Presented By: Ram Chaudhari, Ph.D., FACN, CNS Sr.

Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer

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Good Nutrition for Healthy Skin Skin acts as an important barrier between the external and internal environment. The skin is involved in the regulation of homeostasis in the body by reducing water loss and regulating body temperature and it plays an important role in the immune system. The skin also provides nerve endings that allow us to sense pain and temperature. Its health and integrity is under constant attack by environmental factors, such as ultraviolet radiation (UVA and UVB) from the sun, free radicals produced by metabolic processes (An atom or group of atoms that has at least one unpaired electron and is therefore unstable and highly reactive. In animal tissues, free radicals can damage cells and accelerate the aging process) and ultraviolet damage, environmental exposure to toxic and allergic compounds, as well as the usual wear-and-tear from abrasive mechanical damage. The skin is a very important organ that is vital for good health and it needs constant rejuvenation. Good nutrition plays an important role in maintaining healthy and attractive skin. The importance of good nutrition for healthy skin is apparent from the observation that skin lesions are common in many nutritional deficiencies and the provision of the deficient vitamin, mineral or essential fatty acid leads to the restoration of skin health under these conditions. Nutrients play an important role in delivering photoprotective effects in the skin, regulating cutaneous immune responses, and providing therapeutic benefit in various skin disorders, such as eczema and psoriasis. Antioxidants are important to fight free radical damage to the skin and may be helpful in preventing premature skin aging. Derivatives of vitamin A, for example, have gained an important medical use to fight acne scarring and to restore healthy skin and beauty. Nutritional Skin Care Industry There has been increasing attention among consumers, the media and within the food industry regarding the need to both protect and beautify the skin. A class of cosmetic products called cosmeceuticals (a blending of the words cosmetics and pharmaceutical) has developed that incorporate the potential health benefits of specific nutrients and food components (e.g., vitamins, phytochemicals, enzymes, antioxidants and essential oils) into skin products, such as anti-aging creams and moisturizers. However, these products are not officially recognized by the FDA as drugs, and cannot be claimed to treat a specific disease. An important feature of cosmeceuticals is that they are applied topically, i.e., directly to the skin. Products that have been developed to aid skin health, but are ingested, are called nutricosmetics or skingestibles, which aim to create radiant beauty from the inside out. These ingestible beauty products will be the focus of this paper.
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Vitamin A can help to fight acne scarring and restore healthy skin and beauty

The root of the belief in the concept of beauty from within is as old as time and was well known to the ancient Egyptians, Asian and Indian peoples, who believed that eating certain foods had a direct relationship to their outward appearance. Rising commercial interest in cosmeceuticals was an outgrowth of the nutraceutical movement in the 1990s and sales of cosmeceuticals have grown into a $14 billion industry worldwide. Projections for future growth in this market area are strong. Cosmeceutical and nutricosmetic products are attempting to fill the growing consumer demand for more healthful products and capture part of the global multibillion dollar market for skin care products. Market Awareness and Acceptance The market for ingestible, nutritional skin care products is being driven by increased media exposure and a growing number of young and older healthconscious consumers who want to maintain or achieve a youthful and beautiful outward appearance. The largest component of the nutritional skin care business is in anti-aging products with their promise of rejuvenation of aging skin, hair or nails, which is of particular interest to the aging baby boomer generation. However, growing numbers of younger people are becoming aware of the importance of nutrition on how they feel and look and have accepted the concept of beauty from within. This growing awareness is evident in the finding that 72% of women who buy natural and organic beauty products believe in the concept of beauty from the inside out.1 However, these are not just womens products. Mens personal care is the fastest growing segment in the bath and body-care category.2 The estimated current value of the nutricosmetics market is $1 to $2 billion, which is still a small fraction of the estimated $66 billon skin care market. The long tradition of interest in products and foods to enhance beauty in the Asia Pacific market continues to support this region of the globe as an important launching area for new cosmeceutical products. Japan is a leader in beauty supplements, which account for 15% or $319 million of overall sales of dietary supplements.3 In China, beauty supplements represent 13% or $558 million of overall dietary supplement sales. There has been growing activity in Europe and the US for ingestible beauty aides. Datamonitor reports that the US market for oral beauty products grew at a CAGR of ~16% between 2001 and 2006 (Table 1), and continued growth is predicted such that there will be a market value of $1.3 billion by 2011. As also indicated in the Table, the market for nutricosmetics also experienced ~13% growth during the period 20012006 in Europe when it reached a market value of $836 million.
1 2

