Let’s begin our review today by having you imagine a typical skincare & beauty products aisle lining most pharmacies, department and cosmetics stores. In all likelihood, topical products like those containing retinols, antioxidant, and moisturizers were among those which came to mind. Given the market share cosmeceuticals occupy in this realm, it would be of no surprise. Fortunately, there is another growing realm offering support in the skin care category, that of oral supplements. It is a unique portion of a greater trend in the industry towards an appreciation for the role of both internal skincare strategies, including supplements and dietary changes, as well as lifestyle strategies, such as enhancing motivation for sun protection strategies, sleep support, and reducing the likes of stress and smoking. Our discussion today will revolve around research exploring the use of oral supplements in relation to managing common aesthetic concerns. These include skin characteristics like wrinkling over the face and around the eyes, elasticity, hydration, hyperpigmentation (such as melasma), and improving elements of overall facial complexion and texture.
Collagen Supplements
One of the emerging supplements in the skin beauty market is that of collagen, sometimes referred to as collagen hydrolysate or collagen peptides. If we think of protein structures, which include the skin’s collagen and elastin, as a metal chain,
then the individual chain links would represent amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. By extension, connecting these individual links into smaller chains (ex. 2 or 3 link connections) would represent what are called peptides. It is these smaller peptides which impart much of the benefit collagen supplements provide to skin structures. Common sources of collagen include vegetable and animal sources. In the animal category, bovine, pork, and marine sources such as fish scale, fish skin, and sponge, are often used [1]. Collagen has also received much research attention, as evidenced by a wide range of in vitro, animal, and human testing. This includes studies demonstrating how ingested collagen peptides are absorbed through the intestine and circulate in the body, with eventual deposition in the skin, among other locations [1]. The primary ways in which collagen peptides are theorized to affect skin structures include [2,3]:
- Providing a source of building blocks (chain links in our analogy) for forming more collagen and elastin, which provide the structural and elastic properties of skin.
- Attaching to, and stimulating output from, fibroblasts in skin. These can be conceptualized
- as factories which produce collagen, elastin, and other skin-supportive structures.
- Peptides can mimic those peptides found in wounded skin, tricking the enzymes which normally degrade collagen into thinking sufficient degradation has occurred. This will help ‘turn-off’ these collagen degrading enzymes, and increase net collagen formation.
- Collagen peptides may act as antioxidants, which help neutralize the damage to skin structures imparted by reactive oxygen species, which can be generated by UV light exposure.
Various human studies have demonstrated skin health and aesthetic benefits with the use of collagen supplementation, either alone or as part of a combination supplement containing other nutrients. A summary of key findings from such studies include [4-8]:
- Tissue-based changes:
- Increased levels of procollagen I (which is converted into collagen)
- Improved characteristics of how collagen is organized within the skin
- Increased levels of elastin (which imparts skin elasticity)
- Reduced evidence of elastosis (clumping of abnormal elastin fibers, characteristic of UV-induced skin changes)
- Aesthetic changes noted in skin:
- Reduced volume of fine lines & wrinkling around the eye
- Decreased appearance of nasolabial fold wrinkling (creases from around the bottom of the nose toward outer edge of lips)
- Improved skin hydration/reduced dryness
- Increased skin elasticity
- Improved skin smoothness and texture qualities
Bioactive Polysaccharides
Bioactive polysaccharides represent a group of larger amino-sugar-based structures, known as glycosaminoglycans, typically derived from marine sources. These may be included as part of a ‘complex’, where it is combined with other marine protein fragments and antioxidant sources [9]. Preliminary evidence from laboratory culture studies using human skin cells indicates how secretion of procollagen I is among the effects of such a polysaccharide complex [10]. Human trials have also demonstrated some benefits, where noted findings collectively include [9,11,12]:
- Tissue-based changes:
- Increased collagen and elastin levels
- Reduced skin pH (which helps support a healthy skin barrier and optimal hydration)
- Increased thickness of skin
- Reduced water loss through the skin’s upper layer
- Aesthetic changes noted in skin:
- Increased skin hydration
- Improvements to measures of overall skin appearance
- Reductions to facial skin wrinkling and fine lines
- Reduction in uneven skin pigmentation (such as mottled pigmentation)
- Improved skin texture and smoothness
- Benefits noted by both study investigators and participants alike
French Maritime Pine Bark extracts
Among the primary aspects in which standardized extracts from the bark of the French Maritime Pine tree are used in skin care include both the management of melasma, and other forms of hyperpigmentation, as well as to improve skin barrier and textural qualities [13]. Multiple, small, human trials have collectively demonstrated [9, 13-16]:
