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Nutritional Cosmetics: Beauty from Within (Personal Care and Cosmetic Technology)

by: Aaron Tabor MD, Robert M. Blair PhD (Editors) Karen E. Burke, MD, PhD (Foreword)
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0815520298  9780815520290 

Nutritional Cosmetics: Beauty from Within (Personal Care and Cosmetic Technology)
By Aaron Tabor, Robert M. Blair




Product Description:

Nutritional cosmetics is an emerging area of intense research and marketing and encompasses the concept that orally consumed dietary products can support healthier and more beautiful skin. There are numerous dietary ingredients now being marketed for their potential skin health and beauty benefits and many of these are supported by growing scientific evidence. The purpose of this book is to compile the scientific evidence showing the potential benefits of some of the more extensively researched ingredients. As far as possible, information about the benefits of ingredients consumed orally for skin health is presented.


The information contained in this book will help pre insights into an emerging research area and pre scientific background for the potential clinical effectiveness for some of the better researched nutricosmetic ingredients.


ABOUT THE EDITORS


Aaron Tabor, M.D. is the CEO of Physicians Pharmaceuticals and author of The Revival Slim & Beautiful Diet. A graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Dr. Tabor oversees all clinical research on the Revival Slim & Beautiful Diet plan, conducting randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled studies at leading hospitals in the U.S. Areas of note include weight loss, skin/hair/nail appearance, energy, menopause, PMS, cholesterol, memory, and diabetic health. He is also responsible for directing new Revival product development based on clinical research results.


Robert M. Blair, Ph.D. is the Research Manager for Physicians Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and manages the daily activities of the Research and Nutrition departments. Dr. Blair received his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University in the field of Reproductive Physiology. Before joining Physicians Pharmaceuticals, Inc., he worked as an Assistant Professor of Comparative Medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine where he examined the effects of dietary soy on cardiovascular health and cognitive function.




We will all live decades longer than our grandparents and parents and will
have better health in our later years. With this enhanced longevity, we all
want to look as young as we feel. Especially because we are inundated
with images of youthful beauty on television, in films, and in glossy
fashion magazines, we feel social ure to improve our appearance.
Aspiring to maintain "eternal youth" and to look good is not new and is not
just superficial "vanity." Our human nature dictates that we take care of
ourselves and enhance our appearance. Throughout history, women from
Cleopatra to Marie Antoinette to today's movie stars have used cosmetics
and nutrients to beautify and rejuvenate. Indeed recent psychological studies
have proven that the better we look, the better we feel, and the healthier,
happier, and more productive we become.
Today in the United States the number of over-45-year-olds is growing
at three times the rate of the general population. To meet this demand, the
cosmetic, nutrition, and health care industries have created an enormous
variety of anti-aging nutritional products, supplements, topical treatments,
and medical and cosmetic procedures.. Information and misinformation
abound. Sales representatives and retail clerks, popular editorials
and advertisements, television commercials and infomercials, news and
beauty segments, home shopping networks, and the internet-all present
nutritional supplements and skin care products promising beautification
with reversal of the appearance of aging. How can we navigate our way
through this labyrinth of claims and counterclaims?
Over 25 years ago, the prominent dermatologist Dr. Albert Kligman
defined the category "cosmeceuticals" to describe topical formulations
that improve the appearance of the skin by actually altering the function
of the skin in a scientifically measurable way. More recently the terms
"nutricosmetics" or "nutraceuticals" have defined foods and dietary supplements
that benefit the health and beauty of the skin by directly affecting
mechanisms and metabolism. Such cosmeceuticals and nutricosmetics are
not subject to the stringent criteria and costly studies required for "drugs"
in order to pre scientific and medical proof of safety and efficacy for
approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Therefore, while
savvy marketers promote products based loosely on science, consumers
and even physicians cannot truly judge the merits of most claims.
This text, Nutritional Cosmetics: Beauty from Within, edited by
Aaron Tabor, MD, and Robert M. Blair, PhD, presents for the first time
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XXVi FOREWORD
a compendium of the science behind dietary ingredients with the potential
to benefit the health and therefore the appearance of the skin. The authors
are medical doctors and scientists from academia and industry who recognize
that careful, controlled studies are required to demonstrate efficacy of
specific ingredients in humans, even after mechanisms of action are demonstrated
in in vitro and in animal models. Furthermore, substantiation of
each specific formulation of each product applied topically or taken orally
is of utmost importance. The molecular form and the purity of the active
component, the concentration, the vehicle, the pH, and the coating all
affect the absorption and activity and therefore the efficacy.
This text opens with chapters describing in detail the structure and the
physiology of the skin as well as the ethnic variations in certain properties
and disorders of the skin and differences in cultural practices. In the following
chapters, we realize that, amazingly, even several decades ago, we
did not understand that environmental pollutants affect the skin, particularly
sun exposure and smoking. These chapters summarize current
research on mechanisms and consequences of these external onslaughts,
particularly describing recent discoveries regarding the distinction between
intrinsic, natural aging and extrinsic, premature aging, elucidating distinct
clinical manifestations and mechanisms of each. With this review of skin
physiology, how nutricosmetic ingredients can be studied to prove efficacy
can be understood.
The rest of this book compiles evidence and verification as previously
published in the scientific and medical literature as well as internal studies
by industry about dietary ingredients with potential for skin healthincluding
those already being applied topically. With this documentation,
the reader will recognize that there are indeed nutritional supplements that
have scientific substantiation of preventing and reversing aging, of protecting,
of moisturizing, and of treating specific problems of the skin.
The most comprehensively researched nutricosmetics are antioxidants
(vitamins C and E, carotenoids, coenzyme QlO, as well as botanicals such
as the polyphenols [catechins] in green tea, the tannins and ftavanoids in
pomegranate, resveratrol in grapes, anthocyanins in berries, silibinin in
milk thistle, carnosic and rosmarinic acids in rosemary, and genistein in
soy), as well as antioxidant enzymes and trace mineral cofactors for these
enzymes (such as selenium and zinc). Studies on each of these are
excellently and comprehensively reviewed.
Certain nutricosmetics affect epidermal moisturization and barrier
function and/or the extracellular matrix. Some ingredients can increase
synthesis of collagen and prevent the UV-induced degradation of collagen
and elastic tissue by matrix metalloproteinases; others increase fibroblast
FOREWORD XXVII
proliferation and cell turnover and may even induce signaling for cellular
differentiation or apoptosis. A review of evidence that amino acids,
ceramides, and other plant extracts can influence epidermal moisturization
and dermal mechanisms is presented.
One important chapter summarizes the benefits to the skin of probiotics
(living microorganisms), which influence the composition ancl/or metabolism
of the endogenous gut and skin microbiota. By modulating immune
function, probiotics are prophylactic and therapeutic for atopic dermatitis,
skin sensitivity, and food allergies. Lactobacillus johnsonii protects Langerhans
cells from depletion after UV radiation, whereas Lactobacillus pesodoris
inhibits odor-producing bacteria of the gut and armpits.
Numerous epidemiological studies link the abundance of particular
nutrients with disease prevention and improved health. Armed with these
correlations, doctors and scientists have incorporated certain of these
nutrients into topical and oral formulations to improve the health and
appearance of the skin. This text comprehensively reviews research on
nutrients for which there is evidence of benefit to the skin "from within."
Future skin care will undoubtedly focus on these cosmeceuticals and
nutraceuticals. In confirming that we can indeed achieve "beauty through
science," this book is a springboard to stimulate new ideas and future
research.
Karen E. Burke, MD, PhD
Department of Dermatology
Mount Sinai Medical Center
New York, NY, USA

