When a reader asked me to look at a brand called Youth Revive, I noticed that they were using a “natural sunscreen” ingredient called phytessence urucum, derived from a plant and supposedly a more powerful sun protector than vitamin E. Because I am not entirely convinced that conventional sunscreen ingredients (chemical or physical) are all that safe, I am always interested to come across potential alternatives or techniques, such as the clever one used by Chella, to make existing ones safer.

Cosmetic companies, such as Murad, have recently been finding plant extracts that help protect skin from the sun’s rays. In Murad’s case, it is pomegranate. However, the claims made for phytessence urucum – in a clinical test, cells treated with it had 63% less damage than cells exposed to UV without protection – piqued my curiosity. It turned out – whether you are a budding botanist or wrinkle warrior – to be really interesting.

Phytessence urucum is caprylic/capric triglycerides and bixa orellana seed extract. Sometimes called the lipstick tree because of the red dye (the original Amerindian warpaint) that can be made from the seeds, bixa orellana is a South American shrub. It is a strikingly beautiful plant and is used to cure an implausibly long list of ills, from snakebites to pleurisy. The red pigment, called anatto in the food industry, is all important as it contains something called bixin.

Which takes us to the outperforming vitamin E part. It isn’t exactly that it is more potent than vitamin E, but that it has a higher concentration of delta-tocotrienol than any other plant. And delta-tocotrienol is not your mother’s vitamin E; it is the best form of vitamin E that you can get. In addition, oil made from the seeds (of which there are gazillions as even a small tree produces about 270 kilos) is rich in carotenoids, making it an effective antioxidant. Alpha-tocotrienol has been shown to be 40 – 60 times more potent than alpha-tocopherol as an antioxidant in the prevention of lipid peroxidation. Delta-tocotrienol has been shown to be the most effective tocotrienol in inhibiting human breast cancer and liver cancer cells.

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At this point, you know better than to lay out in the summer sun frying like a chicken, though you may wish you could’ve told a younger version of yourself that years ago. Starting in childhood, the ultraviolet light in the sun’s rays begins to damage unprotected skin, leaving us vulnerable to cancer in adulthood and destructing collagen and elastin in our skin. You have the sun to thank for much of the thinning, wrinkling, and texture and pigment irregularities that you’ve been graced with later in life.

Even though sunlight is vital to human health (since it prompts the body to produce vitamin D and wards off seasonal affective disorder during the winter), it’s very easy to overdo it, as is true for all good things. Exposing your skin to UV rays ultimately damages the DNA in your skin cells, which sends an open invitation to cancer to come a-knocking. Here are some tips for being sun savvy before and during exposure to UV light.

BEFORE

It’s a no-brainer that you should apply a daily moisturizer with SPF on your face before leaving home every day (you can find some suggestions here). But if you’re planning on spending an extended period of time outdoors, it is critical to use a good sunscreen on your entire body, ideally 15-30 minutes before going out in the sun (same numbers go for the SPF as well). Depending on your level of activity (swimming and sweating are not friends of sunscreen) and length of time outside, you’ll need to re-apply.

When choosing a sunscreen, look for the physical sunscreen agents zinc oxide and titanium oxide or the chemical sunscreen agent avobenzone. These active ingredients are the best overall blockers of UVA and UVB. Also, make sure to check the expiration date on your sunscreen bottle. Even though the FDA requires that all sunscreen remain at their original strength for at least three years, resist the urge to buy in bulk in this instance. Sunscreen is one of those special cases where you actually need the ingredients to be 100% effective to protect your own health.

It’s easy to neglect your lips when you’ve coated every square inch of your skin. But the lips are susceptible to basal and squamous cell carcinomas. Procect your pout with an SPF-loaded lip balm, but steer clear of the standard makeup glosses. Though they may make your lips glisten, they also attract UV rays in the same way as baby oil. Accelerating light penetration, lip glosses make skin extra vulnerable to burns, freckles, and precancerous growths.

Also, wear sensible, lightweight clothing, such as a long sleeved shirt and a large-brimmed hat (the scalp is not immune from skin cancer), which will provide as much coverage as possible without making you sweat. It may seem extreme, but people with a high SPF IQ apply sunscreen underneath their clothing before getting dressed on days that they plan to be out in the sun for a long stretch. The typical T-shirt tends to provide only an SPF of 5 to 8. Unless clothing is densely woven or is treated to be sun-blocking, it won’t be sufficient for full protection.

