Vitamin T-shirt

What will they think of next? :)

TOKYO (Reuters) - It may never replace vitamin pills, but a T-shirt impregnated with vitamin-C and developed by a Japanese firm may be the next best thing to ensure good health. A spokesman for Fuji Spinning Co Ltd. said on Wednesday his company had come up with a fiber containing a chemical called pro-vitamin that, through contact with human skin, turns into vitamin C.

"The chemical responds to the warmth of human skin and is subsequently absorbed into the body, after which it becomes vitamin C," the spokesman said.

A T-shirt made of the fiber, which the firm has tentatively called V-up, could have the equivalent vitamin content of two lemons and last through some 30 washings, he said.

"This varies according to the individual and we are still checking through testing," he said.

The idea was developed to cash in on a sustained health care boom in Japan. Fuji Spinning aims to have the shirts on the market by early next year. It could not give the price.

The company plans to look into doing the same with other vitamins, as well as producing such items as vitamin-infused underwear.

"The problem is that the cloth has to be in direct contact with the wearer's skin to work," he said. "So things like blouses don't work."

He said the clothing should not be seen as a substitute for regular vitamins. "There's no question that taking vitamin pills is a much better way to get your Vitamin C," he said.