- Reductions in both the intensity of pigmentation and the size of melasma lesions (skin affected by melasma)
- Inhibition of the genes, triggered by UV-light, which are involved in increasing pigment production
- Reductions in both clinical grading and melanin pigment index score for pigmentary concerns like age spots and mottled pigmentation
- Significant improvements in participant assessment scoring for skin roughness, wrinkling, age spots and mottled pigmentation
- Improvements in measures of skin elasticity, skin barrier integrity and hydration
Green Tea
Green tea, the unfermented form of the Camellia sinensis leaf, is a popular herb in aesthetics medicine given its rich content of polyphenols, a subset of flavonoid antioxidants [17]. Among the primary reasons for interest in green tea, both in topical and dietary/oral supplement forms, is its potent properties as an anti-inflammatory, along with its ability to prevent UV light- induced skin reddening and depletion of the skin’s antioxidant reserve [17]. One human trial explored the effects of consuming a green tea beverage (1 litre per day containing around 1400mg of total catechin polyphenols) for 12 weeks. Significant benefits were noted in skin elasticity, density, hydration, roughness, and in the degree of localized blood flow. It is this enhancement in skin microcirculation which is believed to underpin at least some of the skin benefits observed [18]. In another study, subjects in the treatment group applied a 10% green tea extract cream twice daily to both the face and arms, while also consuming a green tea oral supplement. The placebo group utilized placebo forms of those same topical and supplement products. With respect to signs of facial aging, no significant differences were found in the clinical assessment between the two groups. However, detailed tissue examination (histologic grading) of skin biopsies did show significant improvements in elastic tissue levels in treatment group [19]. A third study offers results regarding the 2-year use of a green tea supplement in 56 women aged 25-75. The green tea supplement contained 250mg of polyphenols per capsule, at a dose of 2 capsules per day. Sun-exposed arm skin was evaluated by histological
assessment of skin samples, while facial skin was clinically assessed using digital facial photographs (assessing for wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, pore size, roughness, and overall assessment of solar damage). At the 24-month mark, there was no significant differences noted between test and placebo groups for any of the parameters assessed. A potential short-term effect was seen, and may deserve further exploration. This included 2 parameters. First, clinical evaluation of facial skin demonstrated how the green tea group had significant improvement over placebo in overall solar damage at the 6-month mark. Second, significant improvement over placebo for both erythema (redness) and telangiectasias (widened small blood vessels in skin) was seen at 12 months. These however did not persist through to the 24th month. Nonetheless, this may translate into a potential short-term treatment strategy for facial redness, such as that seen in rosacea, among other skin concerns [20].
Ceramides
The role and benefit of topical ceramides, often formulated into moisturizers and cleansers, has helped expand the realm of skin barrier supportive cosmeceuticals. You also may notice its presence among those oral supplements marketed for skin-supportive benefit. In addition to human skin, plants are also a rich source of ceramides, with sources including those derived from wheat, rice, soy, potato, and konjac [21]. Research is discovering phyto (plant)-derived ceramides as a means of replenishing skin barrier integrity and augmenting moisturization [21]. A double-blind controlled trial of 60 subjects evaluated a wheat-derived lipid complex in both an oil and powdered forms as compared to both each other and placebo. Glucosylceramides and digalactosyl diglyceride were the key lipids in the wheat-derived groups. Effects on xerosis (dry skin) and UV-induced facial skin aging were evaluated. Primary findings over the placebo group included a significant reduction in water loss, which signifies an improvement in skin barrier. Also increased was skin hydration, smoothness, and elasticity. A reduction in skin wrinkling around the eyes (crow’s feet) and skin roughness was also noted. These results were all in relation to the 2 active groups over placebo. No significant differences were found between the active groups of oil vs powder forms of the wheat polar lipid complex [22].
As the burgeoning market for skin-supportive oral supplements continues to build, look for the likes of those we reviewed today to be centerpieces in this realm. Although further research is needed, especially form non-manufacturer-sponsored studies, this unique area of Naturopathic Aesthetic skincare may provide a beneficial complement for the various topical, dietary, and lifestyle approaches inherent to it.
Disclaimer: The information presented in this article is strictly for general information purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please first review with your personal healthcare provider(s) what therapeutic approaches and products would be optimal and safe for your personal use.
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