White Tea Uses In Skin Care: A Real Wrinkle Fighter!

White Tea Better Than Green Tea: At least for skin! Next time you reach for a glass of coffee, you may want to grab a pot of white tea instead. New research from Kingston University in Britain shows white tea aids prevent wrinkles on aging skin. The scientists assayed the beneficial properties of twenty-one different plant and tea extracts and discovered that white tea, by far, had the most extraordinarily effective antioxidant properties. White tea comes from the same plant as black tea, Camilli sinensis, but it is treated differently and undergoes less oxidation. Because of this, white tea has a larger content of tannins, which are antioxidants. A number of assays were performed, running white tea through the gamut and testing the ability of the plant extracts to protect the structural integrity of the epidermis, specifically elastin and collagen activity. Both collagen and elastin are extraordinarily important components of connective tissue that are responsible for the strength and elasticity of your skin, and thus it’s tendency to develop those scary things called wrinkles. Aside from the skin, elastin is also an important structural component of the arteries, ligaments, and lungs. The reduced number of these polypeptides leads to wrinkles associated with the accumulation of age. The polypeptides that break down collagen and elastin are called collagenases and elastases, respectively. Elastases and collagenases are widely known to be up-regulated in people with diseases of inflammation, like arthritis. The White Tea Effects Stem From Its Antioxidants EGCG The results were worth writing home to mother about. White tea inhibited the activity of elastase by 87%, and collagenase by 89%. White tea also had extraordinarily high anti-oxidant activity and was able to stop the production of free radicals by 88%. The super anti-collagenase and anti-elastase activity is from the high concentration of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) in white tea. Epigallocatechin gallate is a powerful antioxidant and has many therapeutic properties, as well as anti-cancer properties. In a similar publication, researchers from Case Medical Center in the United States determined that white tea shields from the UV damaging effects of the sun as well. White tea was determined to protect Langerhans cells (named after Paul Langerhans, a German physician and anatomist) from apoptosis (cell death). Langerhans cells are immune cells that are found in the outer layer of the epidermis and are the very first to recognize toxic objects, such as, cancerous proteins and microbes. However, because of their location they are extremely sensitive to the destructive effects of Ultra-Violet radiation. White tea extract was cutaneously applied to an area on the patient’s skin and afterwards placed under artificial sunlight. The white tea was able to preserve the Langerhans cells, which surprisingly still even kept their immune function intact. The white tea also prevented the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage that always happens with Ultra Violet radiation. Again, the high antioxidant activity in white tea is thought to be a factor in this prevention of Ultra Violet damage. It is essential to recognize that the same process of oxidative damage in skin cells by UV radiation also promotes skin malignancy and age-related wrinkles. Younger skin is able to resist oxidative stress in a superior manner relative to aged epidermis and the two of these research studies provide evidence that white tea is capable of building the skin’s resistance against various environmental factors that encourage the skin to become aged.