Green Tea and Pomegranate – How These Topical Antioxidants Protect Your Skin from Sun Damage

It is well-known that chronic exposure to ultraviolet lightfound in sunlight leads to photoaging.  Photoagingof the skin refers to the loss of tone, wrinkling, discoloration, increasedredness, and the development of skin cancer, even melanoma.   There is good evidence that UV radiationinduces the production of reactive oxygen species, otherwise known as oxygenfree-radicals, which can overwhelm the skin’s natural anti-oxidantdefenses.  These reactive oxygen speciesgo on to damage proteins, cell membranes, and other macromolecules.  The damage to lipids, proteins, and DNA inskin cells can build up over time and become evident as photoaging.  The extracellular matrix which containscollagen and elastin also sustains cumulative damage that contributes tophotoaging. 

Green tea has recently garnered a lot of attention for theantioxidant polyphenols that it contains. Both oral and topical administration of green tea polyphenols in humanand mouse experimental models has shown their ability to prevent signs ofultraviolet-induced damage.  Green teahas even been shown to inhibit and reverse the formation of skin cancers inmice subjected to ultraviolet photodamage. Topical treatment of human skin with green tea polyphenols has beenshown to prevent the DNA damage that leads to skin cancer.  Clearly, green tea is a powerful anti-oxidant,and there is good evidence to support its use in the general population to helpprevent photoaging and to decrease the risk of skin cancer.

Pomegranate has entered the scene a little more recently buthas generated explosive interest.  Thejuice and peels contain powerful antioxidants, anthocyanins, a group of polyphenolic compounds that possess antioxidant andanti-inflammatory properties.   In a comparative analysis, anthocyanins frompomegranate fruit were shown to possess higher antioxidant activity thanvitamin E (-tocopherol), ascorbicacid, and ß-carotene. Experiments in mouse models have shown that topicalpre-treatment with pomegranate polyphenols prevented the molecular signs ofultraviolet-induced photodamage leading to skin cancer.  Although green tea polyphenols have ahead-start on pomegranate, the amount of research generated by pomegranate inthe last 10 years has skyrocketed.  Moreinformation related to prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease bypomegranate is likely to be published in the near future.