Category: Anti-Oxidants

Posted on by — Leave a comment

POMEGRANATES: FRUIT OF THE GODS, I GET IT!

In ancient times, the Greeks and Egyptians used the fruit of the pomegranates to heal and revitalize the body.  Then, Pomegranate was also known as the fruit of the gods, because of the belief and myth that the fruit could transform and heal a person’s body and mind to be closer to that entity, and a secret to beknownst only to them.

     Until recently, scientific studies indicate that pomegranates have benefits far transcending ancient symbolism and leading them into the realm of true medical literature. Early on, a Reuters article dated  Oct 29, 2003, reported, “that compounds found in fruits such as Pomegranates and Grapes may help protect against the changes that can lead to skin cancer”, researchers told a conference of the American Association of Cancer Research. These were proven by test on mice which demonstrated that these extracts can slow down or prevent the damage done to skin by chemicals and sunlight.   

     Like all other antioxidants such as Green Tea, Grapeseed and the Açaí berry;  Pomegranate extract was found to help in mediating ultraviolet light damage.  In other words, this meant that your skin attained the ability to be more resistance to damaging ultraviolet rays.  By this, your skin may burn less or recover much more quickly than without it.   Interesting enough, this was a phenomenon we were seeing early on with our first antioxidant product of Grapeseed creams and serums.  Our clients were coming in after a day of sunning or going to areas such as Hawaii and telling us they weren’t getting burned as much with our product, compared to other times without it.    

     The reason for this protective factor, is that Pomegranate Extract is rich in polyphenols, a potent antioxidant also commonly found  in Green Tea and other antioxidants. One of the most powerful of the Pomegranate polyphenols is Ellagic Acid, which has been shown to be promising in a study for it’s anti-cancer and healing benefits.  

     One study confirmed that Ellagic Acid effectively protected cells from damaging free radicals of ultraviolet light.  In addition, it was found that other antioxidants in the fruit of the pomegranate combined synergistically with Ellagic Acid to greatly  increase pomegranate’s potency as an antioxidant.  In other words, it was found that this red fruit contained more than one antioxidant which worked together in a cascade effect to counteract the damage done to cells by chemicals, radiation and sunlight.  It did this by significantly lowering the swelling in damaged skin tissue and further, decreased the overgrowth of unnecessary skin cells, which could turn cancerous.

      In another study at the University of Wisconsin, a team tested pomegranate extract against a tumor causing chemical called TPA. In the skin of newborn mice.  In the TPA treated group, all the mice developed tumors at 16 weeks; whereas the mice treated with Pomegranate extract only 30%  exhibited tumors at the 16 week point.  BioKorium has been always been on the cutting edge of Antioxidant development since 1994, interpreting and understanding  what clinical studies reveal regarding the importance of certain fruit extracts and their relation to skin health. 

     At BioKorium we are proud to offer what we feel is the best handmade pomegranate fruit extract products in the form of facial creams and lotions formulated,developed and produced in small batches by Dr. Javier Moreno, PharmD, RPh , available since our conception 17 years ago.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

SKIN CARE CONCEPTS THAT DIDN’T SOUND RIGHT

I am not a traditional facialist to say the least, but I was taught that way.  Much of what I was taught just didn’t make any sense to me. Those electronic skin care devices such as galvanic currents, the pretty colored light therapy that ranged from blue, green, yellow and red, and of course the draconian steam.  I called this the “fluff facial”.  Its has all the bells and whistles that most clients expect in a facial.  Many customer and clientele came in expecting this treatment.  Was it helping, of course not, but it sure gave the impression it did, and it looked pretty impressive to the customer, and in their mind they were convinced by the technology and believed results were happening.  But I honestly had to tell them, “Sorry, that’s not what I do.”  This was when I began to think out of the box.  I would tell them, when you lay on my treatment bed, you will not hear music, or have steam thrown in your face, or me massaging your shoulders, or will I be inundating you with unique scents….When come to see me you will not have all that, you will hear me talking…and talking skin.  Teaching you and telling you what you need to do to take care of your skin.

What happened, was that I realized everything that I learned in school didn’t sound right.  Placing steam, pretty lights and electronic devices on clients skin; was it really making a difference and transforming their skin?  Were they getting the results they expected? Were they happy and satisfied? Or the question was, did they even care?  We reached out to a niche market of clients unsatisfied with traditional facials, and wanted rational answers and most of all, a rational treatment regimen that made sense and gave results.  This initiated my search and destroy method of the current status quo thought to skin care.  And to this day many listen, then cringed, then listened again, then cringed less, and the transformation of new skin care thought and perception began, of course, in so many words.  This is what made me get up every morning and continue to strive for new, simple and basic skin care concepts that make sense, and I know it is successful when our clients our reaching their goals, and telling me, “Vivian,  seeing is believing”.

