Safety concern over breast boosting pill

By KATHERINE HOBY

Take 10 pills a day, add water, and watch your breasts grow, by up to two cup sizes.

This is the claim being made by an international company promoting their natural breast enhancement product, Erdic. The Consumers' Institute, however, has its doubts.

While it cannot prove the product does not work, it cautions against buying Erdic, saying there have been no trials looking at long-term results or safety.

But Erdic's New Zealand coordinator Peter Williams disputes that the product is dangerous or "a rip-off".

"The product has gone crazy overseas and I don't know that we've ever had anybody unhappy here," he said.

The ingredients in the pills, which cost $1500 for a six-month course, include extracts and fibres of malt, hops and barley, which contain phytoestrogens (plant oestrogen). According to advertising material, these mimic the effects of oestrogen, a hormone which can help stimulate breast tissue growth.

The pills take anywhere from three weeks to six months to start working. Results are said to be permanent, and the product works in 85 per cent of women.

The Consumers' Institute is concerned about the cost, which could reach $2700 with the company's finance option, and that there are virtually no trial results.

The only testing Erdic points to is a Dutch trial involving just 20 women. Half the group took Erdic and 50 per cent of them had a bust measurement at least 2cm larger.

Mr Williams said Erdic had been available in New Zealand for more than a year and at least 100 women had bought it.

Women ranging in age from 18 to 55 had signed up for Erdic, mostly for self-esteem reasons, he said.

The product's website includes testimonials from Erdic users across the globe, including a former British beauty queen. Some women say they have increased their bust size by up to two sizes.

The company does offer a money-back 180-day guarantee, but only on unopened boxes.

A Consumer magazine article is scathing on this point: "If you keep trying for six months, as recommended, you can kiss goodbye to your $1500".

Mr Williams hoped there would be more testing.

"I know there haven't been massive trials and that does kind of surprise me," he said.

The Consumers Institute advises that it's not worth buying Erdic. "The first rule of rip-offs is that if it sounds too good to be true - it probably is - and Erdic sounds far too good to be true."