Antioxidants in Anti Aging Creams
Thursday, October 16th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
You may have heard of antioxidants and free radicals, but do you have any idea what they mean, what they are, or how they affect our skin, or why they are being touted as a miracle drug in anti aging and anti wrinkle creams? Well, it takes a basic understanding in the aging and wrinkling process, to understand how antioxidants or free radicals affect the skin.
The idea starts at the breakdown of the skin cells, as part of the aging process, damage to skin by the elements or external factors, like smoking, which can strike at the DNA of cells. Skin cells store Vitamin A, as well as Vitamins C and Vitamin E, so when everything is in perfect balance, these vitamins are present in the skin cells and maintain the skin’s youthful appearance.
With regard to oxidants and free radicals, it is considered that as age progresses, the essential Vitamins can be reduced from the skin cells due to toxins in the cells, these toxins are fundamentally oxidants, or free radicals. So it is considered that if you consume enough anti-oxidants, they should fight off these oxidants that deplete the vitamin levels of the skin cells, and cause dead, dry skin cells that cause older or wrinkled skin.
In the anti-ageng cream circles they believe in a topical application of anti-oxidants, often used as a green tea extract. It has been discussed that in drinking green tea and black tea, a person can take in 10 times the anti-oxidants that can be found by eating fruit and vegetables. This has been shown when taken internally, but, by applying topically, it will probably have an affect on the skin cells that are on the surface or have absorbed these anti-oxidants.
It’s considered that the best way to combat oxidants and free radicals is by consuming a lot of tea, especially green and black tea. Many people consume up to 10 cups per day, to combat the toxins that are detrimental to skin cells, not only from aging or wrinkling, but cancer cell attacks. Scientists have shown that green and black teas have more anti-oxidants, than oolong tea, citing skin youthfulness found in countries like Japan and China that drink a lot of tea.
Anti aging creams are definitely banking on topical applications having a similar effect, but it’s still very early as far results are concerned. Needless to say, though, makers of anti-aging or wrinkle cream are convinced that a topical application will have a similar effect on toxins, oxidants and free radicals.
Perhaps, using anti-oxidants as a cure or prevention in aging and wrinkling, could be more of an internal process. It is advised to drink green and black tea on a regular basis, as there is ten times the anti-oxidants that are found in equivalent measures of fruits and vegetables. It is unknown what benefits topical application can offer other than short-term.