Posted on by — 1 Comment

SUNLIGHT: THE BODIES NATURAL ENERGY SOURCE

From fire and water came the spark of life of which emerged a complex biological system of what we know now as the human body. The purpose, the biological purpose of how are body was designed in order to survive the challenges of our environment is not only rudimentary, but primordial in origin. Sun exposure, temperature changes, food intake, immune strength; these our all elements that effect and challenge our bodies future level of survival. A lack of sunlight, for example, can have an effect on lowering Vitamin D levels which could result in larger health issues later. A lack of Vitamin D can also increase the risk of many types of cancer and lung diseases. This is the top reason for our need to be exposed to sunlight in order that our body receives and produces enough Vitamin D. The fact that electrons from the sun must pass through the skin to be processed in cells is example which demonstrates that ‘skin’ is a natural receiver or conduit of sunlight, in the form of electrons. These electrons are then processed within our skin to produce active levels of Vitamin D which maintain healthy processes within our body. This is another reason why we should not overlook the importance of maintaining healthy skin in relation to sun exposure. Ten minutes daily is sufficient. Sunlight also prevents many bacterial and viral infections. More importantly, sunlight strengthens our immune system by providing the platform to build our white blood cell count, and having a normal healthy level of White Blood Cells by which our body maintains a healthy immune system. The importance of maintaining our skin should not stop at our appearance, it now becomes a health issue pertinent to the very nature of our survival.

Posted on by — 2 Comments

WHITE TEA OR GREEN TEA FACIAL CREAM: WHO’S BIASED?

A question I’m often asked when a customer is choosing an anti-oxidant product, is which is best?  Many of the products, of course, are market driven.   In other words, it is whatever the trend for that moment that decides that products presence.  At the time , I was reading a study which found that green tea contained anti-oxidants called polyphenols that appeared to afford the protection against cancerous cells by starving growths, which was done by reducing the blood vessel growth near them, therefore stopping their supply line of nutrition and oxygen.   Pretty amazing stuff, I thought.  In  addition, this researcher, Dr. Santosh Katiyar who was studying the chemoprotective effects of green tea, found that green tea might also be effective against skin cancer if used topically in skin care creams. He was quick to point out that green tea was not a cure for skin cancer, but rather a preventive measure that needs further clinical testing and trials, but would have a profound impact on various skin disorders in the years to come. So what does a scientist do? Well he goes into his laboratory and attempts to create magic. To design a product that works; well, that’s what I did. 

Lets take a look at Green and White Tea.  First, Green Tea and White Tea are not fermented, in contrast to Black Tea, therefore, they contain much more active and intact polyphenol components.   The leaves of White Tea are picked and harvested before the leaves open fully, and at this time the leaves are covered by white fine hair, hence the name.  In comparison to the leaves of Green Tea, whereby they are allowed to grow to a fully form green leaf.  White Tea is also scarcer than the other traditional teas, and therefore quite expensive. In addition, White Tea Leaf also contains more concentrations of polyphenols than Green Tea Leaf. The results of studies with White Tea Leaf suggest a greater inhibitory potency in cancerous cells than Green Tea Leaf, because of increase polyphenol content. Our first anti-oxidant tea extract products were Green Tea Facial Wash and our Green Tea Facial Cream, which was later modified to the current White Tea Extract Facial Cream. 

So overall, what we did to our products was to increase the concentration levels of white and green tea extract actives.  This had been the cornerstone of our company from the beginning was to create cosmeceuticals products that worked due to containing optimal levels of active concentrates.

The thought behind creating our Green Tea Facial Wash, which is the second facial wash based on the formulation of our Original Facial Wash, was to create it with a lighter texture for two reasons: First, for ease of application to irritated skin. Secondly, when irritated skin is progressing through the healing and exfoliation process, the wash could be incorporated with our Oatmeal Herbal Masque for increase anti-inflammatory effects and for gentle removal of exfoliated skin debris.  The development behind this product was based on those people undergoing laser treatment or chemical peeling. We felt this was the ideal wash because it lightly cleansed tender skin while allowing the natural exfoliating of skin debris in the post-laser or post-peel healing stages. Further, we increased the extract levels over the maximum recommended for optimal effect. The Green Tea Facial Wash included active amounts of Green Tea Leaf Extract, noted for its soothing and anti-oxidant properties, and Chamomile Extract noted for its ant-inflammatory and calming properties. Originally, we started with Green Tea Extract Facial Cream which then evolved to the White Tea Extract Facial Cream, due to its increased levels of polyphenol. Our facial cream product had a whopping 20% concentrate of White Tea Actives.  What people didn’t know is that we could as very well place 0.1% white tea extract in our product and still said it contains white tea effectiveness as many in the cosmetic market place do.  But this was the nature of the cosmetic business we wanted to separate ourselves from.

