Herbal booster: Review suggests probiotics could help to improve effect of TCM ingredients

Writing in the Journal of Cosmetics Dermatology​​, a team of Chinese researchers from Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine conducted a review on the use of probiotics in skin care.

It reviewed the application and mechanism of probiotics in skin care and found that probiotics have potent effects as a whitening, moisturising, anti-ageing, anti-wrinkle, and deodorant ingredient.

“Probiotics as a cosmetic ingredient is a new thing that is developing, and people's curiosity about it has prompted deeper research on it so that more beneficial effects can be explored for the maximum benefit of human beings.”​

In addition to having a “remarkable role” ​as a skin care ingredient, the researchers suggested that it may be able to boost the effects of traditional Chinese medicinal (TCM) ingredients.

“Due to the complex components of Chinese herbal medicines, the effects sometimes fail to achieve our expected results, and the quality of them still needs to be continuously improved.”​

For instance, it cited a study that showed that fermentation of red ginseng increased the content of antioxidant active substances, thereby this increasing its antioxidant and whitening effects.

“Through consulting the data, we know that the combination of probiotics and traditional Chinese medicine will often get better results… Therefore, we should pay more attention to the research which is related to the above aspects in the future and combine probiotics with traditional Chinese medicine in a better way.”​

The researchers concluded that probiotics present many beneficial effects in cosmetic products.

The researchers noted that its review comes at a time when the industry is pressed by consumer demand to develop highly effectively yet safe products, and probiotics have been proven to give good results as a cosmetic ingredient.

“It is urgent to find effective and safe ingredients for skin care products to solve skin problems effectively. In recent years, experts and scholars have found that probiotics can be used as effective components of cosmetics to solve the above skin problems and have received good results. Moreover, experimental studies have proved that probiotics have no toxic effect or little toxic effect on cells and can be better applied in the field of skin care.​

However, it noted that more research needs to be done on potential adverse effects probiotics could have on the skin care formulations itself.

“As to whether probiotics will cause harmful flora in skin care products to multiply, which will exceed the international safety limit and have adverse effects on skin, we have done less research at present.”​

Additionally, it noted that there are no dedicated global regulations or requirements for probiotics in skin care which could “hinder the development of probiotic skin care products to a certain extent”.​

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Source: Journal of Cosmetics Dermatology

Published January 8, 2022

https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.14734​

Title: Application and mechanism of probiotics in skin care: A review​

Authors: Jinyan Yu et al.