The
skin is the largest organ in the body, providing essential
internal protection from the hostile outside environment.
Through perspiration, it keeps you cool in the heat and eliminates
internal toxins. In the cold it helps you stay warm with its
insulating layer and hair growth. It keeps out dirt and harmful
infection from viruses and bacteria. It is puncture resistant
and has the remarkable ability to fix itself when it is wounded.
From homeostasis and excretion to immunity, your skin has
literally got you covered.
The
skin is also beautiful to us, a source of attraction and desirability
around which our culture has a big obsession. The $160 Billion
worldwide cosmetics and personal care industry is a testament
to how important the beauty of the skin is to human beings.
Most cosmetics products are designed to augment the beauty
of the skin from the outside, by application of moisturizers
and creams, and adornment of color, texture and fragrance.
But
truly beautiful skin is a result of healthy skin, skin that
is cared for not only on the surface, but from within, with
proper care of the health of the whole body. Skin wrinkles
and sags as the body ages due to a combination of factors,
including stress, poor nutrition, excess alcohol consumption,
sleep deprivation, and exposure to cigarette smoke, sunlight,
and pollution. Ultimately, a beauty system that treats the
skin from both the inside, through supplementation, and from
the outside, through topical application, is the best for
the beauty and longevity of the skin. This is a concept known
in the industry as the "Inside Out" approach
to skin care.
Functional
skin care products with this idea in mind are currently being
developed by some of the largest cosmetics companies in the
world. Just as Nutraceuticals are foods with functional ingredients,
the idea that cosmetics can be functional as well has spawned
a cosmeceutical industry that is already a $4.1 Billion US
market (HAPPI). In fact, cosmeceuticals now account for 17
percent of body care retail sales in the United States (Nutrition
Business Journal). The natural personal care market is also
the fastest growing segment in the cosmetics industry with
over 10% annual growth. Now is an opportune time for manufacturers
of skin care products and dietary supplements alike to have
success with new products that ride the crest of the wave.
It
is well known in the cosmeceuticals world that herbs
can be key ingredients in functional skin care products. This
is both good news and bad news. It is good news because there
is growing recognition among consumers that herbs can be very
powerful allies in creating and maintaining healthy skin.
Popular antioxidant herbs like Green or White Tea, for example,
quench damaging free radicals in the skin caused by pollution
or UV radiation. The bad news is that many body care companies
"dust" their products with botanicals in insignificant
sub-therapeutic amounts for purposes of fragrance, label promotion,
or cost savings. In the long run, this practice can erode
consumer confidence in herbs as powerful therapeutic agents
for skin care. The bottom line is, if the product doesn't
work, repeat purchases are unlikely. Luckily, there is still
a lot of room for innovation and a lot of potential for truly
functional herbal cosmeceutical products.
Until
recently though, there have been few suppliers that offered
botanical ingredients specifically for cosmeceuticals products
that could really perform and stay within the color and odor
constraints of product specifications.
For
over a decade, Draco Natural Products has been committed
to bringing dietary supplement and functional food manufacturers
the highest quality Full Spectrum herbal extract ingredients
available. Our philosophy has always been that what you put
in your encapsulated or liquid product should be therapeutically
efficacious and provide the consumer with real benefits. To
accomplish this, we oversee the minute details of every aspect
of production from the seed in the ground to the final extract
until we are sure that we can offer you herbal ingredients
of uncompromisingly high quality and purity.
We
are now bringing the same level of commitment to the cosmetics
industry. A couple of months ago, we introduced a new line
of ingredient products called Vital Treasures™, botanical
extracts for cosmetics and personal care applications.
As with our core line of products, the Vital Treasures™
line was developed to provide manufacturers with active, therapeutically
efficacious botanical ingredients. This time, however, the
ingredients have been specially designed to benefit the skin.
Scientific
research as well as a rich well of wisdom and empirical use
from Traditional Chinese Medicine has provided us with a wealth
of information about how herbs can help the skin. Primarily,
they can be used as anti-aging agents for the skin,
but they each add to the longevity of the skin in a particular
way:
Antioxidant - Herbs like
White Tea or Calendula are powerful free radical scavengers
that help to prevent and repair environmental and age related
damage to the skin.
Anti-inflammatory - Many
of the antioxidant herbs are also anti-inflammatory, reducing
the redness and swelling of sunburn, for instance.
Microcirculation - Several
herbs, likeGinkgo or Tribulus, improve circulation to the
peripheral blood vessels in the skin.
Impoved Metabolism and Cell Physiology
- Ginseng, Mulberry and Astragalus are examples of herbs that
have been shown to enhance skin cellular metabolism.
Structural Skin Matrix
- Herbs such as Eucommia, Foti, and Gotu Kola help the skin
to maintain the collagen "scaffolding" of the skin
that gives the skin its supple firmness.