DURING

You wag your finger at people who frequent tanning booths and slather on tanning oil. You’ve been programmed to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun, especially between the hours of 10AM and 4PM. But there are some facts that might surprise you. For instance, did you know that where you live is the single most important factor is assessing your risk of skin cancer? Your location affects such variable as altitude, number of sunny days, and ozone condition. But short of moving to Seattle, the best you can do is patch up the gaping holes in the average sun protection plan.

Once you’re out and about, there are some things you can do to effectively safeguard your skin. Don’t take for granted that the windows of your car block out harmful sunlight. UVA rays (which lead to wrinkles and skin cancer) penetrate right through the glass into your skin if it is not clothed or covered with sunscreen. In 2007, researchers at the St. Louis University School of Medicine found that people who spend a great deal of time behind the driver’s wheel tend to develop more skin cancers on the left side of their faces, necks, and arms. Coincidence?

If you thought that lounging under your beach umbrella or in the shadow of a tree kept you hidden from the sun, guess again. About 50 to 90% of rays can be reflected off of water, sand, or pavement and bounce right onto your skin, even if it is surrounded by shade. The same rule applies to a cloudy day, since 80% of UV rays manage to sneak through the clouds to assault your skin. By staying mindful of these sun facts, you’ll lower your risks for outward signs of aging and inward health scares.

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Chemical vs. Physical sunscreens

Is sunblock overrated?

Moisturizers with built-in sunscreen

Soleo Organics is a new sunscreen that, amongst other things, proclaims that it is titanium dioxide free. Now why, thought I, should it do that? Is titanium dioxide, a physical sunscreen, something to be avoided? Having only recently put myself off most chemical sunscreens beginning with the letter O (see last Monday’s post), was I now going to have to reconsider titanium dioxide as well? Many hours on Google later……

The basic distinction that is made between chemical and physical sunscreens is that chemicals absorb the UV rays and radiation, while physical sunscreens reflect and/or scatter UV rays and radiation. Actually, it turns out that this isn’t entirely true, but I’ll come back to that. In the meantime, you’ll probably have noticed that titanium dioxide turns up almost every sunscreen with a physical blocker, because it reflects UVA and UVB rays and it doesn’t discolor under ultraviolet light.  As a not entirely pointless aside, it is worth noting that titanium dioxide is a pigment and is sometimes used in toothpaste and to make skimmed milk look less like dishwater.

Controversy erupted when the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) pronounced titanium dioxide to be a group 2B carcinogen, eg ”possibly carcinogen to humans”. Now, any manufacturer that uses TD will be quick to point out the IARC conclusions were based on very specific evidence of high concentrations titanium dioxide dust in the respiratory tracts of rats. So not being a dust-inhaling rat why worry, just slather on the sun cream.

Well, it turns out that there might be one or two causes for concern.

For a start, TD doesn’t just reflect rays, it also absorbs them. And this means that, like chemical sunscreens, TD is a photosensitizer, absorbed by the skin and resulting in an increased production of free radicals. In a book called Sunscreen Photobiology—Molecular, Cellular and Physiological Aspects, the author Francis Gasparro says TD illuminated by short wave UV kills human cells. “The distinction between ‘chemical’ sunscreens and ‘physical’ sunscreens, attractive though it may be to those who market them, is not based on any significant difference. Both varieties have the potential to produce reactive species that can attack biological materials (human skin cells) when they are exposed to normal sunlight… What is established is that particles of titanium dioxide as large as 220 nm can enter human cells in culture.”

A study in 2001 concluded that sunlight-illuminated sunscreen TiO2 (titanium dioxide) particles catalyze DNA damage both in vitro and in human cells. The researchers said that the “results raise concerns on the overall effects of sunscreens and raise the question on the suitability of photoactive TiO2 as a sunscreen component without further studies. The photocatalytically active nature of these metal oxides necessitates some changes since even the TiO2 specimens currently used in suncreams cause significant DNA strand breaks.”

The Australian government, which has a particular interest in sun protection since its country is under a big hole in the ozone, was (in 2006) more sanguine: “There is evidence from isolated cell experiments that zinc oxide and titanium dioxide can induce free radical formation in the presence of light and that this may damage these cells (photo-mutagenicity with zinc oxide). However, this would only be of concern in people using sunscreens if the zinc oxide and titanium dioxide penetrated into viable skin cells. The weight of current evidence is that they remain on the surface of the skin and in the outer dead layer (stratum corneum) of the skin.“

From what I have read, there seems to be little doubt that TD induces free radicals in the presence of light – in fact some industries make use of this to, for example, eradicate bacteria. What is less clear, is whether the skin readily absorbs TD and the radicals with it. But in the meantime, I am relieved that my Abella sunscreen is zinc oxide only.

