Why antioxidants could actually harm younger skin
Expensive skin creams which are rich in antioxidants are championed by the beauty industry for their anti-ageing and wrinkle-reducing effects. But a new study suggests that they could actually be harmful to skin - at least for younger people.
Antioxidants were thought to be beneficial because they prevent free-radicals from damaging cells.
However a new study suggests that in young people free radicals are essential for skin healing and healthy regeneration.
When scientists in the US bred mice which produced excess free radicals to mirror the effects in humans, they expected to see accelerated ageing, but instead they found the animal's skin improved. Until the age of 50 in human years, it appears that free radicals are actually beneficial.
“This study shows that it's essential that we look across the entire lifespan when we examine mechanisms implicated in the aging process," said Professor Judith Campisi at the Buck Institute for Research on Ageing, in California, US.
"In this case, we found unexpected effects, mechanisms that benefit us when we're young, cause problems as we age."
Professor Campisi said eating or applying large amounts of antioxidants might have damaging effects to the skin in young people in their 20s because free radicals are necessary to keep skin regenerating effectively. Beta-carotene and vitamins C and E all have high levels of antioxidants.
Many people take supplements that are high in antioxidants believing they will slow ageing
"This is not a simple process,” added lead author Dr Michael Velarde. “It may be that nature used free radicals to optimize skin health, but because this process is not deleterious to the organism until later in life, past its reproductive age, there was no need to evolve ways to alter this mechanism.”
Free radicals are atoms which have missing electrons and so steal electrons from other healthy atoms, which causes cell damage in a process known as oxidation. Antioxidants essentially ‘donate’ their electrons to neutralise free radicals and stop them causing any more harm.
Free radicals are produced in the body as a by-product of normal metabolism and can also be introduced from an outside source, such as tobacco smoke, or other toxins like pollution.
Health experts and beauticians have long recommended eating super foods like blueberries and using specially formulated creams to boost antioxidants and battle free radicals
But it appears that it may only work in older age. As the mice in the study aged their skin cells became increasingly damaged by free radicals, eventually stopping dividing completely.
The study follows controversial claims by Dr James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, that antioxidants may be harmful to people with late-stage cancer.
Writing in the journal Open Biology, he said free radicals help clear dysfunctional and dangerous cells from the body. Antioxidants may hinder cancer recovery by blocking their effect, he argued.
The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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