Skin hydration improved by 9% while skin thickness increased by 6% following 12 weeks of supplementation with a micronutrient-dense concentrate of a range of fruit and vegetables including cherry, apple, broccoli, cranberry, orange, pineapple, spinach, and tomato.
Writing in Skin Pharmacology and Physiology, scientists from Heinrich Heine University and the University of Witten-Herdecke in Germany report that skin microcirculation also improved by almost 40% following supplementation with the juice concentrate, which could boost the supply of nutrients and oxygen to the skin and thereby boosting health.
Market potential
The research adds to a growing body of literature on the potential skin health benefits of orally-ingested nutrients. This has led to the rise of the nutricosmetics sector, valued at $1.5bn in 2007, and is expected to grow to $2.5bn by 2012, according to the most recent market data available from Kline Group – which closely tracks the market for beauty-from-within products.
The new study used the commercial products Juice Plus+ by NSA LLC, and the company also co-funded the study. The fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrate contained acerola cherry, apple, beet, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cranberry, kale, orange, peach, papaya, parsley, pineapple, spinach, and tomato, while the added berry powder included bilberry, blackberry, black currant, blueberry, cranberry, Concord grape, elderberry, raspberry and red currant.
Study details
Twenty-six healthy middle-aged women were recruited to participate in the double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized study. Volunteers were required to consume either four capsules per day of the juice concentrate supplement or placebo for 12 weeks.
Using a device called 'oxygen to see', the researchers report that microcirculation improved by 39% in the juice group, whereas a decrease was recorded in the placebo group.
In addition, skin hydration, density and thickness improved by 9%, 16% and 6%, respectively, following consumption of the Juice Plus+ capsules.
“It is known that skin density and thickness decrease during the aging process,” wrote the researchers. “It is unknown if this process can be counteracted by micronutrients, but intervention of 12 weeks was sufficient to improve thickness and density in this study.”
Beauty From Within 2011
NutraIngredients.com will co-host the second Beauty From Within Conference with our sister site CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com. The conference, to be held in Paris on 27th October 2011 will get under the skin of the blossoming nutricosmetics segment.
The program features top-drawer speakers, including Dr Marie Béjot, founder of Oenobiol (Sanofi-Aventis), and Michel Donat, director for regulatory affairs and product security for Inneov.
Click here for more information and to register.
Source: Skin Pharmacology and Physiology
2012, Volume 25, Pages 2-8, DOI: 10.1159/000330521
“An Encapsulated Fruit and Vegetable Juice Concentrate Increases Skin Microcirculation in Healthy Women”
Authors: S. De Spirt, H. Sies, H. Tronnier, U. Heinrich