Wine, skin, and the spa experience

Many of you know about my ongoing interest in the use of wine polyphenols, especially resveratrol, for healthy skin. I had a chance to sound off on the subject in an article in the March/April issue of Spa magazine. They took notice of my published research in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology last year, in which I made the case that resveratrol and other botanical antioxidants are likely to be the next big thing in skin care.
Why all the fuss? To begin with, antioxidants are increasingly being recognized as important elements in anti-aging skin treatments, but the ones we have been relying upon for years--vitamins A, C, and E--just aren't potent enough. Even the active ingredient in Prevage, an enhanced derivative of coenzyme Q called idebenone, is 17 times weaker as an antioxidant than resveratrol. But it is the other capabilities of wine polyphenols that make it really interesting: anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and estrogen-like properties that may help the skin retain moisture. There are other ingredients contending for a role in the new science of skin care, such as acai, and a milk thistle extract called sylimarin, but the most extensively studied and head of the class is resveratrol.