A close-up: antioxidants and emotional benefits

After all, this year’s In-Cosmetics Global catalogue listed 122 antioxidants. They are claimed to have antioxidant or radical scavenging activity, as tested in various in vitro models, but if you look for solid, vehicle-controlled, clinical studies, hardly anything can be found. Only publications by Prof Dr Jürgen Lademann, head of the Centre of Experimental and Applied Cutaneous Physiology of the Charité and his colleagues as well as by Prof Dr Jean Krutman, head of the IUF – Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine and his colleagues seem to have bothered with publishing significant clinical trials. 

This is all the more disappointing as, for instance, the paper by Lademann’s group recently showed that free radicals from UV irradiation are generated fastest in living beings rather than in ex vivo skin models, whatever the wavelength used. This implies that positive ex vivo data do not necessarily translate into effective in vivo protection. The necessity of adding antioxidants to SPF-loaded formulations can only be demonstrated credibly in benchmarked clinical protocols. 

Even the numerous in vitro studies on antioxidant potential do not make much sense unless several distinct protocols are used together as Grazia Luisi et al. (2019) from the Faculty of Pharmacy of Chieti in Italy demonstrate. This approach could lead to a more complete understanding of the mechanisms. 

Dr Alain Mavon, Senior Director of Science & Innovation, Ori-flame Cosmetics in Sweden presented the development of a stem cell-derived devil’s claws (H. procumbens) extract that is designed to protect the skin against various forms of pollution by working as a biochemical and biophysical shield. 

Reviewing the increasing number of items that compose the exposome and attack the skin, while also explaining the benefits of plant stem cell technology, he showed the benefits of such an extract, with a distinctly enriched and identified sacrificial antioxidant such as verbascoside. The message clearly outlined that a regimen of several steps (creams, cleansers) with such well specified and reproducible scavengers, combined with a particle-repellent technology is necessary to achieve clinically relevant results.