Skin Care Articles by
Dr. Carraway
Antioxidants
According
to a recent article in SpaFinder magazine (May/June 2007), “antioxidants”
is a marketing word that is completely overused, but describes a group
of compounds which can play a key role in keeping your skin healthy.
We have known that there are many antioxidants available, and some
of these have been tested clinically in double-blind studies and found
to be good. The question is, how many of them are good and should
they simply be applied to the skin or should they be taken orally
as well?
First, I think a word about the function of antioxidants is important.
Antioxidants scavenge or neutralize free radicals in the body, and
free radicals are compounds that are present all of the time as a
result of normal body metabolize or in some cases as a result of the
introduction of compounds which stimulate more free radical production
than normal. Free radicals in chemical terms contain an unpaired electron
which seeks other compounds to pair up with. By stealing electrons
from normal molecules, sometimes other free radicals are produced.
These free radicals can disrupt DNA, certain enzymes, and mitochondria
in the cells. In the skin, the free radicals can attack collagen and
cause it to lose its elasticity.
Some of the most dramatic levels of free radicals can result from
sun exposure, smoking, excess alcohol and caffeine consumption, and
chronic stress. Eating too much food or high fat diet may also create
a shower of free radicals.
Usually antioxidants are compounds that come from plants. Vitamin
E, flavonoids, and other compounds which number into the thousands
become all-purpose scavengers in the skin or in the body. Animal sources
of antioxidants are fewer in number, but include such compounds as
glutathione, SOD (superoxidedysmutase) and COQ10. Some mineral sources
such as cooper, zinc, and selenium also can play a helpful role in
the scavenging of free radicals in the body. The best known plant
antioxidants are vitamins A, C, and E and have been shown to reverse
skin aging when used topically.
Because there are so many plant sources for antioxidant compounds,
there are naturally a lot of antioxidant products on the market. Green
tea, sunflower seeds, vitamin C are examples of some the commonly
used skin compounds which improve aging.
One of the problems in evaluating these compounds is that different
study groups may get different results. For example, a study from
Eastern Virginia Medical School noted that Prevage, which contains
Idebenone, gave good results in reversing skin aging. Another group
noted that Prevage offered little or no value compared with serum
containing vitamin C, E and ferulic acid. What we do know, however,
is that the action of these antioxidants is not dramatic, but probably
all of them have some beneficial effect over the long run. The bottom
line is that you should pick one product and use it to see how your
skin reacts to it and whether or not you are sensitive to that compound.
If not and the compound in addition gives you a result in terms of
better appearing skin, then you may have the product for you. Good
advice from your skin care specialist that you trust is also helpful
and can guide you along the pathway which is becoming more of a maze
because of the multiple products on the market in all categories. |
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