In tech corner we often go into a lot of detail about the various biological and physical processes that impact your skin at every moment of every day, throughout your life. We talk about fairly complex concepts such as the electromagnetic spectrum, the extracellular matrix, cell tonicity and particulate matter. But at the end of the day, healthy skin is happy skin and when it comes to skin health, the overriding principle is really one of optimisation.
As the body’s largest organ, nothing matters more to skin health than helping it to maintain a healthy equilibrium so that it can function optimally. Protection is the most important part of this principle and, in particular, UV protection is the elephant in the room. Repair is another weapon we have at our disposal to help your skin to achieve its optimum equilibrium when it’s been knocked out of kilter.
Our philosophy at LifeJacket is one of performance.
We design all our products around the notion of 'everything for a reason' and pride ourselves on making sure that every ingredient we use in our products helps to optimise your skin’s health. One of the big benefits of healthy skin is better-looking skin. The same technologies that help to protect you also help to keep you looking your best.
So, in this post and for those of you interested in this level of detail, I wanted to focus on one key ingredient we use to increase skin firmness which not only helps keep it feeling smooth but also helps reduce the obvious signs of ageing such as wrinkles and fine lines: Beta-Glucan
What is Beta-Glucan?
Beta-Glucan is made from oats by a patented technology which refines the Beta-Glucan to produce a highly active soluble fraction.
It has been clinically shown to penetrate intact human skin and help reduce the visible signs of ageing. It's a naturally derived compound so isn't chemically modified but is clinically proven to offer excellent moisturisation benefits for the skin.
Beta-Glucan also protects against UV radiation and stimulates fibroblast growth and collagen synthesis to promote healing and reduce discolouration of scars. Therefore, Beta-Glucan helps to reduce extrinsic signs of ageing.
Study 1: Beta-Glucan's ability to reduce wrinkles and roughness
In this study to look into wrinkle reduction, an 8-week photo-ageing trial was conducted on the faces of 27 subjects. Each subject was given twice daily application of two randomly assigned products. One was a placebo and the other contained Beta-Glucan.
Skin elasticity measurements (using a cutometer) showed significant improvement in skin extensibility. Macro photography of the left and right sides of the face demonstrated a reduction in lines and wrinkles and image analysis of silicone replicas from the outer canthus area (corner of the eye) showed a smoothing effect on the skin.
The dark purple bars show the impact of the product with Beta-Glucan and the light purple bars show the same product without Beta-Glucan (i.e. the placebo). The reductions in wrinkle depths and skin roughness are significant and attributable to the Beta-Glucan.
Study 2: Beta-Glucan's ability to increase skin firmness
A 4-week in-vivo trial with facial treatment on 10 subjects was conducted. Each subject was given twice daily applications of two randomly assigned products. One was a placebo and the other contained Beta-Glucan.
The dark purple bars show the impact of the product with Beta-Glucan and the grey bars show the same product without Beta-Glucan (i.e. the placebo) at two timepoints.
Study 3: Beta-Glucan's ability to increase skin moisture content
A 4-week in-vivo trial with facial treatment on 10 subjects was conducted. Once again, each subject was given twice daily applications of two randomly assigned products. One was a placebo and the other contained Beta-Glucan.
The dark purple bars show the impact of the product with Beta-Glucan and the grey bars show the same product without Beta-Glucan (i.e. the placebo) at two timepoints.
Study 3: Beta-Glucan's ability to increase skin smoothness
A 4-week in-vivo trial with facial treatment on 10 subjects was conducted. Once again, each subject was given twice daily applications of two randomly assigned products. One was a placebo and the other contained Beta-Glucan.
The dark purple bars show the impact of the product with Beta-Glucan and the grey bars show the same product without Beta-Glucan (i.e. the placebo) at two timepoints.
Conclusion
In all of the studies, Beta-Glucan delivered positive results vs. the placebo and that's why we chose to use it in our moisturisers. It's just one of the many ingredients we use to help us achieve our ambition of delivering high performance formulations that benefit your skin.
We’re always innovating and improving but you can be 100% reassured that all of our products are toxicologically and dermatologically tested, so you know your skin is in safe hands.
Stay safe
