(4 of 5)
So much for the brute-force approach. Ideally there would be a way to repair aging cells and prevent cell damage from occurring in the first place. Enter two vitamins, C and E, which are eminently suited to soaking up those nasty free radicals caused by sunlight, smoking and, alas, just plain living.
Like vitamin A, vitamin E is found in several forms, with alpha-tocopherol being the most biologically active. Because alpha-tocopherol isn't terribly stable, however, most cosmeceuticals contain derivatives. Although some of these compounds are converted to the active form in the skin, it's unclear whether they have an effect. Even if you find a cream with alpha-tocopherol in it, there's no definitive word on how strong it should be, according to Dr. Karen Burke, a dermatologist who consults for L'Oreal's Helena Rubinstein division. However, Burke's experiments with mice suggest that vitamin E creams should contain at least 1% alpha-tocopherol. Most lotions don't give percentages of their ingredients. Of the brands we tested, only Lancome's Primordiale eye creme-gel contained this ingredient, at a very small .05%.
What about vitamin C? You'd think, since it's a hydroxy acid and an antioxidant, that it would prove ideal. Vitamin C even has a tendency to stabilize vitamin E, which is one reason you so often see the two of them together. Unfortunately, this putative conqueror of the common cold loses its potency rather quickly when exposed to air.
Still, cosmetics firms believe that vitamins could be effective if scientists could find a better way to get them into the skin. An option is to surround the antioxidants with a protective coating that doesn't release the vitamins until they are deep in the epidermis. Estee Lauder is using "photosomes," which pop open only when exposed to ultraviolet radiation, in its Re-Nutriv Lifting Serum (available in November). Another approach, favored by Osmotics of Denver, depends on transdermal patches to allow vitamin C to soak directly into the skin.
Sometimes the push for innovation lies closer to home. Canadian pharmaceutical researcher Ben Kamins wasn't too interested in antiaging products until 10 years ago, when his wife, then 53, started worrying about the effects of hot flashes on her thinning skin. In response, he developed the Menopause Skin Cream, which uses urea--a common humectant--as a cooling agent. His solution to the vitamin E problem: encapsulate alpha-tocopherol in tiny little sacks of sugar molecules that are activated by body heat.
And that's pretty tame compared with some of the more fanciful ideas that are being floated. Lauder is studying shock proteins, which are released by the body in response to stress, in the hopes of preventing the formation of free radicals. Yale's Perricone is pushing the theory that inflammation also plays a role in the aging process, and antioxidants like alpha-lipoic acids could help reduce its effects.