title: Delivery of vitamin E to the skin by a novel liquid skin cleanser: comparison of topical versus oral supplementation.
abstract: Topical supplementation represents an attractive approach to mitigate environmentally induced deficiencies of skin vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol). We report here the impact of natural sunlight on stratum corneum (SC) vitamin E and also compare the effectiveness of dietary supplementation to topical application as a way to increase vitamin E in the superficial layers of the SC. The effects of natural sunlight, 30 minutes of midday sunlight, were measured on two separate occasions. Vitamin E in the surface layers of the SC was measured by HPLC after ethanol extraction. Under these relevant conditions, vitamin E in the superficial SC was reduced in a dose-dependent manner by 50-65%. In a followup study, panelists entered into a randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled study. In this study, one group washed their skin once daily for one minute with a commercially available body wash containing 0.15% vitamin E and 0.10% vitamin E acetate, while the second group used a body wash without vitamin E but also supplemented their diet with 400 IU alpha-tocopherol (18 x RDI). Not surprisingly, only dietary supplementation increased serum vitamin E (approximately twofold). Although both treatment modalities increased SC vitamin E, topical delivery was significantly more effective (53-fold vs baseline) than dietary delivery (eightfold vs baseline). Moreover, only topical delivery increased SC vitamin E acetate (19-fold vs baseline). The results reported here indicate that vitamin E in the superficial layers of the SC is depleted readily by even a brief exposure to sunlight and that use of a vitamin E body wash can substantially increase the vitamin E in this superficial layer more effectively than dietary supplementation.
authors.affiliation: Colgate-Palmolive Company, 909 River Road, Piscataway, NJ 08855, USA.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tavakkol
authors.forename: Zeenat
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nabi
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Soliman
authors.forename: Thomas G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Polefka
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000287:Administration, Topical; D000328:Adult; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003902:Detergents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism*; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D003902:Detergents; D014810:Vitamin E