The women who spend thousands on vitamin drips they swear boost energy, beat hangovers and cure colds
and they don’t give a hoot about experts who say it’s a waste of money
THE scene resembles something from a sci-fi Hollywood blockbuster. A woman sits, hooked up to a sophisticated machine, with a needle piercing a vein in her forearm. Above, a red light beams a scarlet glow on to her skin, while the contents of a cannula flood through her body.
Despite appearances, this is no cutting-edge surgical procedure. Nor is it a bizarre scientific experiment. Rather, this is the latest trendy beauty treatment, promising to boost flagging energy levels and reinvigorate tired complexions — all with just one simple injection.
Little wonder, then, that women such as Suzanne Milligan, 44, exhausted by the rigours of motherhood and a busy career, and worried about the onset of fine lines and wrinkles, have become fans of these intravenous drips, which deliver a liquid solution of vitamins directly into the bloodstream.
With Suzanne’s treatment, as a bonus, a laser light is beamed on to her skin by her beauty therapist, which can, it’s claimed, boost the potential benefits of the vitamins. Bonkers? You might think so. But such intravenous vitamin drips are now no longer the reserve of celebrities with more money than sense — they have an ardent band of middle-aged female devotees, convinced they’re just the thing to help them glide through the stresses of a busy life.
It seems popping a one-a-day multivitamin tablet is no longer sufficient for these increasingly health-obsessed women.
While the idea of having vitamins injected directly into the veins for health purposes was first developed more than 50 years ago in America, it’s only in recent years that it’s taken off as a must-have beauty treatment, aided by publicity- seeking celebrities uploading pictures of themselves to social media, complete with needle dangling from their arm — the subliminal message, of course, being that they’re not only terribly busy, but also virtuously health-conscious.
Famous fans of vitamin drips include singer Rita Ora, who has posted a picture showing vitamin B12 being injected into her bottom with the hashtag #healthiswealth, and supermodel Cara Delevingne, who tweeted a picture of herself having an IV drip to recover from a cold.
Simon Cowell is so enamoured with the drips that he says he has a blend of vitamin B12, magnesium, vitamin C and ‘ something for your liver’ pumped into his body every week.
The latest to succumb to the trend is actress and model Sienna Miller, who recently posted a picture of a drip in her arm during the interval of her West End show Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, captioned ‘Mid show IV maintenance’.
Indeed, beauty clinics claim their elusive cocktails of vitamins can cure everything from jet lag to hangovers, as well as pepping up jaded complexions.
If that wasn’t enough, more therapists are adding on extra bells and whistles to the standard vitamin drip — with Suzanne Milligan’s laser light accompaniment a case in point.
However, despite the fact that more women swear their drips are essential to help them manage their busy lives, experts remain unconvinced by the purported benefits. Many say they could be detrimental to our health and are nothing short of a moneymaking con. Indeed, one IV vitamin session alone can cost up to £450 — and several are recommended for maximum effect.
Dietitian Anna Daniels is emphatic: ‘They are an unnecessary waste of money that can cause complications. At best, you simply excrete excess vitamins and minerals in your urine, meaning there is no effect.
‘But there’s also evidence that taking too many vitamins or minerals at once can be dangerous — high doses of calcium, for example, can cause kidney stones.
‘And with any IV administration, there is a risk of infection.’
She adds: ‘Another problem is that people might think IV drips are a quick fix and neglect their diet, which can provide all the vitamins and minerals we need if we eat healthily. Any unproven benefits are outweighed by potential risks. I would advise against them.’
Suzanne, a personal stylist and married mother- of- two from London, is undeterred. Today sees the second in her course of six weekly IV vitamin fusions at The Elixir Clinic in Central London — costing an eyewatering £2,840.
Even so, Suzanne is adamant that it’s ‘100 per cent worth it’.
‘There’s a small scratch as the needle goes in, but it doesn’t hurt at all,’ she says. ‘Within three days of my first treatment, I had more energy and slept better. My skin also looked fresher and clearer.
‘I’ve had vitamin drips before, but the laser gets things into your blood system faster.’
Can it really? According to The Elixir Clinic, which started offering laser therapy in conjunction with vitamin drips two months ago, the laser light activates the blood cells, allowing vitamins to be absorbed more quickly.
AS WELL as the red light, there is also a blue light laser. Each is shone on the skin for around 20 minutes, and apparently all have different frequencies, with supposedly contrasting effects on the body.
Aside from offering improved vitamin absorption, the clinic claims red light improves energy and circulation and strengthens the immune system, while blue light accelerates wound healing and has anti-inflammatory effects.
However, there are no independent clinical trials to prove that the process helps people absorb vitamin infusions faster, and Anna Daniels is highly sceptical: ‘There is no evidence into the effects of light therapy on vitamin absorption. This makes no sense to me.’
And what of the components of the 300ml vitamin drip itself, which costs £407 as a standalone treat- ment? Suzanne’s therapy, dubbed the ‘VIP’ drip, contains 16 vitamins and minerals, ranging from vitamin B1, which is said to encourage healthy skin and hair, to vitamin C, to counteract stress.
It also has lesser- known components, such as the amino acid ornithine, which, it is claimed, helps metabolise fat, as well as the antioxidant selenium, to prevent the formation of free radicals.
