Forget peptides, chuck out the retinoids, stem cells are the new
million-dollar buzzwords in cosmetics. So “scientific”, so now, so evocative
of youth. The mere words “stem cell” pack a punch of controversy. We
associate them with fierce, ethically driven debates over the harvesting and
use of stem cells from human embryos — cells that have the capacity to grow
into any type of new tissue — for the treatment of disease and engineering
new organs.
Now cosmetic companies are capitalising on this headline-grabbing allure, with
anti-ageing creams that are the fastest-growing section of Britain’s £673
million skincare industry. Even in these straitened times, it seems, there
is a market for expensive “medical” beauty creams.
In September Lancôme will launch Absolue Precious Cells, its first anti-ageing
cream that it claims will “help restore the potential of skin stem cells and
bring back the skin of youth”. The cream, selling for up to £145 for 50ml,
joins a range of expensive stem-cell products that have come on the market
recently. But can these preparations deliver on their promises? And are
there any health risks?
The reality, however, is that products available in UK shops do not actually
contain stem cells, or even parts of stem cells. Under European law, it is
illegal for cosmetics sold in the UK to contain human tissue or human-tissue
extracts. In fact, almost all new products have nothing to do with
controversial embryonic stem cells. Instead they encourage the growth of a
more humble type of stem cell that exists in all adults and has the
potential to produce new skin.
Dr Jeanette Jacknin, an American dermatologist who specialises in anti-ageing
treatments, says that it is impossible to incorporate living stem cells into
skin creams because the cells degenerate. “Instead companies are creating
products with specialised peptides [made from amino acids] and enzymes
[proteins that speed up chemical reactions] or plant stem cells, which they
claim help to protect the human skin stem cells from damage or stimulate the
skin’s own stem cells.”
Another “stem cell” cosmetic now on the market is Amatokin Emulsion (£135 for
30ml), launched in 2007 to a waiting list of 250 Harvey Nichols customers
tantalised by its claims to be able to “awaken the body’s own reservoir of
stem cells”. Then there is ReVive’s Peau Magnifique, available from SpaceNK
(£888 for a month’s supply), with patented ingredients that “convert resting
adult stem cells to fresh newly minted cells for a firmer, more defined
appearance”. Dior claims that its Capture XP anti-ageing cream “works on
skin stem cells to better repair wrinkles”. Or how about Emerge Swiss Apple
Stem Cell Serum (available online for $120), which “promotes the
self-renewal capacity of the skin”?
The marketing of these products is — possibly intentionally — causing
confusion in the public mind, creating a misleading impression of their
potency. Chris Flower, director of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery
Association, the industry trade body, says that there is “huge potential for
confusion”. When he first heard of stem-cell cosmetics, he was worried that
the products contained human cells. “I wasn’t sure what manufacturers meant
by the product claims,” he says. All the cosmetics, in their different ways,
are cashing in on the magic allure of the words “stem cell” as a route to
youth.
Dr Bruno Bernard, project director at the Paris research laboratories of
L’Oréal, the parent company of Lancôme, says that rather than actual stem
cells, a new apple extract is the key to the Absolue cream. The extract
alters the “microenvironment” surrounding the layer of skin stem cells
between the upper layer of the skin, the epidermis, and the lower layer, the
dermis. This reactivates sluggish stem cells and encourages the production
of new epidermal skin cells, resulting in plumper, younger-looking skin.
Lancôme is aware it has to tread carefully in describing the potency of its
anti-ageing cream in case its cell regeneration claims spark concerns about
cells reproducing out of control, as occurs in cancers. This is reflected in
carefully worded publicity, saying that the product “triggers” or
“harnesses” stem cell “potential” — not that it directly causes new cells to
grow.
In fact, despite Lancôme’s claims that the Absolue cream is the result of 20
years’ research and a “decisive breakthrough on stem cells”, the product has
many superficial similarities with the others on the market. What the
company has done, however, is publish research that shows how these
processes actually work with the cream. L’Oréal has to uphold its
much-vaunted research-based approach, with its laboratories spending £410
million a year investigating product efficacy and safety.
But, as with all cosmetics, the research has an element of “smoke and mirrors”
when it comes to mixing science and marketing. L’Oréal’s studies of
artificial skin show that the apple extract does make skin stem cells
produce new, better-constructed skin. And a small trial of the product on 39
women showed that after two months of using Lancôme’s Absolue Precious
Cells, the subjects’ skin did improve, based on a criteria of wrinkles and
ageing.
But do the results of the two experiments link together? Are particular
ingredients of the cream responsible for the improvement in the women? And
is the cream any better than any other product (including a cheaper
moisturiser)? As ever in cosmetics research, these are questions that remain
unanswered.
Tamara Griffiths, a consultant dermatologist for the British Skin Foundation
research charity, says that the science behind Lancôme’s stem-cell product
is sound, but that doesn’t mean the product is the breakthrough that the
company claims. “The coarse wrinkles and loss of elasticity of the skin,
which people commonly associate with an ‘old’ appearance, are due to changes
in the collagen and elastic fibres in the dermis,” she says. “This product
will not have any effect on these changes and will not repair damage in the
dermis, so the overall impact may be less than consumers’ expectations.”
The problem is common to all anti-ageing cosmetics: if they really do have a
radical effect on the skin’s cells, and change the way skin looks and
functions long-term, then they would cease to be a cosmetic and would have
to be regulated by the much stricter rules applied to drugs. So the big
cosmetics manufacturers build in limits to the power of their products. The
bad news for consumers is that stem-cell cosmetics won’t offer a miraculous
rejuvenation. The good news is that they’re unlikely to harm you.
But if you want an anti-ageing cream that really works, Griffiths suggests,
there is a readily available preparation that is less glamorous and less
costly, but much more effective: “The main product that promotes skin health
is, in fact, sunscreen.”
Simon Crompton is the Medical Journalist Association’s Medical
Freelance Journalist of the Year
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