Innovative “skin diet”: serum to fight sugar-induced skin aging

The mere sight of sugary foods and beverages sends the reward system in our brains into overdrive and fills us with all sorts of joyful anticipation. As we eat or drink, sensory receptors on our tongues broadcast positive signals to our brains – and our brains “call” back: “Give me more!” Our control centers have not misread the situation. They are simply responding to our addiction to sugars. Whenever we breathe, think or run a marathon, sugar metabolism supplies us with the energy we need. However, we could certainly lead a life without pralines, pizza, pasta, and port wine. Numerous scientific studies conducted years ago found a connection between excessive amounts of sugar consumption and various risk factors and illnesses, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and autoimmune diseases. But one fact has generally slipped below the radar of the general public: Sugar can also have a harmful effect on our skin – and cause wrinkles. After roughly 10 years of research, a team at Beiersdorf has cracked the code of the glycation process in the skin and developed an innovative product that counters sugar-induced skin aging and wrinkle formation. In the following interview, Dr. Julia Weise, laboratory manager for Biological Testing at Beiersdorf, discusses the latest findings about glycation and the active principle used in the NIVEA Q10 Dual Action Serum.

The skin is our largest organ – it is a real multi-talent. In its role as a stable, but flexible covering, it protects our bodies from environmental influences like heat or cold, UV radiation, pathogens and toxic substances. The supporting connective-tissue proteins collagen and elastin have very long lives and spend decades in our skin. Glycation is a natural, but irreversible chemical reaction. In this process, sugar molecules attach themselves to proteins or lipids. This results in the formation of advanced glycation end products (or AGEs). The longer a protein’s life in the skin is, the more AGEs it can collect. In turn, these AGEs can trigger free radical formation and micro-inflammation. In simple terms: Sugar weakens the collagen and elastin fibers in the skin. In the process, they lose their resilience and elasticity. In addition to UV radiation, this is a key cause of increased wrinkles. Aged skin can not only appear hardened and wrinkled, but also yellowish. This is the result of the yellow-brown color of the AGEs.

The idea that we could completely eliminate sugars from our diets is probably rather unrealistic and for some of us might coincide with having less quality of life. But one thing is clear: The less glucose (dextrose), fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (milk sugar) or the typical “industrial sugar” sucrose that we consume, the bigger the favor we are doing for our skin.

At Beiersdorf, we draw on our many years of experience and apply the latest findings and technologies to continuously decode the complex processes related to the skin. Our more than 1,000 scientists have fueled the development of innovative products and achieved milestones particularly in the area of skin aging. They did some pioneering work to uncover the role of Q10 in skin aging and ultimately made the skin’s own Q10 available as an active ingredient for the first time. This research success by Beiersdorf was the starting signal for a new era of active ingredient cosmetics in the anti-aging segment with the introduction of the first Q10 skin care products on the mass market under the NIVEA brand in 1998. As regards glycation in the skin, we spent about 10 years focusing on this topic and intensely searched for an active ingredient that could fight glycation.

We initially had to explore the mechanism of action of NAHP on skin cells more deeply as well as work on a formulation and continuously optimize it. Our reason for doing so was simple: Not every active ingredient can be easily integrated into creams and remain stable for months at a time. Solubility played a major role. Color and smell were two other important issues. We also had to determine which concentration of the active ingredient would have the best effect. Before we could conduct tests on human skin, we used a skin model in which cells are introduced to a collagen gel – and thus simulated “real” skin.

^1: _{Knoblich et al: „N-Acetylhydroxyproline – A potent skin anti-ageing active preventing advanced glycation end-product formation in vitro and ex vivo.“ Int. J. Cosmet Sci. 2023,1-10. (N-acetyl-L-hydroxyproline - A potent skinanti-ageing active preventing advanced glycation end-product formation in vitroand ex vivo - PubMed (nih.gov))}
^2: _{Tested in-vitro}