So what was important, is when Green Tea and/or White Tea products were topically applied to the skin, it had the ability to modulate the biochemical pathways involved in skins natural inflammation process.  In other words, if you were in the sun at the beach all day, and incurred a sunburn, your skin would be inflamed and red. This inflammation and redness is directly due to the suns UV rays damaging skin cells.  How you’re body responds to this damage is the next question.  Will it heal up naturally or will it have damage some of your cells ability to replicate properly, possibly transforming some of those cells to skin cancer. That is the question.  The bottom line is that some current studies are suggesting the daily topical application of anti-oxidants such as white or green tea daily as a protective and preventive factor when outdoors and especially when spending lengthy recreational hours in the sun. Studies show that topical products that contain either Green Tea or White Tea polyphenols when applied to the skin interferes with the skins natural biochemical pathway by reducing the inflammatory responses.  So, I’m still asked which is best…. am I biased?  Really I’m Not, I still like both green and white equally.

Posted on by — 2 Comments

RED WINE: I’D RATHER DRINK IT THAN PUT ON MY SKIN…

There is no doubt that many of us love wine, of course, including myself.  Every year in our town of Riverside, California I would produce and submit a different facial cream that would be given to each individual  as a gift for our ‘Taste of the Town’ event.   As you probably may know, ‘Taste of the Town’ is an event  emphasizing great local food and of course great local wine.  One year I thought, my submission should be wine, red wine of course, because it had more anti-oxidant properties than white.  But on the drinkable level it didn’t matter to me.   This would be great I thought, people eating great food, drinking great wine and receiving a great facial cream made with real napa valley red wine, from “Trader Joes”.   Yes, ‘Trader Joes”.   That year it was such a great hit, but it just didn’t seem complete for me.  This was because,  ‘Taste of the Town’ was all about local food and wine, and the theme of my cream should correspond to just that…..that, my friends, was the beginning of the tradition of using local wines in my product to produce the yearly facial cream for this event. 

For the last twenty year I have been studying, testing and incorporating every type of ant-oxidant berry and related food into cream product. Of course, our friends were our guinea pigs, and they definitely told me if it was effective or not.  In researching about the benefits of Red Wine, I realized it wasn’t a new discovery.  I found out that Hippocrates, one of the founders of modern medicine, was the first to highlight the virtues of wine over 2500 years ago, claiming that wine is something beneficial to humans, as long as it is administered in reasonable quantities.  In the eighties, the scientific community tried to explain why the French suffer less from cardiovascular problems. Today, researchers explain that this “French Paradox”, is directly related to red wine consumption, thanks to the antioxidant and free radical scanvenging properties of the polyphenols and biphenols contained in red wine. These polyphenols have been shown in test performed on live cell cultures, to protect cells against the effects of oxidative damages. Therefore it helps skin tissues fight against the damaging effects of free radicals, therefore ensuring protection against extrinsic aging.  Extrinsic aging are those elements such as pollution, sun and weather etc. that just challenge our skin so much that it may not be able to respond and recover properly leading to aging skin by damaging our own skins elastin and collagen supply.

The search for a good wine to be in our product and to carry the BioKorium name came quite incidently, when our good friends Chris and Denyse Olsen,  from Cambria, California invited us to come to their harvest celebration.. Now, this was no ordinary winery, they built their winery from the ground up and planted each varietal syrah vine into the ground.   No easy feat, and you could tell from their final product.  That’s when I thought as a gift I would process their Syrah wine and incorporate into a handmade facial cream.  Well, when I was done I felt it was the best wine product that I ever incorporated into a facial cream, and so did they. I new it was exceptional because the end concentration of that wine did not smell “winy’, it had an overall clean smell for being highly concentrated.  So, from La Montañita Winery in Cambria, I distilled and condense there 2004 Syrah Wine to produce the wine extract used in this product. It is concentrated six times to increase the amounts of protective polyphenols, to be much more concentrated and effective that what is found in the market place. I then infuse the cream with vineyard field botanicals such as pomegranate extract, chamomile extract, sunflower extract, calendula extract, comfrey extract, sunflower and ivey extracts. It was now that I felt absolutely confident, of the true protective anti-oxidant properties of this concentrated product, now name BioKorium’s  La Montañita California Syrah Facial Cream.  So, I now tell tell our customers that if you like what it does for your skin, you may want to indulge in the real thing by visiting La Montañita Vineyard. 

In response to October Vineyard Harvest Month, BioKorium has substantially reduced our prices of our La Montañita Vineyard Line.