Have you heard of vitamin O? If you have scoured the Internet for stretch mark cures, the odds are good that sooner or later you will run across this elusive vitamin. Upon checking your daily multivitamin, you will notice that vitamin O is not mentioned anywhere, and you may begin to wonder if there is another supplement, much like minerals, that you have not heard of or may need to purchase in order to ensure your body's health.

For all those who have not heard what is today known to be a scam, fraud, and hoax, and to prevent you from being taken in by a scam artist who will seek to separate you from your hard earned money via some pseudo-scientific claims, here are the assertions and the truth behind the vitamin O lore.

According to the FDA, there is no vitamin O. Instead, it is a made up substance that came on the market in 1998 when the marketing savvy Washington Rose Creek Health Products manufacturer looked for a new gimmick.

The federal government has since sought an injunction against the sale of vitamin O by Rose Creek Health Products pursuant to Sections 5(a) and 12 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45(a) and 52; yet since a vast inventory exists, and since many other manufacturers have since jumped on the bandwagon, the substance is still available, and in some cases even higher priced simply because it is supposedly so rare and more cannot be manufactured.

The content of vitamin O supplements was said to be a liquid which housed intact oxygen molecules as well as several minerals which were to boost the effect of the substance.

Claims about the efficacy of the substance are legion: supposedly it could cure cancer as well as prevent it, stop cardiovascular disease, premature aging, skin wrinkling, sun damage, and tissue destruction. Supposedly the oxygen contained in vitamin O were directly effective on the dermis in cases of stretch marks, and with collagen production being kicked into overdrive, the scar tissue was soon to be eradicated and then new, smoother, and younger looking skin would take the place of the tissue showing the stretch marks.

Some of the more ruthless companies sell a combination of supplement to be taken orally and a cream containing a wide variety of moisturizers as well as vitamin O to be applied topically.

At $20 for a two ounce bottle, the price of vitamin O is quite steep, yet in order to not see skin conditions worsen or revert, the consumer is urged to continue the use of this substance indefinitely.

Obviously, the only thing that will disappear with vitamin O is your money; sadly, your stretch marks will remain unchanged. In some cases consumers reported a bit of success in seeing them fade, but this is due more to the topical application of a lotion or cream that contained vitamin O in addition to several substances known for their skin healing powers. Since that time, Rose Creek has reached a cash-settlement with the FTC.