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July 7, 2004 Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner Jessica Zehner receives the Cherry Honey Glow body treatment at Spa Grand Traverse. Growing uses for cherries include bath, bodyByRecord-Eagle staff writer Sure, cherries taste good. And the anti-inflammatory agents of the tart fruit may relieve the pain of arthritis better than aspirin or Ibuprofen. But cherry facials? Cherry pedicures? Cherry hydrobaths? Northwest Lower Michigan's signature product is finding a new and surprising market in bath and body care. And no one is more pleased than Spa Grand Traverse, the first to feature cherry-themed services as a tribute to the region's favorite fruit. The 7,000-square-foot facility at Grand Traverse Resort and Spa offers five cherry services using local cherry products, some made with tart cherry juice concentrate. It even incorporates cherries into its decor and floats manmade cherries in its foot baths. "I think if you're up in Traverse City during the cherry season, it's kind of the kicker," said Spa Director Dawn Pater. "It's like buying a postcard. That's what you're going to remember when you go home." Apart from their fragrance, Pater believes the cherry treatments offer some of the same antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits gained from eating cherries. "I have read some articles about how the health benefits come from ingesting cherries, but I do believe that people who use products with cherry concentrate on their skin also get benefits," she said. "You don't get the intensity you would if you drank cherry concentrate or ate cherries. But it's just like taking vitamins to keep you healthy. Some of the same vitamins also help with wrinkles and puffiness when applied to the skin. Topical things you can put on your skin do penetrate into your system." Leland Cherry Company's Michelle White swears by the healing properties of her company's Cherry Moisture Seal, which her sister-in-law used before and after recent surgery. "She commented on how well her scars healed, and the doctor was just amazed at the elasticity of her skin," White said. While the company primarily markets dried cherries and a cherry concentrate White calls Michelle's Miracle, its Cherry Moisture Seal is one of three cherry body care products it also developed and markets. Others are Cherry Smoothie Bath and Shower Gel and Cherry Body Polish. A Cherry Body Butter is in the works. All use cherry juice concentrate from local Montmorency tart cherries, which contain high levels of melatonin, the antioxidant that has been shown to help in the prevention of cellular damage. "I don't have any scientific proof, but my theory is if it's good to ingest, why wouldn't it be good to put on your skin?" said White, who worked at a local fruit processing plant before starting her own business. "Just like they have melatonin pills and melatonin you put on your skin. And there's aloe you drink and aloe you put on your skin." Deborah Herbig doesn't know if the cherries used in her spa treatments have any healthful benefits - and she doesn't really care. It's the fragrance that has her hooked. "The aroma is just exquisite," said Herbig, a prison librarian who lives in Pickford in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. "I kept waving to keep the aroma right under my nose. It was a very unique sensation. And being that your smell is one of your strongest senses, the smell was just restorative." Herbig, 48, experienced cherry spa services for the first time during a day-long session at Spa Grand Traverse - an anniversary gift from her husband, Joe. Her favorite was Cherry Honey Glow, a full body treatment designed to polish the skin and refresh the mind and body. "You felt like you came out with baby-body skin, like you came out with a whole new skin," she said. "And at my age it was nice to have that refresher course in how soft skin can feel." Pater said the signature service, which uses a cherry bath scrub with cherry concentrate, is the spa's most popular wet treatment. "It has that special touch that gives it a little bit of uniqueness. You're getting a different scent, you're getting the different properties of the cherries, a different texture than just the sea salt," she said. While the Acme spa was the first to roll out cherry services, interest in cherry bath and body products is growing around the country, said Mike Berry, vice-president of Ravenwood Premium Aromatherapy Products. The Traverse City company has been approached by spas in San Francisco and Washington State as well as by a representative of a spa services organization based in Washington, D.C. "She was super excited because they have a big cherry blossom festival there," Berry said. "She said, 'We want to make sure we have this for next year.'¡" Ravenwood introduced its cherry line at last year's National Cherry Festival and has been expanding it ever since. Now it includes nearly two dozen products in three cherry fragrances - modified with cucumber, vanilla and chamomile oils - including Air & Body Spritzers, Body Creme, Lip Balm, Fragrance Oils, Massage Oil, Bath Salts and Salt Scrub. Berry said the products were designed to promote the region's cherry industry just like products using kelp and caviar promote seaside regions. "When my wife and I acquired Ravenwood last year I was surprised there was no cherry line in their portfolio of products," he said. "With more than 350 products, I felt there was something we could do with cherries. It's been a lot of fun and I think it gives us a new twist in cherry marketing." At the same time, the company is "cautiously optimistic" about the potential health benefits of its new antioxidant replenishing cream and other products using cherry concentrate. A customer with rosacea claimed her skin condition began to disappear after using them for only a week. "So far research has been more from the inside out. What we're looking at is more the outside in approach, seeing if - the skin being the largest organ - there are some benefits," Berry said. Dr. Patrick Tobin, a dermatologist with Northwestern Michigan Dermatology, said it's unlikely that cherry concentrate applied topically has any healthful benefit. "Anything's possible," he said. "There are a lot of things that are ingested that are also used topically, most of them without much scientific background. Vitamin E is a good example. "The skin has a pretty good barrier and things aren't absorbed very well. For instance, anesthetic numbs when it's applied to the mucus membrane in the mouth. But if you use it on the surface of the skin it doesn't work very well."
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