Age of Naturals Pink Report, January 2008. Natural Marketing Institute, Harleyville, PA, Reigning Men 2007 trends report. 3 Global Nutricosmetics: a new way to beauty. E. Grammenou, September 2008. www.GCImagazine.com.
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Table 1. Oral beauty products market value, United States and Europe ($ millions), 2001-2011. 1 Region France Germany
Contact any one of our global offices for formulation answers to a multitude of condition specific product applications. Visit fortitech.com to learn how to contact any of our global offices

2001 135.4 109.8 34.6 17.6 25.6 7.7 46.5 74.3 451.4 352.0 803.4

2006 237.5 172.3 64.5 33.2 61.5 15.2 1,112.7 138.8 835.7 828.1 1663.8

2011 340.1 237.8 104.3 49.0 95.1 23.5 182.2 209.0 1,241.0 1,258.8 2,499.8

CAGR 01-06 11.9% 9.4% 13.3% 13.6% 19.1% 14.5% 19.4% 13.3% 13.1% 18.7% 15.7%

CAGR 06-11 7.4% 6.7% 10.1% 8.1% 9.1% 9.1% 10.1% 8.5% 8.2% 8.7% 8.5%

Italy Netherlands Spain Sweden UK Rest of Europe Europe Total U.S. Overall

Beauty Product Applications There are many opportunities for developing novel applications of nutricosmetics in the future to meeting the needs of this potentially important market. The best delivery product vehicles for this category are fortified foods, beverages and beautyoriented dietary supplements. There is a large and growing market of consumers who are eager for easy-to-use, multifunctional food and beverage products that address both health concerns and appearance. Interesting applications for nutricosmetics include such products as collagenenriched soup, yogurts enriched with beauty-enhancing ingredients, functional bottled water products, ready-to-drink tea, anti-aging jams, antioxidant-rich chocolatebased beauty products, and many more. Concept formulations that may be of interest to a manufacturer include: Beverage Prototype Premix Formulation Nutrient Collagen Vitamin E Biotin Vitamin C Aloe Vera CoQ10 Fiber (Inulin) Lycopene
1

Per serving 100 mg 3 IU 50 mcg 10 mg 50 mg 10 mg 500 mg 1 mg

Age of Naturals Pink Report, January 2008.

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Bar Prototype Premix Formulation Nutrient Collagen Iso-flavone Lutein Lycopene Beta Carotene Vitamin B6 Vitamin B12 Vitamin C Vitamin E Aloe Vera Selenium Per serving 200 mg 25 mg 3 mg 1 mg 2 mg 0.5 mg 2 mcg 10 mg 5 IU 50 mg 50 mcg

The nutrient monographs available through the R&D section of fortitech.com provide dosage information as well as detail their function within the body

Pudding or Smoothie Prototype Premix Formulation Nutrient Vitamin B6 Vitamin B12 Folic Acid Biotin Green Tea Extract CoQ10 Collagen Vitamin C Vitamin E Selenium Per Serving 0.5 mg 2 mcg 50 mcg 50 mcg 10 mg 10 mg 100 mg 15 mg 10 IU 25 mcg

(These nutrients should be reviewed against the particular regulatory guidelines for their use in a food or beverage product within the country/region of the world where the product will be brought to market).

Fortification and Formulation Challenges Utilizing any of the above mentioned ingredients would be best addressed by employing a custom blended nutrient premix. The challenges associated with premix formulations that incorporate multiple nutrients include the type of finished product as well as the desired taste, flavor and color of the finished product, solubility, bioavailability, pH level, safety/ toxicity, interactions among various ingredients and bioavailability and stability of the individual ingredients. Factors that can affect stability, for instance, include temperature, pH, oxygen, light and moisture; to name a few. An example of a potential interaction is the formulation of a product that contains thiamine (Vitamin B1), as well as a superfruit and its possible sulfur dioxide content. Thiamine plays an important role in
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helping the body maintain good skin, metabolize carbohydrates and fat to produce energy, and helps to maintain proper functioning of the heart and the nervous and digestive systems. Combining this nutrient with a superfruit can possibly result in immediate degradation of thiamine due to the fruits carry-over of sulfur dioxide. The level of sulfur dioxide should be determined prior to fortification and appropriate overages should be added to compensate for losses. In addition, thiamine can impart a bitter taste and sulfurous egg notes to a finished product which is an objectionable attribute from a sensory point of view, while minerals such as zinc, copper and iron can impart a lingering metallic taste. Among the many factors that can contribute to minimizing interactions, a manufacturer can separate vitamins and minerals into two individual premixes, or encapsulate certain vitamins or minerals or utilize a particular form of a specific ingredient (i.e., Iodines ingredient form may be potassium iodide which can promote healthy hair, nails, skin and teeth; magnesium, which can help to restore the skins flexibility and moisture, may be magnesium phosphate; zinc, which can aid in acne treatment may be zinc citrate; copper, which can possibly combat wrinkles, may be copper peptides and calcium, another antiaging nutrient, could possibly be tricalcium phosphate, depending on what other ingredients are utilized in the premix.). Most experts in formulation agree that there is a science to blending powders, and that the same blending process cant be employed for every product. However, blending powders is very different from blending liquids. With liquids, overblending is almost impossible, but powder-to-powder blends can be un-mixed when particles segregate. There are two common blending processes employed in the nutraceutical/dietary-supplement industry to achieve a homogeneous product: dry blending and wet granulation. Dry blending is the most common method used to manufacture premixes. A physical property of powders is a critical aspect of dry blending. Before blending starts, first consider the properties of the ingredient powders including flowability, particle size, shape and density. The incorporation of nutrient premixes targeting health and beauty in food and beverage fortification is an essential step that manufacturers will need to take if they are to stay competitive in todays marketplace. Overall health and wellness within the consumer mindset, as it relates to their purchasing decisions, will greatly influence what gets put into the grocery cart during a trip to the local supermarket. Enhanced waters, meal replacement bars, beverages, fortified biscuits, as well as organic foods, will continue to grow in popularity within the ingestible nutricosmetAGE-DEFYING NUTRIENTSTECHNICAL PAPERMAY, 2009 PAGE 6

