Science of Skincare: what are Polyphenols?

In the latest of our myth-busting, Science of Skincare blogs, our co-founder and one of the UK’s leading cosmetic surgeons Douglas McGeorge, gives us the lowdown on Polyphenols.

I’m pretty sure you have heard the “myth” about red wine and chocolate being good for you.

Actually, it’s not a myth at all.

Scientists discovered that red wine and dark chocolate are among a whole host of foods, which are packed full of Polyphenols, a family of chemicals with strong antioxidant properties.

Antioxidants help to fight free radicals, which are like tiny thieves floating around your body stealing the oxygen from your cells and causing them to become inflamed.

Polyphenols are your body’s very own SAS hit squad, fighting off the naughty free radicals and stopping them from harming your healthy cells (and, crucially for us, keeping your skin looking healthy and glowing).

Eating foods rich in polyphenols isn’t the only way your skin, and health in general, can benefit from them.

You can also use them in your skincare regime and absorb the goodness of the polyphenols directly into your skin.

As well as red wine and dark chocolate, polyphenols are also found in abundance in green tea.

In fact, our co-founder and world renowned skin scientist, Dr Ardeshir Bayat, describes green tea as “nature’s most powerful antioxidant”.

It’s certainly no accident that an extract of green tea, called Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), is the key ingredient in all our Science of Skin products.

A study published in a 2009 issue of “Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry” investigated the effects of polyphenols on the skin. Researchers found that the polyphenols protected the skin against ultraviolet radiation and enhanced the skin’s cell growth. In layman’s terms, they prevented the skin ageing prematurely and kept it looking healthy and glowing.

Our own research has also uncovered the scientific and clinical evidence of the remarkable effect on the skin of green tea.

In a world first, we demonstrated in the laboratory that the green tea extract, EGCG, significantly reduced the thickness in abnormal skin scars by up to 40 %.

While, the health benefits of polyphenols in food have been well-known for a while, it is only now that skincare experts are beginning to understand the benefits.

For healthy, glowing skin, the science is clear – a diet and skincare regime rich in polyphenols.

Sources:

Accessed on 230317 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22070679

Accessed on 230317 http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf804025c