Polyphenols in CoffeeBerry brim with antioxidant power.
When it comes to the coffee plant (Coffea Arabica), the bean typically gets all the glory while the surrounding fruit in which it is encased is tossed away. But the flesh of the coffee plant’s fruit is packed with an exceptionally powerful concentration of antioxidants that could give other super-potent antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E and green tea, a run for their money in terms of anti-aging benefits.
The unique mix of antioxidants patented and marketed as “coffeeberry”, are the key ingredients in a new line of skin care products called REVALESKIN (Stiefel). Early studies indicate that the product can improve wrinkles and fine lines, enhance skin tone and improve skin pigmentation from sun exposure.
Power Packed Coffeeberry is a mix of four polyphenols: chlorogenic acid, condensed proanthocyanidins, quinic acid and ferulic acid. The compounds are at their peak concentration when the fruit is harvests at a pre-ripe growth stage, says David McDaniel, M.D., director of the Institute of Anti-Aging Research and assistant professor of clinical dermatology and plastic surgery at the Easter Virginia Medical School, Virginia Beach, Va. “The entirety of the coffee berry, including the whole fruit - the skin, pulp and bean, is harvested in the green and ripe stage because that’s when it’s at its peak antioxidant power,” notes Dr. McDaniel, who has conducted research on coffeeberry.
Stiefel reports that coffeeberry dramatically outperforms other antioxidants such as green tea and vitamin C on the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) assay developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to evaluate the oxygen radical absorbance capacity of food substances.
According to the company, coffeeberry extract has a minimum ORAC score of 15,000, compared with green teas, which score 1,200 to 11,000; fruits, which score 104 to 5,770; and vegetables, which score 150 to 1,770.
“It’s probably the most potent natural antioxidant, based on the ORAC standards,” Dr. McDaniel tells Cosmetic Surgery Times.
In testing the efficacy of coffeeberry in the REVALESKIN three-step skin care product line, Dr. McDaniel conducted a six-week, double-blind clinical trial, and he says the product showed impressive results.
The study involved 30 women between 30 and 70 years of age with moderate to severe photoaging. Ten were randomly selected to participate in a split-face protocol, with the rest receiving full-face treatment. Both groups had left, right and full-face views photographed at baseline, week three and week six.
The results showed that the coffeeberry skin care product regimen was eight times better at temporarily improving the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles than the vehicle and three times better than the vehicle in temporarily improving the appearance of skin pigmentations.
No serious adverse events or allergic or hypersensitivity reactions were reported.
The improvement in skin pigmentation sets coffeeberry apart from other natural antioxidants, and the benefit may be attributable to the unique mix of antioxidants, Dr. McDaniel says.
Protect, Defend - And Repair. In addition, Dr. McDaniel says coffeeberry, like other super-potent antioxidants, appear to go beyond the traditional antioxidant power of simply serving as a defensive protective mechanism against free radicals and actually goes on the offense to repair damage.
“The super-potent antioxidants, particularly coffeeberry, don’t just defend and protect - there is actually a repair aspect,” Dr. McDaniel says. “We think of something like Retin-A as repairing damage and we think of traditional antioxidants as protecting or defending or neutralizing free radicals, but the coffeeberry does both.”
“There appears to be an alteration in the gene expression that helps the cell to repair damage and not just prevent it,” he says. “Gene expression studies on human skin fibroblasts as well as immunofluorescense microscopy performed on the skin biopsies from the human clinical studies suggest that there are changes in gene expression at the cellular level which translate into the increased production of dermal matrix proteins such as collagen while decreasing the production of matrix-degrading enzymes.”
Those studies showed some apparent reduction of activities in some inflammatory pathways, suggesting that coffeeberry might have anti-inflammatory effects as well, Dr. McDaniel says.
“More research is needed to define and explore these observations, but it provides some insight into potential applications of coffeeberry.”
CoffeeBerry Commencement That research will need to be extensive before it approaches the level of research into other antioxidants, but the coffeeberry product appears to be getting off to a good start, says Leslie Baumann, M.D., professor of dermatology and chief of the division of cosmetic dermatology at the University of Miami.
“Green tea still remains the most researched of the antioxidants, so coffeeberry has a long way to go before it can convincingly surpass green tea in my book,” she says. “[However], the coffeeberry products is aesthetically pleasing and well-liked by my patients.”
“One of the biggest challenges with antioxidants is getting patients to use them,” she says. “So if the cosmetic elegance of this product gets them to use it, I am all for it.”
Dr. Baumann adds that until more is known about antioxidants, a mix-and-match approach might be ideal for covering all of the bases. “The bottom line is that antioxidants are beneficial. We really don’t know which ones are best, so using the combination of various oral and topical antioxidants seems prudent.”
Stiefel’s REVALESKIN system includes a day cream containing SPF 15, a night cream and a facial cleanser.
With coffeeberry’s promising antioxidant potency, however, the skin care system may only represent a fraction of the fruit’s capability.
“I think there is going to be much more research on coffeeberry and Stiefel appears to be very committed to ongoing research,” Dr. McDaniel says. “Coffeeberry is probably going to turn out to have a lot of other applications besides topical, so I think this is really just the tip of the iceberg of what we’re going to see.” |
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