Beauty drinks: the booster for the skin

Skin capsules, cell power powder or beauty drinks should do us good from the inside out. The promises are plumper, smoother and firmer skin, full hair and much more. But does it really work?

They are the product trend of the moment: colorful glasses with “Beauty Formulas” that are supposed to make you look more beautiful from the inside out. There are now entire departments for this in online shops, perfumeries, drugstores and concept stores. The fact that powders, drinks and capsules are booming has, quite simply, to do with our nature: In the course of its aging process, the skin loses more and more collagen (a structural protein or a protein chain made up of hundreds of amino acids) and hyaluronic acid (a mucopolysaccharide, i.e. a Carbohydrate with long molecular chains). It starts at around 25, it becomes visible from around 30 or 35 years of age.

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“Degradation with simultaneously reduced build-up”: This principle applies to many substances in our body. However, collagen and hyaluronic acid are essential for the supporting function of the connective tissue, i.e. responsible for firm and elastic skin. For example, they ensure that water can be bound. In addition, they are involved in cell communication.

“Beauty drinks or capsules can combat collagen and hyaluronic acid loss. However, only with long-term intake,” says Dr. Andrea Weber. The scientist heads the research and innovation center of Babor in Aachen, which recently developed its first own nutritional supplements with the renowned company Biogena. In the opinion of the expert, however, it makes no sense to take it at a younger age – because the body does not yet need the substances and would therefore not use them at all.

1. What should be in beauty food?

Drinks, powders and capsules should primarily supply the body with hyaluronic acid and collagen. “I now call them the dietary supplement it girls,” says Dr. Meike Streker, cosmetic scientist at the University of Hamburg. “They are primarily there to improve the quality of the skin, not to target individual wrinkles.” The formula also includes vitamins and minerals that help the metabolism to work more actively again. For example, we need vitamin C in order to be able to produce collagen in the body at all. “Add zinc, biotin, vitamin E – that really makes sense from a scientific point of view.”

2. How reliable are the promised active ingredients?

There is good data available for the oral ingestion of collagen peptides, and studies show the utilization of long-chain hyaluronic acid. But you should make sure “that it contains little or no artificial additives and no sugar,” advises Dr. Henning Jüchter, molecular biologist and co-founder of Proceanis in Hamburg, who launched the world’s first beauty drink with hyaluronic acid almost ten years ago.

Cosmetic scientist Meike Streker says: “In general, manufacturers have to keep their promises, as stipulated by EU directives. If you decide on very high-priced drinks, you can even check this on the basis of current product-specific studies.” Tip: Make sure that these were carried out “clinical, placebo-controlled and double-blind”. Personal assessments of 20 study participants can subjectively document excellent results, but they are not sufficient for objective statements.

3. What are the active ingredients obtained from? Can I take them without hesitation, even if I live vegan?

Here it is important to pay close attention to the list of ingredients. Basically, hyaluronic acid is only obtained from plants or mushrooms by fermentation in the biotech laboratory. So it’s vegan. The situation is different with collagen: “There is no such thing as plant-based collagen. Collagen is de facto animal”, says Babor expert Dr. Andrea Weber “So they would not have the same effect. One reason why manufacturers therefore rely on special, laboratory-made, short-chain peptide compounds:” They are most similar to human ones and come from the skin of German cattle approved for consumption, “says Meike Streker.

4. How much should I consume each day – and when will I see the first results?

In the case of hyaluronic acid and collagen, there is no specific recommended daily requirement – in contrast to vitamins, for example. But we know that from the age of 25 to 30, around five to ten percent collagen and hyaluronic acid are broken down every three days. This amount should be returned to the body. As a result, research calculated the optimal daily dose for beauty food: 2.5 g collagen peptides or 120 mg hyaluronic acid. Dr. Henning Jüchter: “According to current studies, proven five to ten percent reach the extracellular matrix, i.e. the connective tissue with the fibroblasts that produce collagen and hyaluronic acid. This is proven by radioactive markers.” It doesn’t sound like much at first, but it’s no different with other micro- and macronutrients. Hyaluronic acid and collagen are no wonder drugs: the manufacturers also recommend a so-called charging or flooding phase of four to six weeks until the first results can be felt and seen.

5. Are there any risks?

“In fact, no undesirable side effects are known to date with collagen peptides and hyaluronic acid,” said Dr. Meike Streker. The reason is said to be that both substances are so similar to the natural skin. Nausea, dizziness or headaches are said to have occurred only in the case of extreme overdose.

6. Do beauty drinks have an advantage over capsules and powders?

Probably yes. At least hyaluronic acid and collagen peptides in capsule form should have a lower bioavailability because they only dissolve in the intestine. Only active ingredients that are already broken down in the stomach can be absorbed by the small intestine and better passed on to the blood. A natural digestive step that guarantees bioavailability. “By the way, substances dissolved in water are better processed by the organism. This means that hyaluronic acid is completely ineffective if there is no water nearby,” says molecular biologist Jüchter. The situation is different for products with a high proportion of antioxidants (such as astaxanthin, acerola, coenzyme Q10). “Powder is preferable to liquid format here: antioxidants lose their effectiveness over time when they are in liquid because they become unstable,” says Australian biochemist and nutritionist Vanessa Craig, who calls Formetta itself a nutraceutical for substances with a specific effect that can be ingested).

7. Will beauty food soon replace daily creams?

No, external care takes on other tasks. For example, hyaluronic acid and collagen chains in creams that stay on the skin because their molecules are simply too large to get deep. This gives them an important protective function. Ceramides in turn contribute to the natural barrier in the horny layer, for example, and are therefore important to protect the skin from drying out and to prevent foreign substances from penetrating. “The ingredient is still very rare in supplements. So cream!” Says cosmetologist Meike Streker. Babor expert Andrea Weber advises: “Combine nutritional supplements and care products appropriately. For example, absorb collagen from the inside and stimulate the skin’s own synthesis of collagen from the outside via the signaling effect.”

Dr. Timm Golüke, dermatologist from Munich: “If results are confirmed by studies, beauty food can certainly be a supplement to an otherwise balanced lifestyle. Nutritional supplements with good external care are definitely a modern type of cosmetic beauty routine.”

Would you like to read more about the topic and exchange ideas with other women? Then take a look at the “Beauty Forum” BRIGITTE community past!

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BRIGITTE 04/2021

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