Antioxidant Skincare

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Antioxidant Ingredient Close-Up: Green Tea

Weight issues, acne, poor health, oxidation damage; these are just a few of the things green tea antioxidants can improve. Green tea has long been used as a multi-tasking “healer” in Asian cultures, and has more recently become a staple of many American diets. It has been said that drinking green tea will help prevent one from aging, which sounds more far-fetched than it actually is. What’s green tea’s anti-aging secret? Antioxidants, of course!

Green tea contains particularly potent antioxidants known as catechins. The catechins found in teas, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), are also responsible for green and white tea’s antimicrobial effects and suspected anti-cancer abilities. When taken internally, green tea is able to improve overall health while boosting metabolism and protecting against a wide variety of illnesses. When used topically, green tea is able to provide similar benefits to the skin, including:

• Protection against free radicals
• Reduced visible signs of aging and damage
• Protection against sunburn
• Skin cell rejuvenation
• Inflammation prevention
• Anti-acne benefits
• Anti-psoriasis benefits
• Anti-dandruff benefits
• Skin lightening abilities
• Suspected anti-skin cancer abilities

Green tea is also very calming and soothing, making it a wonderful skin care treatment for conditions such as rosacea. All skin care product types, such as cleansers, moisturizers and treatment products, can be found with green tea as an ingredient, making it easy to build a regimen based on green tea’s extensive benefits. Plus, green tea rarely causes undesired side effects, such as irritation, which means you can use as much or as little as you like without worrying about redness, inflammation or itching.

If you’re looking for a quick, easy way to improve your health, skin and body all at once (who isn’t?), then simply replace your coffee, black tea or soda with a mug of strong green tea. Add honey or lemon to alter the flavor, and possibly even improve green tea’s beneficial aspects. Don’t forget to slather on your green tea antioxidant cream to reduce fine lines, wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, and dullness! With a new green tea regimen, youthful beauty and wellness is just around the corner.

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What’s in Your Mug?

Whether it’s tea or coffee, most Americans are loathe to drive to work without something warm and awakening in their travel mugs. For years, coffee has received a bad rap for its tendency to cause nervousness, jitters, rapid heartbeat, stomach pains, elevated blood pressure levels, and higher cholesterol levels when consumed in excess. However, more and more studies show that coffee’s antioxidant levels may provide as many benefits as those found in antioxidant green tea, white tea, and black tea.

A study published by Dr. Joe Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, stated that coffee is the leading source of antioxidants in the average American diet. You read that right, folks! While coffee may not be the highest on the ORAC scale, most Americans receive the highest amount of their daily antioxidant intake through their morning cup of joe – up to 1,299 milligrams! Unfortunately, while this means coffee is providing us with anti-aging benefits, it also means that Americans still aren’t eating enough fresh fruits and vegetables, which are healthier sources of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.

Coffee is also being studied for its ability to protect against liver and colon cancer, Parkinson’s disease, cavities, and type 2 diabetes. While much more research needs to be done in order to fully know coffee’s risks and benefits, it is clear that, when consumed in moderation, coffee is a great contributor to one’s health and general well-being.

Like coffee, tea is a favorite morning beverage. Tea is available in thousands of variates, and known for its soothing, comforting, and rejuvenating abilities. Green tea has long been touted for its high antioxidant levels, but green tea’s antioxidants are actually surpassed by those found in white tea. Black tea comes in last place for antioxidant levels, most likely due to the fermentation process. Though white tea does have higher antioxidant levels, green tea is still the front-runner for improving one’s overall health. Green tea can help burn excess fat, reduce one’s risk of cancer, and help prevent inflammation.

So, which is better? Even with coffee’s relatively new-found redeeming qualities, tea is still a healthier choice. However, coffee does provide antioxidants and other benefits, so don’t give up your morning jolt if you don’t want to! Whether you’re a steadfast tea drinker or a hardcore coffee lover, you have skin antioxidant options, too. While tackling free radicals internally, try Juara’s Invigorating Coffee Scrub or Green Tea Botanicals’ Anti-Aging Calming Serum with Peptides. These skin care products, as well as other products containing tea or coffee ingredients, will improve and protect your skin with antioxidants while supplying targeted actions against visible signs of aging and damage.

source:flickr by:Arlo Bates

A History of Antioxidants

Before antioxidant skin care and daily antioxidant supplements, there was the prevention of metal corrosion and rubber vulcanization. Antioxidants have been around long before today’s beauty care products and pomegranate-acai beverages became popular, and they’ll continue to provide benefits after the antioxidant craze dies down. Ever wonder how antioxidants became known as one of the greatest anti-aging tools we have at our fingertips? Here’s a brief history of antioxidants from its first uses to today’s antioxidant-infused world.

