturizer?

Dr. Mercola: Many people think of skin creams as simply moisturizers, but that’s just not the case. The skin is your body’s largest organ! It needs to be cared for both inside and out. Good nutrition, like omega-3 fatty acids for instance, is essential to the growth and maintenance of healthy skin, but it’s only part of the equation. Body Butter is an excellent solution for external care, which, when combined with a skin-friendly diet, creates a comprehensive program for looking and feeling our best.

SWANSON: You contend that people should be more cautious about what they put on their skin. What is it that we should look for, or what should we avoid?

Dr. Mercola: One good rule of thumb I use—and this goes for food ingredients as well—is simply this: If you can’t pronounce it, think twice before using it. I developed Body Butter because, quite honestly, I’d rather not put anything on my skin that I wouldn’t put in my mouth. And based on that statement, it was an obvious challenge finding anything that would fulfill this requirement. Body Butter is a combination of eight USDA Certified-Organic ingredients. You wouldn’t want to eat it, of course, but you wouldn’t be in grave danger if you did. Body Butter is the purest, safest skin care solution there is. I couldn’t find such a product, so I created it myself.

SWANSON: Let’s run through the ingredients that make Body Butter such an extraordinary skin moisturizing cream. It starts with one of my favorite emollients, Shea Butter.

Dr. Mercola: Shea Butter is such a fantastic product. What makes Shea Butter unique among skin care ingredients is its fatty acid profile and its high content of unsaponifiable fats. Avocado oil, viewed by many to be an excellent natural moisturizer, is 2 to 6 percent unsaponifiables. Shea Butter is up to 12 percent. This simple comparison is an easy illustration of why Shea Butter is such a superior all-natural moisturizer.

SWANSON: There’s another type of "butter" in Body Butter—organic Cocoa Butter. People often wonder if this actually comes from the same cocoa plant as edible cocoa. Does it?

Dr. Mercola: It does! Cocoa Butter comes from the same cocoa beans that are used in making chocolate. It’s such a great skin care product because it’s what we call "semi-occlusive," which means that while it seals in moisture, it also lets the skin breathe. It’s a much softer solid than Shea Butter, so it combines nicely to create a luxurious-feeling, moisturizing cream. Cocoa Butter also has a wonderful scent and is frequently used in aromatherapy to invoke feelings of relaxation and well-being.

SWANSON: With ingredients like this it’s easy to see why you call it Body Butter. There’s a third butter in the formula as well, one I’ve never heard of. What can you tell us about Murumuru Butter?

Dr. Mercola: This is an incredible moisturizing ingredient most people here are unfamiliar with, but in South America it’s widely known. Murumuru is a type of prickly palm that grows in the Amazon basin, primarily in northern Brazil. Murumuru Butter is intensely hydrating and provides direct support for the cutaneous barrier. By contributing to both cutaneous barrier function, Murumuru Butter helps lock moisture in the skin.

SWANSON: There’s organic Palm Oil in the formula as well. How does this differ from Murumuru?

Dr. Mercola: Palm Oil comes from a different species of palm known as "oil palm." It is derived from the fruit and not the seed. Palm Oil is considered by many to be a true gift from Nature. For over 5,000 years it has been consumed as both a food and as a component of topical skin and hair products.

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL
"I have the driest skin on the planet. I’ve tried about a dozen products per year for the past ten years, trying to find something that really works (and won’t kill me). Organic
Body Butter is the first product
I’ve found that meets those criteria. It’s like having new skin. Thank you, Dr. Mercola."
—Carol P., MI

SWANSON: The next ingredient is something I know you’re particularly wild about for many reasons, and that is Coconut Oil. Why did you include it in your skin cream?

Dr. Mercola: Anyone who is familiar with my dietary recommendations knows how much I love Coconut Oil. But I love it not just as a cooking oil. It’s an incredibly versatile, healthful substance! Coconut Oil had to be in my Body Butter because it is ideal for providing direct nourishment to the skin. It contributes to the strength and elasticity of the skin’s connective tissues; and it facilitates the removal of dead skin cells, thereby helping the skin to look and feel young and smooth.

SWANSON: You’ve included Jojoba Oil in your formula. This is something a lot of us recognize, but few of us really know what it is. What exactly is Jojoba Oil and why do we see it in topical products like Body Butter?

Dr. Mercola: Jojoba Oil is an amazing natural product that is a great gift from the natives of this land. It comes from the seeds of a shrub that grows in the desert Southwest. In native cultures, a poultice was prepared from the seeds and spread on the skin. Jojoba Oil is actually a form of liquid wax rather than a true oil. It’s popular in topical products because it more closely resembles human sebum (the skin’s natural "oils"). We secrete sebum from our sebaceous glands to keep the skin moist, smooth and elastic. Unfortunately, our bodies produce less and less sebum as we age. Because Jojoba Oil is so much like our natural sebum, it immediately mixes with our natural oils both on the surface and beneath the surface of the skin. It helps form a non-greasy lipid layer to hold moisture within the skin.

SWANSON: Next on the list is Rice Bran Extract. What is its contribution to the benefits of Body Butter?

Dr. Mercola: Rice Bran Extract is an incredible source of nutrients that are nourishing to the skin. Plus, it helps make the cream smooth and spreadable.

Ultimate All-Natural Moisturizer!
Dr. Mercola's Organic Body Butter Unscented

SWANSON: One final ingredient to touch on: organic Aloe Vera Juice.

Dr. Mercola: Aloe is just amazing, isn’t it? Did you know that Aloe contains over 130 biologically active compounds? It’s one of the most beneficial natural plant products on the planet! Aloe contains phytonutrients that are soothing to skin. Even Cleopatra is said to have used Aloe to care for her skin.

SWANSON: Aloe truly is amazing and it’s a great ingredient to complete this formula. But we should note that there are a few other "base" ingredients here as well, though they all are within the "if you can’t pronounce it, don’t use it" rule.

Dr. Mercola: That’s absolutely right. Developing a world-class, all-natural organic moisturizer isn’t as simple as just identifying the most healthful active ingredients. They must be combined into a form that is pleasing and functions the way we want it to. So we use ingredients that help blend it all together. Water, a small amount of denatured grain alcohol, Beeswax, organic Soy Lecithin and Xanthan Gum are included to accomplish this. The end result is Body Butter, the most luxuriously rich, healthful skin cream you will ever experience. And that’s not hype—it’s the honest truth.

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