Protect your skin from sun damage

Hello, curious readers!

Summer is finally approaching. Days are longer and we feel a whole new energy after the long lazy winter. We love spending our spare time outside, having refreshing drinks with friends.   But do we protect our skin from the sun enough whilst we are enjoying its warm rays? The skin is a vital organ and it protects us from the external environment, including factors such as UV rays and pathogens, and it keeps our body temperature constant, preventing water and fluid loss.

For this reason, we must take care of our skin as much as possible to maintain a healthy and functioning cutaneous barrier. It is not enough to apply an SPF 50+ sunscreen during summer when we go to the beach or to the pool. We need to protect our skin all year round, even in winter, as the impact of ultraviolet rays is constant, even when it is cloudy and we think there is no sun. Nowadays we can easily find foundations and moisturizers with SPF 15+ or higher.

Gold Collagen®

Sun protection can benefit your skin, prevent photo-ageing, avoid both dryness and pigmented spots, and protect skin cells, the fibroblasts from photo-damage.

The damage caused by the sun accumulates and is irreversible.  It is associated with structural and functional alterations in the skin which ultimately lead to the formation of phenotypic changes such as increased skin frailty, fine lines and wrinkles. Collagen and elastin are long-life proteins.  As a consequence, they accumulate damages over time and this decreases their ability to function correctly.

Chronic exposure to sunlight can stimulate an excessive production of free radicals, which cause the degradation of collagen and elastin fibres and affect the skin through wrinkling, scaling, dryness and mottled pigmentation, eventually leading to photo-ageing and in some cases to skin cancer.

Nowadays, there are continuously new insights into the effects of orally-administered biologically active compounds, such as antioxidants, on skin function and this has led to the development of nutritional supplements to benefit human skin. Similarly, there is extensive literature showing the benefits of hydrolysed collagen-based nutraceuticals.

Supplementation with collagen peptides and antioxidants can help nourish and protect the skin through activating the fibroblasts to produce new collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid, and fighting the damage due to free radicals generated by UV rays. For these reasons, it makes sense to take a nutraceutical containing both collagen peptides and antioxidants before summer, to help protect the skin against sun damage and photo ageing.

In May we published our latest research in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, “Skin Pharmacology and Physiology” (http://www.karger.com/DOI/10.1159/000464470), showing the results of a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial that was carried out last summer on 120 healthy subjects in collaboration with Roma Medica Srl in Rome (Italy) and led by Professor Andrea Corbo to investigate and measure the photo-protective benefits and efficacy of a daily supplementation with the oral liquid nutraceutical GOLD COLLAGEN^® FORTE, which contains collagen peptides and powerful antioxidants.

Overall, we demonstrated a significant increase in skin elasticity and an improvement in skin texture, while in the placebo group we recorded a reduction in the elasticity due to the deterioration of skin condition because of the sun damage. We also obtained a very positive patient feedback through the self-assessment questionnaires and the compliance throughout the study was excellent. Taken together these results showed that GOLD COLLAGEN^® FORTE may have photoprotective effects and help improve skin health.

A supplementation based on collagen and antioxidants is not important only during summer. It would be ideal to take these nutrients all year round to nourish the skin and make it stronger and healthier.

Vidhi Patel