Antioxidants were used by engineers in the 19th century to prevent metal from corroding and rubber from vulcanizing, thereby saving millions of dollars in materials every year. However, it wasn’t until the 20th century that the same principals were successfully applied to biotechnology, a feat that would change the course of history.

During the mid-20th century, scientists set out to lengthen the life of foods. Using foods high in unsaturated fat, the scientists applied antioxidants and found that they were able to prevent rancidity. As the scientists continued to study the effects of antioxidants on foods, they discovered that many of the essential nutrients consumed by humans on a daily basis were actually antioxidants! It was then that one man who would later be known as “the father of the free radical theory of aging” set out to study the effects of free radicals and antioxidants on human aging.

In 1954, Denham Harman became a research associate at Donner Laboratory of Medical Physics at UC Berkeley. Harman quickly set out to study the puzzle aging and its causes. After four months of dead-ends, Harman considered the role of free radicals in aging. Like most new ideas or discoveries, the theory was initially scoffed at by Harman’s peers. Regardless, Harman was able to get his findings published in the Journal of Gerontology, and his article is now an often cited piece of science.

Thanks to the engineers of the 19th century, and scientists like Denham Harman, we now know that antioxidants are able to improve our health and quality of life. When used in skin care products, antioxidants are able to prevent visible signs of aging, like fine lines and wrinkles, which indeed helps us appear younger and healthier. Perhaps the Fountain of Youth exists after all, filled to the brim with antioxidants.

Can Antioxidants Prevent Skin Cancer?

Antioxidants are promoted for many uses, including everything from general health to anti-aging benefits. But, what about skin cancer? It’s a legitimate question; basal cell carcinoma, a skin cancer, is the most common form of cancer, affecting over one million people each year in the US alone. Similarly, melanoma, a less common form of skin cancer, can be one of the most lethal types of cancer.

Sun-caused ultraviolet damage is the leading cause of skin cancer. The American Cancer Society states that, “Many of the more than 1 million skin cancers diagnosed each year could be prevented with protection from the sun’s rays.” When excessive (more than 15 minutes) or cumulative unprotected sun exposure occurs, the sun’s UV rays damage the DNA within the skin. The body will try to repair the damage before mutation occurs and cancer develops. However, sometimes a person’s body is unable to repair the UV damage, which results in visible signs of damage, such as sun spots, wrinkles and loss of elasticity, as well as skin cancer.

Sunscreen and protective clothing, such as hats, go a long way in preventing sun damage and therefore skin cancer. But, what if we could add antioxidants to our arsenal? Many studies found that antioxidant foods and antioxidant skin care products would certainly help protect the skin against cancer-inducing damage.

To know if antioxidants are a worthwhile method for preventing, and even treating, skin cancer, we first have to understand how skin cancer is formed. Thymine is a base pair that forms some of the blocks in the double-helix of everyone’s DNA. Ultraviolet radiation binds thymines together to form thymine dimers. When thymine dimers occur, the body splits them up again with a cellular process. However, when the thymine dimers get split up, there’s a chance for mutation, which can become cancerous.

Research into the effects of antioxidant vitamins on sun damage has shown that vitamins C and E can drastically reduce the severity of sunburn, which, in turn, reduces the number of thymine dimers created. With less thymine dimers around, there’s a smaller chance of cancerous mutation occurring.

So far, there’s only been one topical antioxidant product clinically proven to reduce the incidence of thymine dimers. Based on five years of extensive research, Phloretin CF by SkinCeuticals protects against free radicals and other mutation-causing molecules while also repairing damage by stimulating protein and fiber synthesis and boosting skin cell turnover. Although Phloretin CF is the only skin care product clinically proven to have a direct result on thymine dimers, it’s certainly not the only one. Products containing proper concentrations of stabilized vitamins C and E will offer wonderful antioxidant protection against the environmental damage that can lead to thymine dimers and other forms of damage.