Beauty may be no more than skin-deep, but many of us think that leaves plenty of room for improvement. So a new dietary treatment that promises to shrink wrinkles from inside the skin is bound to be big news when it is launched next month.
In one of the two French studies, researchers also took 4-millimetre-deep biopsies from 110 women before and after treatment to study the production of collagen – a protein that is a key structural component of skin. Antibodies that stain tissue red where new collagen is produced revealed that after treatment a fifth of recipients had significantly more fresh collagen in the deepest skin layer – the dermis – than those who had received a placebo. More sensitive tests will be needed to ascertain any differences in the remaining biopsies, says Casey. Partial results were presented at the Society for Investigative Dermatology meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, last year; Casey says that the full data will now be sent to journals for peer review.
Casey's team used skin cultures and gene activity tests to ascertain the effect of certain natural food extracts on "master" genes, which orchestrate the behaviour of lots of other genes – in this case, those involved in collagen synthesis. The blend that activated these genes most strongly included vitamins C and E plus isoflavones from soya, lycopene from tomatoes and omega-3 polyunsaturated acids from fish oil
The blend includes isoflavones from soya. These activate oestrogen receptors that trigger the skin to make collagen Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, DOI: 10.1016/s0273-2300(03)00091-6). Another ingredient in the capsules is omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids taken from fish oil, which activate a master gene called PPAR that is also involved in collagen synthesis (Journal of Lipid Research , DOI: 10.1194/jlr.m800614-jlr200).
Read the complete story from The New Scientist