Immune System Enhancement
- Astragalus, Ligustrum, Green Tea, and Milk Thistle are examples
of herbs that ease the skin's burden of protecting the body
from invasion by enhancing the immune response of the body.
Skin Tone and Skin Lightening
- Licorice, Ligusticum and Polygonum cuspidatum are
used for lightening the skin.
Product
Spotlight: Trinitea™
UV damage is the single most significant factor in accelerated
skin aging and the trigger for the inflammatory reactions
that lead to enzymatic damage of skin proteins. UV radiation
causes lipid peroxidation in skin cells, part of which is
the production of damaging free radicals. The first step in
any successful anti-aging cosmetic product is to stop these
harmful effects. Tea polyphenols, such as EGCG (epigallocatechin
gallate), are well known to be very powerful antioxidants.
So, to produce a high performance antioxidant for our Vital
Treasures™ line, we developed a proprietary Full Spectrum
extract formula that features a combination of three teas
specially selected for their antioxidant properties. We have
called this formula Trinitea™.
We
were seeking a product that could provide significant UV protection
against lipid peroxidation, at a concentration as low as 1mg
per ml. In an in vitro test performed by a reputable independent
cosmetic bioassay lab in California, Trinitea™
was dissolved in deionized water, added to an emulsion with
lecithin as the reactive substrate, and then irradiated with
UV light against a control of lecithin in water alone. The
results showed that at a concentration of 1mg per ml of
Trinitea™, there was 100% inhibition of lipid peroxidation
even after four hours of irradiation, compared to the
control of water with lecithin. This very low concentration
can be easily formulated into any product without concerns
for color or staining. Even at a concentration of 0.1 mg per
ml of Trinitea™ there was 65% inhibition of UV
induced lipid peroxidation.
While
these remarkable results show how effective this product can
be for UV protection, all of the other known benefits of tea
for the skin with regard to UV protection will be provided
with Trinitea™ as well. Please contact us if you
would like more detailed information on this study and Trinitea™'s
effects.
Draco
Vital Treasures™ botanical extracts can be used successfully
in an Inside Out skin care system depending on the herb and
the specific nature of the skin care application. Some herbs
work better internally. Others are more suitable for trans-dermal
delivery. Most can be used via both modalities. You may call
us or email us to request a complete information packet on
the Vital Treasures™ line of currently over 50 botanical
extracts. In addition to the information packet, we have a
complete product formulary with many product formulation templates
for serious product development enquiries.
Remember!
At Draco, all raw plant materials are carefully selected at
peak potency and certified to be free of pesticides and heavy
metals. The extracts are Kosher Certified and processed in
a state-of-the-art ISO9002 Certified facility. If
you would like more detailed information, or if you can't
wait to get started on your next product development idea,
don't hesitate to give us a call at:
(408)287-7871.
Company
News
Draco To Exhibit at Upcoming ICE Expo in Miami
Whether
you actively produce cosmetics and personal care products
or are interested in developing a new product line in the
industry, you will want to attend the upcoming 2004 ICE Expo
in Miami. The 10th annual International Cosmetics Expo
(ICE), put on by Allured Publishing Corporation,
publishers of GCI and Cosmetics and Toiletries magazines,
is being held at the Hyatt Regency in Miami, Florida on
February 9- 11. It's a great opportunity to learn more
about the latest developments in the industry, including cosmeceutical
products and ingredients. While you are there, be sure
to visit Draco at booth #35. We look forward to seeing
you there!
Humphrey
speaks at Jamaican Nutraceuticals Symposium
Draco
Marketing Communications Director Matt Humphrey spoke
at a symposium in Kingston, Jamaica on November 20 and 21,
2003. The symposium, entitled Supporting the Development
fo a Nutraceutical Industry in Jamaica, was put on by
the Scientific Research Council (SRC), a university affiliated
branch of the Jamaican government tasked with technology driven
economic development. The Nutraceuticals symposium was part
of SRC's 17th Annual Conference on Science and Technology.
Mr.
Humphrey's presentation was called "Current Extraction
Technology: A Case for Quality" In the first part
of the presentation, he discussed the more prevalent types
of herbal extraction technologies, such as maceration, percolation,
Sohxlet, Gregar, and Supercritical CO2 extraction. In the
second part of the presentation, Humphrey gave participants
an overview of how Draco Natural Products performs its proprietary
Full Spectrum Standardized™ herbal extraction.
The
herb, spice, dietary supplement and nutraceuticals industries
in Jamaica are undergoing economic development. Consumer product
companies operate on a small scale, but the leaders of these
businesses, at least those that participated in the conference,
were extremely enthusiastic about developing new products
and exporting to international markets. Overall, Jamaicans
are quite eager to embrace development initiatives that capitalize
on natural resources and Jamaican culture, in a country historically
beset by financial woes and political instability.
©
Copyright 2004, Draco Natural Products, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Draco
Extracts Facts