Nutritional cosmetics, more commonly referred to as nutricosmetics,
embraces the idea that beauty can be enhanced through the consumption
of functional dietary products that may support healthier and thus more
beautiful skin. The term nutricosmetics appears to borrow from the terms
nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals to reflect the goal of these products, that
is, to pre health and beauty benefits to the skin via nutritional products
consumed on a regular basis.
The idea that food or other dietary ingredients can support healthy skin
and beauty has existed for ages. Some of the earliest dietary products marketed
for skin health and beauty included Merz Spezial-Dragees in 1964
and Oenobiol's Solaire in 1989. Despite these early forays into the nutrition
and beauty arena, the market for nutricosmetic products has only
recently begun to take off with any real force. A recent market research
report by Kline & Company indicates that the global nutricosmetic market
is valued at $1.5 billion with the vast majority of that due to the markets in
Japan and Europe. According to Euromonitor International, the market for
nutricosmetics was $2.1 billion, which was only 3% of the overall skincare
market, suggesting that nutriticosmetics is still very much an emerging
market. In fact, various market analyses suggest that the market for nutricosmetic
products will continue to increase at a substantial rate.
At the moment it appears that the marketing of nutricosmetics is ahead
of the science for these products and ingredients in general, though that is
not to say that quality research has not been done on some nutricosmetic
ingredients. To date, there are a multitude of ingredients now being marketed
for their purported skin health and beauty benefits and their utility
for incorporation into nutricosmetic products. These ingredients often are
marketed based on their antioxidant capacity and the resulting inferred
skin benefits. However, in many cases no research on their actual dermatological
benefits has been published or conducted. Nonetheless, many of
these ingredients are already being applied topically with positive results,
so it would not be totally surprising if oral consumption produced similar
effects.
A look into the peer-reviewed scientific literature reveals an emerging
body of evidence in support of the potential benefits of nutritional products
for skin health. The studies are wide ranging and explore the effects of
ingredients on both mechanistic endpoints (antioxidant capacity, antiinflammatory
properties, modulation of enzymes involved in extracellular
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matrix restructuring, etc.) and functional endpoints (anti-wrinkling, reduction
of erythema, skin hydration, etc.). While the science in this area is quickly
emerging, it is far from extensive enough to pre definitive conclusions
at this time. In addition to the growing body of evidence published in the
scientific literature, a plethora of information has been presented only in
industry white papers or marketing materials. These materials show the
promise of many of the marketed ingredients and also pre a great starting
point for more definitive studies.
The purpose of this book was to compile the scientific evidence showing
the potential benefits of at least some of the better-studied nutricosmetic
ingredients. We started this project by searching the peer-reviewed
literature for nutritional ingredients with evidence of skin health benefits.
We additionally contacted several industry leaders currently marketing
nutricosmetic products backed by scientific research. The response from
the thought leaders in this field was overwhelming and the result is this
compilation of excellent contributions that delve into the science behind
dietary ingredients for improved skin health.
It is apparent that consumers today are very well informed and take
their personal care very seriously. More and more consumers are looking
for products that are both environmentally friendly and pre specific
health benefits that meet their specific needs. With this interest in the
potential health benefits of the products they consume, the importance of
the science behind the products will continue to grow. While many functional
ingredients will initially do well in the market based on their novelty,
we believe that ingredients and products with sound science behind
them will lead the way in the field of nutricosmetics.
Aaron T. Tabor, MD, and Robert M. Blair, PhD
June 2009