New Anti-Aging Benefits Emerge for Probiotics

By Navin M. Geria, Senior Technical Advisor and Principal Doctors Skin Prescription

Probiotic means “in favor of life.” They are defined by the World Health Organization as living microorganisms or good bacteria which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.

Oral probiotic supplements are well recognized for protecting the gut’s microflora and supporting the body’s immune system. Healthy bacteria in the gut improve overall health and, consequently, help slow the aging process, enabling skin to retain its youthful glow much longer. Researchers may reason that topical use of probiotics will confer similar protective balance to the skin, and therefore help keep skin strong, healthy and age resistant.

We all know that skin hosts friendly bacteria. Probiotics work to protect this environment by replacing lost bacteria and preventing further loss with a fully functioning and thriving probiotic environment, making skin balanced, calmer and more resistant to aging. Given that the good-bad interaction of bacteria takes place on the skin’s surface, deep penetration of topical probiotics is not a huge concern. These topical probiotics need not be absorbed too deeply into the stratum corneum, but rather would be more effective if they stayed on the upper layer of the epidermis.

Products and Claims

Consumer magazines, websites and blogs are rife with details about how applying yogurt on the face, billed as a “yogurt facial,” improves the complexion. This is due to the lactic acid found in yogurt, which gently soothes, smoothes and exfoliates skin. The good bacteria in yogurt help to combat pathogenic bacteria that may be at the root, or at least exacerbating areas of redness and swelling. Some spas combine yogurt with dried orange peel powder in their facial preparations, which is rinsed off the face after leaving on for 15 minutes.

Probiotics are also incorporated into cleansers or masks. All these anecdotal probiotic topical treatments have been around for years because they have consumer benefits, thus proving that yogurt is surely an effective beauty boost. In health food stores, we find probiotic-based personal care products such as soaps and lotions. British skin care company Nude was the first to develop and launch a whole line of skin care around friendly bacteria. Clinique, Lanc?me, Burt’s Bees, Bioelements Chatecaille, Amala and Revive are just a few of the brands injecting probiotics into anti-aging serums and moisturizers in the belief that they help soothe and plump skin and can even turn back the clock.

Clinique’s Probiotic Anti-Aging Serum contains lactobacillus bifidus cultures encased in soy and milk proteins to help ward off wrinkles and irritation by keeping the skin’s bacterial balance in check. Clinique holds a patent on lactobacillus in cosmetics. Its Redness Solutions Makeup SPF15 helps alleviate mild and moderate rosacea while concealing facial flush.

Burt’s Bees’ intense hydration cream cleanser is also formulated with probiotics, which are said to boost skin’s protective bacterial layer.

L’Oréal Paris Youth Code Serum Intense delivers Biolysat, a concentrated probioKobe 11 Mentality