"Spray It and Your Muscle Pain Vanishes?" Thought It Was a Pain Patch... But It's Just a Cosmetic, Not a Drug

Korea Consumer Agency Investigates 20 Cosmetics Sold Online
85% of Muscle Pain Relief Cosmetics Use Exaggerated or Misleading Ads
Ingredient Content Labeling Also an Issue... "Cosmetics Are Not Pharmaceuticals"

Pixabay

A significant number of spray and cream-type cosmetics marketed for relieving muscle pain are being advertised as pharmaceuticals, prompting the need for consumer caution.

The Korea Consumer Agency recently announced that it had examined the safety, major ingredient content, and labeling and advertising practices of 20 cosmetic products sold online that claim to relieve muscle pain (10 spray-type and 10 cream-type), and found that most of them required improvements. The products investigated were cosmetics using ingredients such as magnesium or plant extracts, and are sold for use before and after exercise or on areas with muscle pain.

Examples of labeling and advertisements that may be mistaken for medicines or misperceived by consumers. Korea Consumer Agency

The Korea Consumer Agency explained that while magnesium, when consumed as food, is a nutrient that helps maintain nerve and muscle function, there is insufficient scientific evidence to support that the same functionality applies to cosmetics applied to the skin.

Nevertheless, 17 out of the 20 products investigated (85%) used expressions that could be mistaken for pharmaceuticals, such as "pain relief patch" or "relieves muscle injuries," or carried advertisements that could mislead consumers, such as "it is effective when magnesium is absorbed through the skin." Following the Agency's corrective recommendations, 16 businesses revised or deleted their labels and advertisements, and 1 business discontinued sales.

Ingredient content labeling was also identified as a problem. For products that had been advertised as having a magnesium content of 320,000 to 350,000 ppm, the actual magnesium content was found to be between 11,811 and 41,886 ppm. This amounted to only about 3.7% to 12% of the labeled content.

The Korea Consumer Agency stressed, "Cosmetics are not pharmaceuticals, so even if they contain mineral ingredients such as magnesium, you should not purchase them in expectation of medical efficacy or effects," adding, "It is necessary to carefully check product labels and advertisements."