Argan Oil Consumption Improves Skin Health in Postmenopausal Women

by | Jan 4, 2017 | 2015, Essential Oils, Menopause, Skin Health

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Of the 60 participating menopausal women, those who consumed 25 grams of argan oil for 2 months had a statistical improvement in skin elasticity compared to the control group which consumed olive oil.  

skin healthOur skin’s “healthy look” is maintained with elastic fibers and collagen that help the skin recoil after stretching but also prevent overstretching. As part of the aging process in women, such as during menopause, decreases in estrogen levels decrease skin elasticity by decreasing both collagen 1 and elastic fibers 2. As a result, finding ways to maintain healthy skin during menopause is always an area of interest for women going through menopause.

A 2015 study 3 involved 60 menopausal women between the ages of 49 and 61. They consumed either 25 grams of argan oil (30 women) or olive oil (30 women) per day for 60 days while also applying 10 drops of their assigned oil to a section of their left forearm during the 60 days. Before and after the study, each subject’s skin area was examined for four aspects of skin elasticity: gross elasticity, net elasticity, biological elasticity 4, and resonance running time 5, in which a decrease in resonance running time is an improvement in skin elasticity.

After 60 days across both groups, similar benefits were noted on the left forearm (where oil was applied) for all four types of measured skin elasticity (p < 0.05). What was notable was that those in the argan group also experienced statistically significant improvement in skin elasticity on the right arm (where oil was not applied), with a 9.2% improvement in resonance running (98 to 89, p < 0.001), a 12.5% improvement in net elasticity (0.80 to 0.90, p < 0.001) and a 15% improvement in biologic elasticity (0.51 to 0.60, p = 0.002) compared to no significant improvement in the olive oil group (p > 0.05).

When suggesting why those in the argan group had benefits on the skin area where oil was not applied, the researchers cited “the more abundant content of antioxidants in argan oil than that observed in olive oil”, especially ferulic acid 6,7 and vitamin E 8,9(9, 10).

Despite admitting a short duration to the study (60 days), the researchers concluded that “this study shows a favorable trend of the efficiency of argan oil on skin elasticity of postmenopausal women and provides a good preliminary to a larger study.”

Source: Kenza Qiraouani Boucetta, Zoubida Charrouf, Hassan Aguenaou, Abdelfattah Derouiche,Yahya Bensouda. The effect of dietary and/or cosmetic argan oil on postmenopausal skin elasticity. Clinical Interventions in Aging 2015:10 339–349     

© 2015 Qiraouani Boucetta et al 

Posted January 3, 2017.

Click here to read the full text study.

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.

References:

  1. Affinito P, Palomba S, Sorrentino C, et al. Effects of postmenopausal hypoestrogenism on skin collagen. Maturitas. 1999;33(3):239-247.
  2. Bolognia J, Braverman I, Rousseau M, Sarrel P. Skin changes in menopause. Maturitas. 1989;11(4):295-304.
  3. Boucetta KQ, Charrouf Z, Aguenaou H, Derouiche A, Bensouda Y. The effect of dietary and/or cosmetic argan oil on postmenopausal skin elasticity. Clinical interventions in aging. 2015;10:339.
  4. Dobrev H. Use of Cutometer to assess epidermal hydration. Skin Research and Technology. 2000;6(4):239-244.
  5. Paye M, Mac‐Mary S, Elkhyat A, Tarrit C, Mermet P, Humbert P. Use of the Reviscometer® for measuring cosmetics‐induced skin surface effects. Skin Research and Technology. 2007;13(4):343-349.
  6. Charrouf Z, Guillaume D. Argan oil: Occurrence, composition and impact on human health. European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology. 2008;110(7):632-636.
  7. Becerra-Herrera M, Sánchez-Astudillo M, Beltrán R, Sayago A. Determination of phenolic compounds in olive oil: New method based on liquid–liquid micro extraction and ultra high performance liquid chromatography-triple–quadrupole mass spectrometry. LWT-Food Science and Technology. 2014;57(1):49-57.
  8. Traber MG, Atkinson J. Vitamin E, antioxidant and nothing more. Free Radical Biology and Medicine. 2007;43(1):4-15.
  9. Parola M, Muraca R, Dianzani I, et al. Vitamin E dietary supplementation inhibits transforming growth factor β1 gene expression in the rat liver. FEBS letters. 1992;308(3):267-270.