Enhanced Water Solves Age-Old Dilemma

Mannatech introduces skin care products that are absolutely free - free of preservatives, fragrances and colorants

COPPELL, Texas, April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Skin is nature's sponge. This absorbency can be beneficial if the body's largest organ drinks in what's beneficial. But more often than not, it sops up toxins that can contribute to aging and other problems.

Hence the international trend within the beauty industry toward what is natural and organic. Once relegated to grocery produce departments, signs touting organic products have migrated to the health and beauty aisles.

In the United States alone, natural and organic personal care sales have skyrocketed to $4.3 billion and are expected to increase 50 percent in less than four years, according to a 2006 study referenced on MarketResearch.com. But few consumers really understand that skin care products billing themselves as natural or organic may not be free of age-inducing ingredients.

Global wellness provider Mannatech, Incorporated, has the answer. This month it will begin offering its revolutionary Optimal Skin Care System, a line of products that are absolutely free -- free of preservatives, colorants and fragrances. How did they manage that? The secret is the exceptionally pure and enhanced water technology used in the products.

A few, very expensive products meet the preservative-free definition, but they have to be refrigerated. Optimal products don't. Optimal products contain none of the preservatives in the official listing of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association.

"Mannatech has accomplished a seemingly impossible feat with the Optimal Skin Care System," said Sam Caster, the company's founder, CEO and chairman of the board. "Research indicates that many preservatives, such as parabens, can prematurely age skin, which defeats the purpose of skin care."

Interest in more natural skin care isn't just an American trend. In Europe it represents the fastest-growing sector of the personal care market. That market today rings up $3.9 billion in annual sales -- and is increasing by 20 percent a year, according to MarketResearch.com.

What's driving this growth? For the most part, consumers are informed and reading product labels before making a purchase. The trend toward watching what you eat seems to be carrying over to what consumers put on their skin, especially among aging Boomers.

At the heart of Mannatech's Optimal products is a proprietary filtration and enhancement system that creates 'Tensa' water (Tensa means heavenly). This unique water supports a preservative-free environment (no refrigeration required) and has been shown to hydrate skin cells more efficiently than filtered-only water.

Before the Optimal system debuted last May in Japan, the world's largest skin care market, a clinical study showed Mannatech's new line of seven skin care products produced dramatic improvements in its participants' skin hydration, moisture, smoothness and radiance.