ics arena. To successfully introduce new products to the marketplace, a manufacturer needs to lay a solid foundation at the very beginning of the development process. That foundation should include partnering with an experienced nutritional premix formulator to minimize the challenges associated with not just bringing their products to market, but to ensure a product that lives up to its label claims and delivers repeat purchase. In addition, it is critical to work with a partner that has strong relationships and strict quality assurance and control guidelines with suppliers to ensure quality, traceability and accuracy of the nutrients. Having this protocol in place guarantees quality nutrients and mitigates any risk with the development of the end product. All of these results in both short and long term savings for a manufacturer. A Bright Future for Nutricosmetics Strong future sales can be expected in leading markets for these products in the Asia Pacific region. As indicated by the data presented in Table 1, Europe and the United States are also projected to be areas of important growth in the nutricosmetics area. The increased number of older people in the world and their concerns for rejuvenation and the maintenance of a more youthful appearance will provide a strong demographic foundation for the future growth of sales in nutricosmetics and related products. Additionally, the growing concern of younger people to achieve a generally more healthy diet and lifestyle and who feel the growing pressures to look good in order to succeed will help to supply new sales opportunities in this product area. This need to outwardly project the vigorous strength and beauty of their youthfulness, particularly in the context of an aging demographic environment, should be an important spur to continued growth for the nutricosmetics market. The future, however, will also demand fresh and innovative nutricosmetic products to maintain strong consumer interest and to continue to drive new product sales. The development of novel nutricosmetic products will require manufacturers to use innovative product-delivery strategies and vehicles. There will also be a need to take advantage of new cutting-edge technologies in delivery mechanisms that will be uncovered by the R&D arms of the pharmaceutical and nanotechnology industries. Moreover, the growing knowledge base and sophistication of the average internet-savvy consumer in the future will likely also require a stronger scientific standard to certify the efficacy of specific beauty-enhancing nutrients and functional food components that are included in these new products. The Science of Nutritional Skin Care The science of nutritional skin care has been relatively neglected and more research needs to be done in the future. There are however three broad areas of nutritional science that provide scientific support for an important role of specific nutrients in maintaining healthy skin. These three areas are related to the role of
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nutrients in protecting the skin from: (1) photodamage in other words damage to skin cells merely from acute or chronic exposure of the exposed skin to the harmful ultraviolet A (UVA) and B (UVB) rays found in sunlight; (2) immune suppression sunlight-induced changes in the natural immune protective function of the skin, an important barrier to infection; and (3) treatment of common skin disorders, such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis.

Photo-protective Effects of Nutrients: Most of us have had the unpleasant exNutricosmetics are just one of the many emerging, cutting edge markets where Fortitechs expertise in food, beverage and pharmaceutical applications comes into play. Email us at info@fortitech.com to learn more about what we can do for your product

perience of sunburn after prolonged exposure of our skin to sunlight. The redness and burning sensation that we experience after a day in the sun is caused by inflammation that follows excessive damage of skin cells from ultraviolet rays. Repeated exposure to the damaging rays of the sun leads to tanning of the skin in an effort to reduce skin damage. Nevertheless, despite the natural sun screening effects of the tanning process, excessive sunlight exposure can still lead to premature photoaging of the skin, suppression of immunity, and increased risk of skin cancer. Although use of topical skin products containing a sun screen can effectively reduce skin damage when properly used, there is increasing concern that excessive avoidance of sunlight exposure to the skin significantly compromises vitamin D status, an important nutrient for bone health and cancer avoidance, that is normally produced in the skin under the influence of UVB radiation from sunlight. The photo-protective effects of nutrient supplementation have been studied in humans and some of the important highlights of this research are discussed below.

