Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Two weeks of supplementation with VISCODERM, a commercial product containing collagen, pycnogenol, and CoQ10, significantly improved skin photoaging in healthy participating subjects in several measures of skin health including, tone, hydration, sebum, and hyaluronic acid.
Researchers conducted a two-part study 1 on skin health in 2015. Part one involved two groups of 30 women. One of the groups was comprised of women 46 to 49 who had “moderate facial photoaging” (defined as having between 4 and 7 centimeters on the Visual Analogue Scale as determined by an esthetic surgeon). The other group was comprised of healthy women aged 45 to 48 without the moderate facial photoaging.
Part two involved 30 women aged 42 to 45. Of these, 22 had moderate facial photoaging and 8 had “severe” facial photoaging (defined as 7 cm or greater on the Visual Analog Scale).
In each group of 30 women, 15 received a commercial skin supplement called VISCODERM consisting of 15 milligrams Pycnogenol, 124 mg collagen, 10 mg CoQ10, 20 mg low-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid, and 3% chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine sulfate twice daily for four weeks. The other 15 received a placebo (200 mg starch).
Before the study started and two weeks after supplementation ended, the women’s skin health was assessed by an esthetic surgeon. A Skin Tester machine 2 was also used to assess several measures of skin health. The researchers had both groups receive a standardized diet of 1,800 calories per day consisting of 20% proteins, 50% carbohydrates and 30% fats. This was to ensure there were no diet differences between the groups that would potentially alter the results beyond the effects of the supplement or placebo.
The researchers noted the following results two weeks after supplementation ended:
| Supplement | Placebo | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| VAS Photoaging score (centimeters) | 34.4% decrease (6.7 to 4.4) | 7.3% decrease 6.9 to 6.4) | < 0.0001 |
| Sebum (no units given) | 13.6% increase (22 to 25) | 4.7% increase (21 to 22) | < 0.0001 |
| Hydration (no units given) | 7% increase (57 to 61) | No change (56 to 56) | < 0.0001 |
| Tonicity (no units given) | 7.1% increase (28 to 30) | 1.7% increase (28 to 28.5) | < 0.05 |
| Fibronectin (microgras/milliliter) | 56.25% increase (8 to 12.5) | 5.6% decrease (9 to 8.5) | < 0.01 |
| Neutrophil Elastase 2 (picograms/mL) | 61.5% decrease (13 to 8) | 3.7% increase (13.5 to 14) | < 0.001 |
| Hyaluronic acid (nanograms/mL) | 65% increase (20 to 33) | No change (20 to 20) | < 0.001 |
| Carbonylated proteins (picomoles/milligram) | 72.3% decrease (990 to 275) | 3.1% increase (950 to 980) | < 0.0001 |
While the researchers cited the increases in sebum, hydration, and tonicity in the supplement group as an “improvement in photoaging”, the increase in hyaluronic acid was also significant as its degradation “has been widely used as a marker of photoaging 3.” The decrease in Neutrophil elastase 2 was also significant as it has been shown to break down collagen in the skin (32). Finally, the decrease in carbonylated proteins was also significant as carbonylated proteins are a marker of UV-induced oxidative damage 4.
Unfortunately, the researchers did not provide any data on the supplement’s effect in the “severe” photoaging group compared to either the moderate photoaging group or the placebo group. Nevertheless, they went on to conclude that “VISCODERM Pearls is effective for treatment of facial photoaging” but that “further studies in larger cohorts of patients are required.”
Source: Di Cerbo A., Laurino C., Palmieri B., Iannitti T. A dietary supplement improves facial photoaging and skin sebum, hydration and tonicity modulating serum fibronectin, neutrophil elastase 2, hyaluronic acid and carbonylated proteins. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 144 (2015) 94–103
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Click here to read the full text study.
Posted February 21, 2017.
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:
- Di Cerbo A, Laurino C, Palmieri B, Iannitti T. A dietary supplement improves facial photoaging and skin sebum, hydration and tonicity modulating serum fibronectin, neutrophil elastase 2, hyaluronic acid and carbonylated proteins. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology. 2015;144:94-103.
- Palmieri B, Capone S, Rottigni V, Lotti T. Skin parameters in cosmetic medicine: a new point of care. Paper presented at: Prime2013.
- Tzellos T, Klagas I, Vahtsevanos K, et al. Extrinsic ageing in the human skin is associated with alterations in the expression of hyaluronic acid and its metabolizing enzymes. Experimental dermatology. 2009;18(12):1028-1035.
- Sharma SD, Meeran SM, Katiyar SK. Dietary grape seed proanthocyanidins inhibit UVB-induced oxidative stress and activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases and nuclear factor-κB signaling in in vivo SKH-1 hairless mice. Molecular cancer therapeutics. 2007;6(3):995-1005.
