Issue 37 — July 2004

Issue 37
Category		Title		Author
Newsletter		Beauty from within		Sybille Buchwald-Werner

Introduction

Health and beauty - attributes that can be difficult to maintain faced with hectic lifestyles, environmental factors and unbalanced diets. Every day we are confronted with a wide range of harmful influences. Both internal and external stress, for example, has become an inescapable part of modern day living. The skin is a mirror of our overall condition: at around our mid-20's, its natural capacity to regenerate starts to decrease; signs of aging appear - visible evidence of changes that have occurred deeper within the skin's structure. And, whether we like it or not, we live in a culture where youthfulness is prized and idealized. For the growing number of ageing baby boomers - women and men - looking younger than their years has assumed near-monumental importance. The most effective way to delay the ageing process and to boost skin radiance is to take a holistic approach. Alongside high-performance topical skincare products which improve the skin's outer layer, these 'skingestibles', such as vitamins, botanical extracts and other natural ingredients, can help to restore or maintain its inner structures. Such products are now available offering a range of benefits to the skin including anti-ageing, sun protection, body-shaping and there is a huge demand for holistic treatments for problem skin such as dry skin (1, 2).


In this article, we're taking a closer look at the elements needed for a successful body shaping product. Of course, Beauty from within is not a just a female concept. Men are now more concerned with their health and bodies than ever before. Gone is the macho attitude that it's only wimps who care about their appearance. Nowadays, men not only have to be successful in business and full of energy but also stylish and well-presented. In one recent survey of men's views on strategies for job success, nearly 70% of respondents believed appearance affects salary and that looking younger is important for career advancement and promotion. Demand for cosmetic products and nutritional supplements that help them achieve this is therefore increasing.

Market trends

Beauty from within, nutricosmetics, beauty supplements - these are all common terms for holistic, innovative skin nutrition concepts applied to dietary supplements as well as to functional food products (3). Experts predict the best growth potential in the 'beauty inside' market will be in beauty foods and drinks. Products such as teas, drinkable 'health shots' and dairy products are entering the market mainly via Japan. Emphasis is on small, 60-100g size products, designed to be consumed in one go to simplify their use and increase consumer compliance.
Beauty from within concepts can be positioned as daily-use products or as 'spa-at-home' products with a recommended period of use.
The aim is to combine optimal active ingredients into a high-performance formula with guaranteed bio-availability and efficacy (4).

Body shaping concept

Firm skin and a good body contour are signs of youth. The number of different words used to describe the same effect - body shaping, body firming, body contour, anti-cellulite - demonstrates the demand for this kind of product.
A combination of at least three different mechanisms activated simultaneously increases the success rate of a treatment:

1. a decrease in body fat mass while maintaining lean body mass
2. collagen and elastin enhancement
3. radical scavenger activity

One example of such a holistic concept would be the combination of CLA = conjugated linoleic acid (6 g/ day), natural vitamin E (10 mg RRR-alpha-Tocopherol/ day), green tea extract standardized to polyphenols (100 g/ day) and grape seed extract standardized to OPC (100 mg/ day).

The innovative part of this concept is the addition of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a 50:50 mixture of the two bioactive isomers: cis-9, trans-11 and trans-10, cis-12 linoleic acid obtained from safflower oil. CLA improves body composition by decreasing body fat mass and maintaining lean body mass (5). In a short-term study, normal-weight subjects experienced a 20% reduction in body fat after supplementing with CLA and exercising for 90 minutes 3 times a week (6). Even without physical activity, research has demonstrated a 9% decrease in body fat in overweight subjects following one year's supplementation with CLA (7, 8). For supplements, raw materials containing 80% CLA are recommended to minimize the number of capsules needed per day and thus increase consumer compliance.

Antioxidants should also be included in such supplement or functional food formulations because oxidation is involved in both intrinsic skin ageing processes and extrinsic processes due to sunlight exposure. Antioxidants control cell-damaging free radicals by becoming oxidized themselves. Excessive production of these harmful agents may destroy healthy cells, affect the cell ageing process and damage DNA. A cornucopia of natural actives are available such as natural-source vitamin E, grape seed extract or green tea extract.

Natural vitamin E is one of the most common ingredients in skincare products. It's included both for its moisturizing and antioxidant properties. Studies suggest that, taken orally, it can help prevent photoageing of the skin (9). In addition vitamin E protects collagen - a protein vital for maintaining normal skin - from the destructive enzyme collagenase (10).