Antioxidants: Clinical trials have been conducted to assess the photo-protective

effects of supplemental antioxidant nutrients. Evidence from these studies supports the use of a combination of vitamin E and vitamin C at supraphysiological or nutritional levels (~700 mg vitamin E and 2g vitamin C daily) as being beneficial in reducing photodamage to the skin.

Carotenoids: Carotenoids, normally found in colorful fruits and vegetables, are believed to play a protective role in preventing photodamage to the skin. It has been shown, for example, that daily supplementation with 30 mg beta-carotene had a protective effect on the development of sunburn during exposure to natural sunlight. It has also been found that feeding a daily mixture of natural carotenoids (60 to 90 mg beta-carotene, 0.4 mg alpha-carotene, 0.08 mg cryptoxanthin, 0.07 mg zeaxanthin, and 0.5 mg lutein) resulted in a significant photodamage protective
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effect to ultraviolet exposure of the skin, and also inhibited serum lipid peroxidation, a product of damaging free radical production.

FAs are cod liver oil, fish oil, mackerel, salmon and menhaden, which are not commonly consumed by many people in certain areas. Thus, there is an important concern that many people may be ingesting insufficient amounts of these helpful dietary oils to promote optimal health of the skin and the rest of the body. High intakes of n-3 PUFAs, especially one fatty acid called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) have significant antiinflammatory effects. Supplementation of subjects with 2.8g EPA and 1.2g docosahexanaeoic acid (DHA), another of the n-3 fatty acids, had a significant skin photoprotective effect. Higher doses of EPA (4g) further reduced UVB irradiation-induced skin damage. However, some caution needs to be utilized because of the possibility of excessive production of damaging free radicals and lipid peroxidation products following fish oil supplementation. To minimize this potential threat, additional n-3 PUFA intake should be accompanied by higher intakes of vitamin E and vitamin C antioxidants. posure to the damaging rays of the sun can also lead to suppression of immune responses, which may affect the ability of the skin to react to environmental antigens. Many studies have investigated the effects of nutritional status on immunity, however, few have focused on the skin immune system in detail. Nevertheless, it is a reasonable assumption that nutrients that have a general immune boosting effect will also have a positive effect on skin immunity. vitamin deficiencies. Studies have shown that ingestion of a multivitamin-mineral supplement in this group can improve immune response. It has been suggested that beta carotene, folate, vitamin E and vitamin C are particularly important for immunity. In addition, zinc is important, but care should be taken not to exceed recommended intake levels because high doses of zinc can suppress the immune response. PUFAs can have an anti-inflammatory effect.

n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs): Rich food sources of n-3 PU-

Enhancement of Skin Immunity by Nutrients: Chronic ex-

Micronutrients: The elderly are particularly prone to develop

PUFAs and Atopic Dermatitis and Psoriasis: PUFAs have potential to have a therapeutic effect on inflammatory skin disorders because of their antiinflammatory effects. These effects may be due to the effects of PUFAs on fluidity and function of immune cell membranes and the regulatory role of PUFAs as preAGE-DEFYING NUTRIENTSTECHNICAL PAPERMAY, 2009 PAGE 9

cursors for important immune modulators called eicosanoids. Supplementation of the diet with appropriate amounts of plant and fish oils supplying n-6 and n-3 fatty acids has been suggested as a way to shift the balance of inflammatory and antiinflammatory eicosanoids.
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Emerging Ingredients in Nutricosmetic Products Although antioxidants, certain carotenoids and PUFAs are the workhorse of goodfor-you nutrition products, and have been used in various cosmeceutical and nutricosmetic products, there are also many other emerging ingredients that are gaining in popularity. Some of these newer natural nutricosmetic ingredients are listed in Table 2. Table 2: Emerging Nutricosmetic Ingredients Acai Mangosteen Green tea GABA Curcumin Botanicals Sea-buckthorn Indian gooseberry Grape seed Gogi Pomegranate Coenzyme Q-10 Aloe Vera Glucosamine Probiotics Dragon fruit Yumberry Soy

Although consumer interest in these emerging nutricosmetic ingredients may exceed our current scientific knowledge of the specific role of each of these ingredients in skin health, many of these ingredients have been shown to have high antioxidant levels or other potential health-promoting properties. This suggests that they may enhance overall good health and thereby may facilitate the development of radiant beauty from the inside out.

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