A driving force behind the growing popularity of the antiaging cosmeceutical market is the Baby Boomer generation, who are looking for safer alternatives to surgery and pharmaceutical drugs.

In the global antiaging market, the latest genre of products includes “neutraceuticals” or “nutricosmetics”—food supplements containing formulas that act on the skin to reduce the signs of aging.

For example, Nestlé—a company better known for candied chocolate drinks and baby formula—last year branched into nutricosmetic products that are taken orally and that benefit the skin. The company’s newly launched Glowelle beverage, for instance, is touted as “beauty in a bottle.”

Some of these nutricosmetic products are aimed squarely at the younger demographic, with teenagers beginning preventive care; and broader, as even men are becoming more interested in retaining a youthful appearance.

For many years in Asia and Europe, consumers have embraced the concept of “beauty from the inside out” and the idea of nutraceuticals. Topical cosmeceutical products have dominated the market for years, but consumers are increasingly looking for food, beverage, and oral personal care products that support a healthy lifestyle and overall physical appearance.

The nutraceutical wave has landed in the aesthetic marketplace, thanks to a product line called Glisodin Skin Nutrients, which has recently been announced in the United States for the first time after being available for some years in Europe and other parts of the world.

The products are designed for use by practitioners at medical spas as well as by dermatologists, cosmetic surgeons, and other skin care professionals.

THE ACTIVE INGREDIENT

The active ingredient, glisodin, is a cantaloupe melon extract rich in vegetal superoxide dismutase (SOD) covered by polymeric films of the wheat matrix gliadin. SOD has an extremely fragile molecular structure, and unprotected SOD is destroyed by stomach acids and digestive enzymes.

Gliadin is a wheat protein recognized as a carrier for controlled drug release. The complex of gliadin with a vegetable-sourced SOD (a melon, Cucumis melo) has resulted in an orally effective delivery system, according to Paula Simpson, a key product formulator from Isocell Labs in France, who explains that Isocell recently brought to market the first line of nutricosmetics in North America that is aimed at the aesthetic market.

“This is a new concept in the wellness and beauty category for the United States, and basically big competition for creams and topical antiaging products,” she explains. “It’s a digestible powder you put it in your drink, formulated by dermatologists and nutritionists to provide powerful antioxidants and bioactive nutraceuticals for skin vitality and health.”

According to Simpson, the administration of antioxidants and immune-enhancing agents before and after aesthetic treatments can reduce recovery time and improve results.

For patients undergoing procedures such as a facelift, breast augmentation, and others, Glisodin has been shown to promote endogenous production of SOD, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase (Gpx); inhibit oxidative stress; inhibit lactic acid accumulation during exercise; protect against cardiovascular disease; inhibit UV oxidative stress; promote immune modulation; and inhibit vascular inflammation; as well as support the growth of healthy, new skin cells.

“There are 18 separate clinical studies on Glisodin, on this one ingredient,” Simpson says, “and there are other SOD supplements out there on the market, but many of them don’t get to the skin cells—they are destroyed by the person’s gastric juices. [Glisodin] was developed by two immunologists, and they took this delicate melon extract that was very high in SOD and combined it with a wheat[-based] polymer protein, which kind of coils around this melon extract,” which protects the Glisodin as it enters a person’s digestive system.

See also “Put the Best Face on Selling Skin Care” by Donald J. Capuano, MD, in the September 2008 issue of PSP.

“We took Glisodin and combined it with premium nutraceutical ingredients that studies and research showed to benefit skin,” Simpson continues, adding that the firm has created five products for the aesthetic practitioner to use. “We have the first line of professional nutricosmetic products out there.”

The products include Advanced Skin Brightening Formula, Advanced Daily Formula, Advanced Detoxification Formula, and Advanced Pre/Post Formula (Phase I and II).

Shannon Triplett Leade is a contributing writer for PSP. She can be reached at [email protected].