Green Tea Extract, which preliminary research suggests may have a beneficial role in body composition by speeding up fat oxidation (11). Its high polyphenol content also gives it antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties.

Grape Seed Extract which may limit dietary fat absorption and accumulation of fat in adipose (fatty) tissue, according to a recent study. It also contains proanthocyanidin, a bioflavonoid and powerful antioxidant. It is also thought to help improve and preserve the skin's elasticity by stabilizing collagen and elastin (12).

Selecting the natural active ingredients is the first step in the product's development. Bioavailability, safety and efficacy must all, therefore, be investigated. After determining the compounds' stability and theoretical point of absorption, the bioavailability is tested using cell culture systems. Even when the stability and bioavailability of single active ingredients is already established, tests need to be performed on the combination of these ingredients to ensure that absorption is not reduced or blocked by interactions between them. The first indication of the body-shaping product's efficacy can also be obtained from cell culture tests, such as measurement of the number and size of adipocytes to determine in vitro efficacy. Clinical studies with human volunteers are the final stage and should demonstrate significant efficacy.

Conclusion

Consumer understanding is growing as is their awareness of, and interest in, what goes into products (13). Brand loyalty cannot, therefore, be taken for granted. Innovative products for 'beauty from within' should communicate the science behind the products simply and effectively, thus enabling the consumer to come to their own decision and select exactly what they want. For the manufacturer, only products with proven effects and properties will be able to retain their competitive edge in the face of competition from "me too" products. Though undoubtedly a challenge, both demands can be met by innovative beauty from within concepts. There's clearly a growing trend towards cosmetic-orientated dietary supplements or functional food products.

References

1 Roza, L.; Boelsma, E.; Hendriks, H.F.J.: Nutritional skin care: Health effects of micronutrients and fatty acids, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2001, 73, 853-864
2 Fenske, N.A.; Lober, C.W.: Structural and functional changes of human aging skin, L. Am. Acad. Dermatol, 1986, 15, 571-585
3 Matthews, I.; Trend in cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals, Happi, July, 2003
4 Roza, L., Boelsma, E.: Can food influence skin condition?, Nutracos, Volume (2) 2002
5 Nelson Cortes H.: Conjugated Linoleic Acid, a Declining Natural Dietary Asset, NutraCos, May/June 2003
6 Thom E., Wadstein J., Gudmundsen O.: Conjugated linoleic acid reduces body fat in healthy exercising humans. J. Int. Med. Res. 2001;29, 392-6.
7 Gaullier J.M., Berven G., Blankson H., Gudmundsen O.: Clinical trial results support a preference for using CLA preparations enriched with two isomers rather than four isomers in human studies. Lipids. 2002 Nov,37(11),1019-25
8 Gaullier J.M., Halse J., Høye K., Kristiansen K., Fagertun H., Vik H., Gudmundsen O.: Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) supplementation for one year reduces body fat mass in healthy, overweight humans. in press
9 Wolf R., Vitamin E: The radical protector. J. Acad. Dermat. 1998, 3, 611-625
10 Ricciarelli R., Maroni P., Ozer N., Zingg J.M., Azzi A.: Age-dependent increase of collagenase expression can be reduced by alpha-tocopherol via protein kinase C inhibition. Fr. Rad. Biol. & Med. 1999;27:729-737
11 Abdul G. Dulloo, Claudette Duret, Dorothée Rohrer, Lucien Girardier, Nouri Mensi, Marc Fathi, Philippe Chantre, Jacques Vandermander : Efficacy of a green tea extract rich in catechin polyphenols and caffeine in increasing 24-h energy expenditure and fat oxidation in humans. Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 1999, 70, 1040-1045
12 Shi J., Yu J., Pohorly J.E., Kakuda Y.: Polyphenolics in grape seeds-biochemistry and functionality. J Med Food. 2003, 6(4), 291-9
13 Trends presentations review: in-cosmetics 2003., Cossma

Author

Dr. Sybille Buchwald-Werner



Dr. Sybille Buchwald-Werner has been working at Cognis Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG since 2001, first in the Care Chemicals business unit responsible for Botanicals Marketing. Since August 2003 she has been responsible for technology scouting and special project like "Beauty inside" and "Botanical specialties" in the Nutrition & Health business unit. Sybille Buchwald-Werner obtained her doctorate at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry of Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorfext