Skin Formula
(Alphalipoic Acid, DMAE, and Absorbyl Palmitate)

How do Wrinkles Form?

According to Nicolas Perricone, M.D., who wrote The Wrinkle Cure, a NY Times bestseller, wrinkles form due to changes in collagen formation and free-radical damage, because of tiny scarring.* Collagen is one protein in our skin that gives it that supple youthfulness that we like so much. Normally, collagen molecules in the skin slide over each other to give the skin flexibility, softness, and resiliency. However, because collagen is an essential part of our skin, it is susceptible to free-radical damage by external factors such as sunlight, cigarette smoke, and air pollution, and normal internal body processes, such as inflammation.

When collagen is damaged by free-radicals, its molecular composition is changed, and a process occurs called cross-linking that prevents the collagen molecules from "sliding" over each other.* It is as if someone installs tiny tie-bars between the molecules, and the skin then becomes more stiff and inflexible...adding to the appearance of aging. *

Benefits

Inner and Outer Beauty

The good news is that certain antioxidants can stimulate a restorative effect on our skin.* In this process, instead of the enzyme digesting all collagen, it only digests the damaged collagen and resulting in repair of tiny scars, wrinkles that started forming.* According to Dr. Perricone, supplementation with these specific antioxidants can help the skin become supple, youthful, and vibrant again: alphalipoic acid, DMAE, and Ascorbyl Palmitate. *

Alphalipoic Acid

Alphalipoic Acid is a very powerful antioxidant that plays an important role alongside Vitamin C and E.* Alphalipoic acid can even recycle Vitamins C and E after they have quenched a free-radical in order for them to be useful again as an antioxidant.* Additionally, because alphalipoic acid is both water and fat-soluble, it can work in both the lipophilic and hydrophilic areas of the cell making it accessible to areas where Vitamins C and E are not able to travel. *

Beyond antioxidant activity alphalipoic acid plays more important roles in the promotion of youthful, vibrant skin.* Alphalipoic acid can effect metabolism from inside of a cell. * This is important because as we get older, our cell metabolism slows down and the cell is not able to perform certain functions as efficiently.* Therefore, when alphalipoic acid is present, the higher energy cells can perform DNA-repair more efficiently, remove wastes, and perform metabolic functions better. *

Alphalipoic acid also has a key connection in reducing the normal inflammatory processes that lead to aging skin.* Although the free-radical damage that is connected to inflammation can be helped by many types of antioxidants, most antioxidants get overwhelmed when there is a large number of free-radicals.* Alphalipoic acid, on the other hand, can prevent the activation of certain substances in the cell (specifically NFkB, a type of transcription factor) that can produce an "overdrive" of free radical damage and inflammation.* Therefore, alphalipoic acid can actually stop the production and assault of the large number of free radicals associated with normal inflammation.*

Another area that alphalipoic acid is helpful in promoting normal blood sugar balance.* Sugars can cause the cross-linking mentioned above on our collagen molecules that lead to aging skin.* When alphalipoic acid is taken internally it can lessen this reaction for all of our proteins and also help the uptake and balanced metabolism of sugars by our body. *

DMAE

DMAE (dimethylaminonethanol) is described by Dr. Perricone as an "antioxidant membrane stabilizer."* DMAE can actually incorporate itself and become part of the skin plasma membrane.* Here it works both as an antioxidant and a stablizer to the actual structure of the membrane. *

One of the components of aged-looking skin is sagging.* Sagging does not just occur because of gravity's affect on the body, but because the tiny muscles under the skin have become loose and less responsibe to acetylcholine; a nerve chemical that causes muscles to contract.* Not only are they less responsibe to acetylcholine, aging persons generally produce lower qualities of acetylcholine.* One way to reverse this process is to eat more fish or supplement with other sources of DMAE, which is a precursor to acetylcholine production. *

C-Ester (Ascorbyl Palmitate)

Vitamin C-Ester is a special form of Vitamin C that was designed to access the outer membrane of the cell, the part of the cell where most of the oxidation occurs due to its fat-soluble nature.* Vitamin C is an essential part of the collagen formation process; the substance that gives our skin elasticity.* Additionally, it is an important antioxidant that can prevent the dangerous effects of oxidation on the outer surface of our cell membrane and give a more youthful appearance to skin.* However, Vitamin C in its regular form is only water soluble and cannot help to protect skin cells and membranes very well from aging because it cannot access the areas where most of the damage occurs. * .

Vitamin C-Ester is composed of L-ascorbic acid (which is regular Vitamin C) that has been joined with a fatty acid derived from palm oil called palmitic acid. In addition to being able to access the fat-soluble areas of the cell to prevent free-radical damage, it has several other benefits.* When discussing bioavailability, it has 10 times the uptake into the skin compared to regular Vitamin C according to Dr. Perricone.*

Suggested Use

Take 100 mg of alphalipoic acid, 100 mg of DMAE, and 500 mg of Vitamin C-Ester daily for inner and outer beauty.*

Safety

Vitamin C-Ester is a form of Vitamin C, a known safe vitamin for supplementation. Although there have been few studies on the safety of alphalipoic acid in humans, levels of up to 600 mg daily have been used in clinical studies with no serious noted adverse effects. The use of up to 1,600 mg of DMAE per day have been studied with no reports of toxicity. The use of DMAE is thought to be relatively non-toxic. Higher dosages may cause anxiety, sleeplessness or nervousness, confusion or drowsiness.*

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

There is other scientific research available about the use and effectiveness of alphalipoic acid, DMAE, and C-Ester. Section 5 of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act requires us to present a balanced view of all available information about a dietary ingredient or substance to you. If you wish a copy of a referenced publication or need information on where you can retrieve it, you may call Optimal Nutrients at 1-800-966-8874.