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What is it: octinoxate plus other chemical sunscreens and are they safe?

I don’t want to pick on Coola Face SPF30 unfairly. What caught my eye is that it contains octocrylene, octinoxate, oxybenzone, octisalate. These are chemical sunscreens that are fairly common, but always in the back of mind I am thinking: are they safe, didn’t I read somewhere… even post something? Keeping it all straight is made even harder by the fact they have such interchangeable names. So finding four oxy-whatsits in one go gives me a good excuse to summarize what they do and whether they are safe.

Octocrylene (Maximum recommended by FDA: 3%)

Octocylene absorbs UVB and short-wave UVA. Unlike octinoxate (see below), it is stable and doesn’t degrade in sunlight. It’s chemical name is 2-ethylhexyl 2-cyano-3, 3- diphenylacrylate.

Safety measures/side effects

Although there is evidence that octocrylene is responsible for reproductive toxicity, the trials used doses far higher than would be used in cosmetics. That doesn’t mean to say that they aren’t dangers, only that we don’t really know.

Octocrylene can penetrate into the skin and act as a photosensitizer, resulting in an increased production of free radicals. Free radicals can induce indirect DNA damage and potentially contribute to the increased incidence of malignant melanoma in sunscreen-users compared to non-users. Although this might theoretically apply to other sunscreens, the study that made this conclusion refers only to octocrylene.

Another reason to reconsider octocrylene, is that it has been found in fish. According to a Swiss study, it is quick to biodegrade and then bioaccumulate. The few fish we have left on the planet should probably go as chemical free as possible.

Oxybenzone (Maximum recommended by the FDA: 6%)

Oxybenzone, a derivative of benzophenone, is often used in conjuction with other sunscreens because it helps stabilize them and also because its sun protection powers are too weak to be used alone.

Safety measures/side effects

As a photocarcinogen, it’s demonstrated an increase in the production of harmful free radicals and an ability to attack DNA cells; for this reason, it is believed to be a contributing factor in the recent rise of melanoma cases with sunscreen users. Some studies have shown it to behave similarly to the hormone estrogen, suggesting that it may cause breast cancer. It has also been linked to contact eczema.

For many years, the dangers were ignored on the assumption that oxybenzone didn’t get absorbed by the skin. A team of researchers in Australia, led by Cameron Hayden, demonstrated otherwise using commercially available sunscreen with a 6% concentration  of oxybenzone. Haydon’s conclusion: the use of oxybenzone is inadvisable for large surface area application for extended and repeated periods.

Urine tests show that it sticks around. In 2008, the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention conducted a similar experiment on a national scale, and found the chemical compound to be present in 96.8% of the human urine samples surveyed. As a result, it is recommended that parents keep their small children from using products containing the ingredient oxybenzone.

On the other hand, a California study on fish, concluded that it did not have any adverse effects on reproduction.

Octisalate, octyl salicylate, or 2-ethylhexyl salicylate (Maximum recommended by FDA: 5%)

Octisalate or octyl salicylate is used to augment the UV-B protection in a sunscreen. Salicylates are weak UV-B absorbers, and they are generally used in combination with other UV filters because they are insufficient on their own. It typically undergoes some degradation when exposed to sunlight.

Safety Measures/Side Effects:

Octisalate’s safety record seems to be fairly good although it has been linked to contact dermititus.

Octinoxate or octyl methoxycinnamate (Maximum recommended by FDA: 7.5%)

Octinoxate is the most widely used UVB blocking agent in the skin care industry. It does not filter UVA rays. Studies have also shown that Octinoxate can protect the skin against not only sunburn but also UV light-induced DNA alterations (Source).

However, it isn’t very stable. When octinoxate is exposed to sunlight, it is converted into a less UV absorbent form (from E-octyl-p-methoxycinnamate into a Z-octyl-p-methoxycinnamate). Given that its job is to be exposed to sunlight, this seems to me to be a somewhat fundamental limitation. It is why you will usually find octinoxate combined with another sunscreen. Beware, though, that octinoxate combined with avobenzone degrades even faster (source).

Safety Measures/Side Effects:

According to the EWG, Octinoxate is a moderate hazard, primarily because it can lead to developmental and reproductive toxicity through enhanced skin absorption. It’s a penetration enhancer and is easily absorbed into the skin. It can produce estrogen-like effects and should not be used by pregnant women and children. However, the research is contradictory as to what concentrations are toxic. One Norwegian study in 2000 declared toxicity on mice at levels much lower that that used in sunscreen. Studies of percutaneous absorption indicate that 1 to 2% of the applied material may be absorbed through the skin. Most of the octyl methoxycinnamate appears to be trapped in the stratus corneum  in adults. However, concerns have been expressed about the use of this sunscreen ingredient in children where the stratus corneum is less likely to be protective.

Other studies, were the result of concentrations higher than any formulas in skin care products. Bottom line: More research is needed. Given that it isn’t even very stable in sunlight, it’s probably not worth the risk.

The “Machera al Ferro,” or the Iron Cream Mask, is a unique experience. As the signature face treatment of the Italian organic skincare line Dermophisiologique, the Iron Cream Mask makes regular facials seem rather dull and uneventful. Not only is there a slew of steps involved, but each one is more visually exciting than the one before it. With all of its remarkable, sometimes seemingly magical, actions, the Iron Mask makes for an ideal subject in Truth in Aging’s photo gallery series.

It is only within the past couple of years that Dermophisiologique’s signature facial has become available in the U.S., and only at exclusive medical spas in Florida, California, and Nantucket. Now that Marta’s esthetician, Ildi Pekar, has begun to carry Dermophisiologique products and treatments right here in New York, we enlisted the help of photographer extraordinaire Amy Fletcher to capture the procedure on camera. Click on any of the photos below to open a more detailed view and continue on through a slideshow.

Believe it or not, this is only the first half of the procedure. Stay tuned for Part Two, when we unveil the spectacular culmination of the Iron Mask treatment.

Active Ingredients in Cleansing Milk:

Olive oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Almond, Equisetum (horsetail, Helichrysum, Ginko Biloba, Mallow, Lecithin, Vitamin E

Active Ingredients in Compensatore Ortodermico:

Aloe, Chamomile, Calendula, Malva, Linden

Active Ingredients in OPTYMA Eye Lotion:

Chamomile, Witch Hazel, Natural Collagen, Lactic Acid

Active Ingredients in Maschera al Ferro:

Beeswax, Zinc Oxide, Black Currant Oil, Iron Micro Spheres

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Interview with Ildi Pekar

Posted by Marta

I was intrigued to find, when reviewing You Being Beautiful, that the authors (two doctors) warned off using the anti-aging cosmetic ingredient DMAE because it causes cells to die. Although I don’t use anything with DMAE, the claim seemed worth verifying – if only to burst Dr Perricone’s bubble. DMAE is one of his much-vaunted ingredients and I have always regarded him as a pretender to the throne of anti-aging king.

I have only found one clinical study that demonstrates that the chemical 2-dimethyl-amino-ethanol, commonly listed in many anti-aging cosmetics as DMAE, may cause a seriously negative reaction in skin cells. However, the research does seem be thorough, peer reviewed and published in the British Journal of Dermatology.

DMAE has historically been used as an oral supplement to help improve mental alertness. It’s found naturally in fish such as sardines and anchovies and has been shown in limited studies to boost brain function and mood when ingested. As a cosmetics ingredient, it has been claimed that DMAE can help reduce wrinkles by preventing cell deterioration and shoring up cell membranes. You will find it in products by Neutrogena and Dr Perricone’s Solar Protection Face with DMAE (pictured). According to Dr. P’s book, The Wrinkle Cure, DMAE can prevent cell deterioration when applied topically. His Web site, http://www.nvperriconemd.com/, claims that “introducing additional DMAE into our systems” is good way to maintain an anti-aging skin care regimen.

The reasearch that turns this claim on its head was conducted by the Faculty of Medicine at Canada’s Université Laval. Tests on human and rabbit skin cells showed a drastic and rapid swelling of fibroblasts, which maintain the connection between cells. Within a few hours after applying DMAE, cell division slowed and at times stopped completely. Twenty-four hours after applying the concentration of DMAE found in anti-wrinkle cosmetics, the fibroblast mortality rate reached over 25%.

Dr. Guillaume Marceau, who co-presented the recent tests on DMAE, suggests that the so-called anti-wrinkle effect may occur as a result of the actual damage suffered by the skin. When the cell becomes damaged, the skin thickens.

“From our point of view the cells are altered. They stop dividing, they stop secreting, and after…24 hours a certain proportion of them die,” Dr. Francois Marceau of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Quebec told Reuters Health.

On the other hand, I found one small study using subjective analysis of side-by-side tests that purports to demonstrate that DMAE is an anti-ager.

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An ingredient that is starting to crop up in cosmetics and that we can certainly expect to be seeing a lot more of is tocotrienols. This member of the vitamin E family is a powerful antioxidant and provides further evidence (listen up all you skeptics who don’t believe that vitamins and other antioxidants can provide sun protection) that, along with vit C, that Es are an alternative sunscreen.

The better known vitamin E is tocopherol and it is in just about everything. All the Es are fat-soluble with tocopherol being the most bioavailable – meaning the body can easily absorb it – and this is why it has been used by so many potion formulators. In the past, α-tocopherol was seen the most important lipid-soluble antioxidant because it protects cell membranes from oxidation by reacting with lipid radicals produced in the lipid peroxidation chain reaction. This would remove the free radical intermediates and prevent the oxidation reaction from continuing.

Now, however, researchers are turning up evidence that may hand the mantle to tocotrienols. First of all these are the most complete form of vitamin E, being made up of both tocopherols and tocotrienols. Secondly, tocotrienols possess powerful neuroprotective, anticancer and cholesterol-lowering properties not exhibited by tocopherols because of their better distribution in the fatty layers of the cell membrane. Thirdly, they are absorbed super easily. Fourthly, you need less of them to do the trick.

However, some of the anticancer claims may be suspect. A seven-year trial on men to discover whether vitamin E (along with C and selenium) could prevent or cure prostrate cancer has been adbandoned. Although it was due to finish in 2011, the National Cancer Institute halted it early because the data showed there was no impact on prostrate cancer whatsoever.

Vitamin E lotions do provide some benefit in preventing and treating sunburns and also increase the effectiveness of sunscreens. They do not work immediately and must be applied about 20 minutes before sun exposure in order to allow the vitamin e to be absorbed deep into the epidermis layer. Nevertheless, the evidence here is more compelling than in the cancer department.

Studies on humans, published by the University of California Department of Dermatology, have convincingly demonstrated that topical antioxidants protect the skin from sun damage when applied before sun exposure.  The researchers concluded that regular application of skin care products containing antioxidants may be of the utmost benefit in protecting our skin from oxidation.

Vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium may be useless for prostrate cancer, but according to the American Academy of Dermatology, antioxidants have been proven to decrease the effect of the sun on the skin and actually prevent further damage. The study cited indicated that applying topical vitamin C to human skin 15 to 30 minutes after UV exposure decreased sunburn cells and began repairing the damaged skin.  It also mentioned that topical natural vitamin E was found to reduce the production of sunburn cells, chronic UV-induced damage and cancer causing cells.

According to researchers at the University of Berkeley, UV irradiation of skin destroys its antioxidants; however, prior application of TRF to mouse skin results in preservation of vitamin E. And this is where tocotienol comes into its own. This is the form of vitamin E that accumulates in the top layer of the skin, and are part of the first layer of protection against UV radiation.

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Green tea is almost a victim of its own success. Its antioxidant properties have become so well known that it appears in just about every lotion and potion out there. Just as we were in danger of becoming complacent, there is a new reason venerate this humble leaf. Scientists have discovered that it is an effective sunscreen – even at low doses.

It has been known for sometime (with a body of literature to back it up) that green tea can protect the skin from UV rays. This is because it contains catechins. These are signaling molecules that belong to the flavenoid family. About 25% of the weight of a tea leaf is accounted for by catechins. The most abundant type of catechin in green tea is called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and this is the one that provides sun protection.

In the past, researchers thought that high doses of topical green tea needed to be applied to have any effect. These solutions have a green brown color and can stain, making them impractical for cosmetic use. Now Swiss researchers have looked at the effects of low concentrations of green tea extracts over a sustained period of time. They concluded that 0.4% extract of green tea applied over a five week period exhibited significant photochemoprotective effects.

This means that every time we slather on our daily antioxidant with its ubiquitous smattering of green tea, we are getting some form of sun protection.

The same catechin is responsible for green tea extract’s anti-aging properties. ECGC blocks collagen ‘crosslinking’ that accelerates the aging of cells. In Korea, researchers applied a 10% concentration of EGCG to aged human skin three times a week for six weeks and noted that the result was increased the epidermal thickness.

Drinking green tea daily is credited with everything from weight loss (this seems to be proven) to preventing dental decay. Green tea’s preventative effects against cancer are well documented. There is also research that long-term drinking of green tea protects the structure of the erythrocytes membrane in skin cells that are normally disturbed by the process of getting old. Cuppa anyone?

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