Biophotonic Scanner

Why get tested?
Scientists from around the world are talking about a brand new invention that is on the verge of changing the way people think about health – the Pharmanex® BioPhotonic Scanner. This revolutionary tool enables us, for the first time, to measure our level of carotenoid antioxidant protection quickly.



Antioxidants are our frontline defense against the free radicals that constantly affect our cells. Over 30,000 scientific papers have been written about free radicals and antioxidants in the last 20 years. With the Pharmanex® BioPhotonic Scanner we can now obtain an accurate reading of your personal antioxidant score.

How does it work?
Sir C. V. Raman discovered the technology on which the scanner is based in the 1920’s. Sir Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the Raman Spectroscopy in 1930.

That was in the 1920's, but until the onset of the computer, optical and laser technology reached its current sophistication, the concept was not really practical.

Raman’s discovery proved that there are certain molecules, like carotenoids, that can be excited with a certain wavelength of laser light. The molecules then begin to resonate in very particular ways, releasing a very specific light signal of an altered wavelength that then can be measured. This discovery was revolutionary at the time, but computer and laser technologies could not fully apply it until recently. In just the last ten years, researchers at a major university, led by Dr. Werner Gellerman, actually started putting all these pieces of technology together.

The scanner technology is a tremendous scientific breakthrough. Scientists realized that the concentration of carotenoids in the eye is related to eye health. Because carotenoids are found throughout the body as part of the body’s antioxidant network, scientists believed this same technology could be used to measure carotenoid levels in human tissue. That’s when the scientists at Pharmanex® collaborated with Dr. Gellerman to develop the Pharmanex® BioPhotonic Scanner.

By simply placing the palm of your hand in front of a safe, low-energy blue light laser, you obtain an immediate reading of your carotenoid antioxidant activity—your antioxidant Score.