Stickers are no longer the preserve of bored toddlers or pimply teens. That colourful patch on your friend’s wrist or arm? It might be for issues with sleep, skin health, cravings or libido. The idea is that they deliver nutrients to your bloodstream via your skin — and they’re big business, with the global market worth £5.4 billion.
What do they do?
Absorption through the skin (transdermal delivery) is well-established pharmaceutical technology — we know nicotine patches and HRT patches work. But the question is whether the same principle applies to vitamins and micronutrients, such as thiamine for stress or taurine for energy.
What’s wrong with pills?
“Up to 40 per cent of adults struggle to swallow pills, and 75 per cent of us forget to take the vitamins we’ve bought,” says Kelly Gilbert, the ex-Vogue beauty editor behind the supplement brand the What Supp Co. “Patches have a far higher compliance rate.”
So do they work?
Clinical data is sparse, although some studies have shown that patches may deliver iron and vitamins K and D more efficiently than tablets.
Professor Stuart Jones, the director of the Centre for Pharmaceutical Medicine Research at King’s College London, sees three key issues. First, the skin is designed to keep things out of our bodies; molecules must be small enough to pass through. Nicotine, oestrogen and magnesium are, but that’s not true of all substances used in patches, he says. Molecules must also be soluble in lipids and water — but not too soluble or they get stuck. Many vitamins and minerals get into the outer layer of the skin but can’t then pass into the blood.
Second, he warns that some patches mix ingredients without adequate lab testing or human clinical trials.
Finally, having tested various brands, Jones says his lab has discovered that “several patches don’t even contain the ingredients they claim to include”.
Doesn’t regulation pick that up?
That’s a gnarly issue. Oral supplements count as food; quality is checked by the Food Standards Agency, and you can guess what the nutrition and health claims committee monitors. But wellness patches are sold in the UK under General Product Safety Regulations — manufacturers must ensure their product is safe, not that it works. If you believe it doesn’t, all you can do is try to claim a refund under the Consumer Rights Act.
So should I bother?
A lack of scientific trials doesn’t necessarily mean the patches don’t work. Gilbert points to feedback from users of Whoop, a tech company that tracks health and fitness data: “Scores consistently show improved calorie burn when someone is wearing our energy patch,” she says.
There could be a psychological element, she admits: “Your mental state influences your physical output before you start moving. But if seeing the patch affects how you think you’ll do and helps you improve, that’s a win.”
Jones is not totally opposed either. He advises checking for clinical trials and agrees that “most people prefer a patch to a supplement, because they can see it”. In other words, it helps the habit stick.