Symrise launches natural-based anti-ageing actives

Developed by Israeli-based Biotechnology Research (IBR), the ingredients fall into two active product groups - one produced from colourless carotenoids, the other from the narcissus plant bulb.

The colourless carotenoids include to products - one derived from algae and one derived from tomato. Both have been developed using a new method that allows coloured carotenoids to be developed without the colour.

CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com reported that the two companies had agreed to a marketing arrangement back in February, with Symrise chosing to launch the ingredients on the market last week.

IBR-TCLC is based on colourless cartenoids in tomatoes. The trick to making the ingredient colourless is to extract the carotene precursors - phytotene and phytofluene - before the tomatoes ripen and turn them into red pigment.

Likewise, the ingredient IBR-CLC is based on a similar colourless extraction method, only using algae.

The activity profile of these colourless carotenoids is said to be the same as their pigmented counterparts, only the fact that they don't have colour makes them much easier to formulate, especially with respect to colouring.

Both ingredients are said to have strong anti-oxidant properties as well as being UV-protective, anti-inflammatory and antimutagenic. Likewise, the fact that they ingredients have fewer double bonds makes them significantly more stable.

The fact that colouring is easier and that they are more stable makes these carotenoids significantly more stable than their coloured counterparts, which have been traditionally highly challenging for formulators to incorporate into personal care products.

Symrise says that both IBR-CLC and IBR-TCLC should prove suitable for incorporation in a variety of anti-ageing and sun care products and was consequently runner-up for the 2005 Personal Care Ingredients Europe awards.

IBR-dormin has been developed from narcissus plant bulbs to provide what Symrise terms 'a new approach to anti-ageing products'.

The narcissus bulb goes into a hibernation in winter, thanks to keartocytes and fibroblasts that cause its cells to divide more slowly.

Research has proved that these properties can be extracted from the bulbs and used in skin care formulations to slow the rate of cell division, giving them more time to develop their protective functions.

This makes IBR-dormin suitable for a host of anti-ageing, anti-wrinkle and after-sun products and can even be rendered to act as a whitening agent through another mechanism - a function that will make it suitable for skin whitening products.

Symrise says that laboratory studies have proved the ingredient leaves skin more elastic, more taught and reduces wrinkling.

All of these ingredients tap into two of the most significant trends in the personal care industry at the present time: natural-based products and anti-ageing products.

The fact that they hit on both of these trends simultaneously should ensure that they are well received by the industry.