“Avoid fruits and nuts. You are what you eat.”— Jim Davis, “Garfield”
If there is a term begging for ubiquity in the marketplace, it’s superfruit. Exotics and everyday fruits are flooding ingredient labels and product claims, making the term “superfruit” pervasive in supplements, functional foods and beverages, and personal care products. As the superfruits market burgeons, their application in natural products is overflowing into the personal care and beauty sectors, raising the bar for anti-aging and personal care formulations.
Nutricosmetics is an evolving beauty category based on “beauty from within”, i.e., skin care application through ingestion versus topical, and superfruits are a part of this recipe for beauty. Formulators are discovering the role superfruits can play in beauty foods and beverages, boosting skin health and offering a new angle to anti-aging.
In addition to beauty foods and beverages, personal care formulators are lauding superfruits for their benefits on skin, due heavily to their antioxidant content. “Antioxidants have the ability to counteract skin’s age damage caused by free radicals,” said Linda Miles L. Ac., D.O.M., vice president of derma e® Natural Bodycare. Derma e uses several superfruits based off their research, such as pomegranate, which contains anti-inflammatory and anti-aging benefits to help prevent fine lines, firm the skin’s epidermis and reduce free radical damage; grape seed oils, which moisturize and help improve photo-aged skin; and cranberry oil rich in tocotrienols, omega-3 and -6 fatty acids, which help fight off free radicals and hydrate skin, respectively. “Because of the research and the media’s frequent mention regarding their antioxidant-rich anti-aging properties, consumers are becoming more familiar with superfruits’ benefits,” Miles added.
Jeanette Jacknin, M.D., a board-certified and licensed dermatologist, confirmed the use of superfruits as a welcomed inclusion in personal care products. A study conducted on acerola fruit extract found it significantly lightened the UVB-irradiated skin pigmentation of brown guinea pigs (Biotechnol Biochem. 2008;72(12)3211-8). Jacknin touted buriti oil as an excellent source of oleic and essential fatty acids (EFAs), noting a 2009 study that found it possesses a naturally occurring SPF that filters and absorbs UV rays, helping to prevent UV-induced skin cancer.
In 2008, a study indicates a pomegranate extract standardized to punicalagins (as POMELLA® Extract, from Verdure Sciences) may help promote healthy, young-looking skin in several ways. The study, performed at Texas A&M University and published online in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry on August 22, explored the protective effects of the clinically researched pomegranate extract against UV-A and UV-B rays in SKU-1064 human skin fibroblast cells. The extract reversed UV-induced up-regulation of collagenases, specifically matrix metalloproteinases MMP1 and MMP13. During the natural course of aging, collagenases breakdown collagen—the structural fiber in skin that keeps skin looking firm and young. The pomegranate extract also increased UV-inhibited SIRT1 at concentrations of as little as 20ppm; and showed positive effects promoting healthy DNA repair, intracellular antioxidant capacity (measured by ORAC), and healthy NF-kB regulation already within the normal range.
Fruit Forward
The evolution of superfruits sets the stage for what’s to come. They have a lot of room to grow, but the demand is there. When you peel back the skin, this market is sprouting, and will continue to develop in research, application and consumer awareness. “The superfruit industry is young and needs to grow in order to find its true potential,” said Sonya Cropper, vice president of marketing, Verdure Sciences. “However, as within all industries, the need for marketing compliance is required and any new product or fruit should be scrutinized and held to the same high standards as established ingredients/fruits, including sustainable harvesting, identifiable and researched phytochemical profile testing, and quality assurance compliance.”
And the more consumer awareness, the higher the demand. “The demand for superfruits in skin care is growing because of the vast amounts of research being conducted on superfruits and the media’s frequent dissemination of information on these ingredients and their benefits,” Miles said.