Written by Angeline A. De Leon, Staff Writer. Twelve weeks of oral supplementation with hyaluronan significantly reduced wrinkle depth, volume and area in the participating male and female volunteers with crow’s feet wrinkles compared to the placebo group.
The formation of wrinkles is caused by various factors, natural (e.g., aging), environmental (e.g., exposure to ultraviolet light), and lifestyle-related (e.g., smoking, high stress levels). When the connective tissue of the skin (collagen) is broken down, the outer layer becomes thinner, less elastic, and unable to retain adequate levels of moisture. This diminishment in skin hydration is related to declining levels of hyaluronan (HA), a lubricating fluid naturally found in skin, eyes, joints, and virtually every type of connective tissue in the body 1. In fact, about 50% of total quantity of HA in the body is present in the skin 2, where it functions to replenish and protect the cellular integrity of the body’s largest organ. Thus, HA, with its critical moisturizing properties and high water-retention capacity, plays a key role in the maintenance of skin health. Several lines of research have documented the ability of oral HA to protect against UV damage to the skin 3, improve dryness 4, and decrease the number and depth of wrinkles. What is unclear is whether the anti-wrinkle effect of oral HA varies based on the amount of intake or its molecular weight (MW) at administration. In a confirmatory study, scientists at the Toho University of Dermatology in Japan evaluated the efficacy of oral HA as an anti-wrinkle agent at two different molecular weights.
In a 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, participants consisted of a total of 60 male and female volunteers (aged 22-59 years) who presented with crow’s feet wrinkles. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: low MW HA (MW = 2 k), high MW HA (MW = 300 k), or placebo. For 12 weeks, subjects were orally administered HA or matching placebo at a rate of 120 mg daily. The condition of skin was assessed using a self-report questionnaire survey (examining luster, suppleness, prominence of wrinkles), and skin wrinkles were evaluated with a three-dimensional skin analyzing software tool using replica images of participants’ facial wrinkles (examining changes in wrinkle area ratio, wrinkle volume, etc.).
Over the course of the 12-week study period, wrinkle replica image analyses detected consistently better scores for both HA groups, compared to placebo, on whole sulcus volume ratio (depth of skin depression), wrinkle area ratio, and wrinkle volume ratio. At the 8-week mark, the high MW HA group (300 k), in particular, showed significant reduction of wrinkle volume ratio, relative to placebo (p < 0.05). For questionnaire data, all groups reported significant improvement in skin luster and suppleness from baseline to Week 12 (p < 0.05).
General findings confirm that ingestion of HA improves subjective and objective measures of skin health. Regardless of molecular weight, oral administration of HA successfully suppressed the visual appearance of wrinkles and enhanced skin luster and suppleness in individuals ranging from young adulthood to advanced age. Thus, consumption of HA may be employed as an effective method of protecting against wrinkle formation and maintaining healthy skin.
Source: Oe M, Sakai S, Yoshida H. Oral hyaluronan relieves wrinkles: a double-blinded, placebo-controlled study over a 12-week period. Clinical Cosmetic and Investigative Dermatology. 2017; 10: 267-273.
© 2017 Oe et al. Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/)
Posted October 5, 2017.
Angeline A. De Leon, MA, graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010, completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a concentration in neuroscience. She received her master’s degree from The Ohio State University in 2013, where she studied clinical neuroscience within an integrative health program. Her specialized area of research involves the complementary use of neuroimaging and neuropsychology-based methodologies to examine how lifestyle factors, such as physical activity and meditation, can influence brain plasticity and enhance overall connectivity.
References:
- Fisher GJ, Wang Z, Datta SC, Varani J, Kang S, Voorhees JJ. Pathophysiology of premature skin aging induced by ultraviolet light. New England Journal of Medicine. 1997;337(20):1419-1429.
- Laurent TC, Fraser J. Hyaluronan. The FASEB journal. 1992;6(7):2397-2404.
- Kawada C, Kimura M, Masuda Y, Nomura Y. Oral administration of hyaluronan prevents skin dryness and epidermal thickening in ultraviolet irradiated hairless mice. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology. 2015;153:215-221.
- Kajimoto O, Odanaka W, Sakamoto W, Yoshida K, Takahashi T. Clinical effect of hyaluronic acid diet for Dry skin-objective evaluation with microscopic skin surface analyzer. J New Rem & Clin. 2001;50(5):548-560.