It’s a complex mix, but Daniels is not impressed. ‘Too much vitamin B1 is associated with headaches and insomnia,’ she warns. ‘There is a lack of evidence into the effects of ornithine, and too much selenium can cause nausea and vomiting, along with diarrhoea and fatigue.’
HOWEVER, The Elixir Clinic’s co-founder, Mahi Aramideh, insists their vitamin drips pose no danger. ‘ Your body will absorb what’s necessary and get rid of what it doesn’t need,’ she says. ‘It’s harmless.’ Which begs the question, of course, why vitamin drips are necessary at all.
Yet Rachel Hayhoe, 43, has spent around £3,000 on vitamin drips over the past three years for a variety of reasons: to reduce jet lag, ease hangovers and calm her hay fever.
Rachel is such a fan that she’s considering providing a vitamin drip service at her wedding next year, so her guests feel ‘ refreshed and ready to party’.
Rachel, a production manager for a clothing firm, from Manchester, had her first drip during a Las Vegas break in September 2014.
‘I realised I didn’t suffer from jet lag afterwards,’ says Rachel, who is engaged to Tony, 47, a security consultant. ‘ Since then, I’ve had them before I fly to China for work. They make me alert and help me get straight into business mode.’
Rachel favours two vitamin drips from her local REVIV clinic in Knutsford, Cheshire: the ‘Megaboost’, which has a high dose of vitamin C, and ‘ Royal Flush’, which is claimed to be intensely hydrating. They cost £199 and £349 respectively per session.
‘I’ve had one before a wedding and before a New Year’s Eve party to stay awake and alert,’ says Rachel. ‘ They keep me hydrated and help with hangovers. I noticed an immediate effect.’
Though she gets her daily requirement of vitamins and minerals through a healthy diet, she insists drips make her eyes brighter and her skin radiant.
‘People compliment me, saying I have an instant glow afterwards,’ adds Rachel, who says it’s not just because of ‘ the pure amount of vitamins’, but because of ‘some--
thing called glutathione’. Common in IV vitamin drips, glutathione, which is composed of amino acids, is said by therapists to make the skin brighter.
But, says Anna Daniels, ‘there’s no evidence to show administering it via IV helps with anti-ageing. You’d be better off doing things to naturally increase your glutathione levels, such as reducing stress, being active, ensuring adequate sleep and eating a healthy diet.’
Aesthetic doctor and GP Dr Ross Perry is similarly sceptical that vitamin drips can improve the complexion. ‘There’s evidence to show vitamins C and E can help against sun damage, but I would say they’re better applied topically to protect the epidermis [the top layer of skin],’ he says.
‘The only benefit I can see is from hydration — but drinking water, while not as quick, would probably have the same effect. It’s a “look at me, aren’t I trendy?” fad.’
Lisa Byrne, 44, insists her three IV drips — which cost in the region of £900 — have cured her exhaustion, caused by 13-hour working days spent expanding her lighting business over recent months.
‘My head felt foggy and, even after I’d had a good night’s sleep, I was tired,’ says Lisa, from Daresbury, Cheshire.
Though Lisa claims her diet was already healthy enough not to warrant vitamin supplements, she was enticed into trying drips by the promise of renewed energy, and so enlisted the services of Dr Simon Berrisford of the Select Medical Group in nearby Stretton.
Under his instruction, she chose the ‘Change For The Better’ drip, with ingredients including a compound called carnitine to ‘facilitate weight control’ and the mineral magnesium, to boost energy. Lisa says her partner David, 48, was supportive of her decision.
‘Afterwards, I felt flushed and woozy,’ she recalls. ‘I was lying on a bed and didn’t trust myself to get up. Apparently, it’s your body getting such an intense concoction. I was obviously depleted.’
LUCkILY, Lisa says her energy came back a few days after the second treatment and ‘after the third treatment four weeks later, I felt much better’.
She adds: ‘It is a lot of money, but good vitamins are expensive and, if I took vitamins over the course of the year, it would probably cost the same amount.’ However, GP Dr Ian Campbell believes vitamin drips exploit the growing trend for ‘ wellness’ at the expense established medical fact.
‘Real vitamin deficiencies can cause ill health,’ he says. ‘Oral supplements have a role — but unless there’s a measured, proven lack of any vitamin, there is seldom justification for costly intravenous treatments.
‘Many perceived benefits are likely to be psychological. I would have nothing to do with them.’
One exemption is iron infusions, which have been clinically proven to reduce fatigue in anaemic women. Toby Richards, a professor of surgery at University College London, pioneered intravenous iron therapy in the Uk and last year launched The Iron Clinic.
It costs £650 for a 30-minute iron drip that delivers a year’s supply of the mineral, which can alleviate symptoms of iron deficiency, from hair loss to fatigue, within just five days. The speed of the injection’s effects makes it highly desirable to patients, says Professor Richards, as it takes up to nine months to restore iron levels with oral supplements alone.
Not only this, but ‘iron tablets can give you belly ache, constipation and diarrhoea. A third of all women stop taking them because they can’t tolerate them’.
It’s notable, then, that this leading expert in medically assessed intravenous therapy refuses to recommend trendy vitamin drips.
‘We use IV (therapy) based on hard, solid evidence,’ he says.
But even though many in the medical profession oppose them, women like Rachel Hayhoe show no sign of halting their vitamin drip regime.
‘You get really addicted to the way they make you feel,’ she says. ‘For me, it’s money well spent.’