Ginger Root: The Latest Beauty Ingredient?

Symrise (Holzminden, Germany) is tapping into the latest ingredient trend in beauty: ginger root. The company’s new SymVital Age Repair ingredient is a 100% ginger root extract clinically shown to smooth wrinkles and even skin tone in three weeks, while reducing signs of sun damage in less than two weeks.

The beauty secret behind ginger root is its two main compounds: gingerols and shogaols. According to Symrise, these constituents act as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents that, in a broad description, help protect skin cells from environmental damage while maintaining the health of existing skin tissue cells.

The use of ginger for cosmetic purposes is quite recent, the company says, even though ginger has a long history of culinary and medicinal use. Historically, “in topical applications, ginger was mainly used for its antiseptic action to cure bacterial and fungal skin infection,” says Christina Witter, senior manager of corporate communications.

SymVital Age Repair may even have applications in hair care, the firm says. It says that stem cell tests on human hair follicles showed a protective effect against UV damage.

Already, a 56-day, 25-subject randomized, placebo-controlled study resulted in a significant decrease in the appearance of UV-related spots compared to placebo in 74% of users. The twice-daily dosage was topical (a cream) comprising 0.2% of SymVital AR. “These results prove a protective effect of the product against UV spots likely to appear over time by fading them before they become visible,” the company says.

Jennifer Grebow
Editor-in-Chief
Nutritional Outlook magazine
jennifer.grebow@ubm.com

Photo © iStockphoto.com/FrancoDeriu