Enjoying a glass of red wine is usually associated with putting your feet up and relaxing after a hard week or something to enjoy alongside a nice meal. However, studies have shown that this particular drink also contains an ingredient which can be beneficial to slowing down the ageing of our skin. Yes, you read that correctly, red wine has been linked to being beneficial for your skin! The potent ingredient, named resveratrol, is a naturally occurring plant compound found in the skin of grapes, most present in red grapes, which go on to become that glass of red you may indulge in on a Friday night! However, if red wine isn’t your thing, it can also be found in a few other food items such as peanuts, cranberries blueberries and cacao beans. Due to its astounding antioxidant benefits, thorough research has been conducted by a small number of teams into how it can benefit the skin. As a compound in a plant, it acts as a protector against external attackers and when the plant is under stress. It has similar effects when applied to the skin by helping prevent damage caused by environmental aggressors. The fact resveratrol can be extracted directly from a food source is what makes is possibly the best antioxidant for skincare. Our bodies do produce other antioxidants internally, but resveratrol is very dominant and can be applied directly to the skin, unlike many others. For our skin to remain youthful and free of fine lines and wrinkles, it needs collagen and elastin, which can come under attack from free radicals which affects their production. Resveratrol works against these free radicals and allows the collagen to keep pumping around the skin, leaving you with firmer and smoother looking skin. This is what makes it the perfect ingredient in antiageing and skin plumping skin care; however it is not as simple as extracting the ingredient and making the most of its benefits straight away. Resveratrol is a notoriously unstable compound and it has taken many years of research to being able to utilise it in skincare successfully, with proven results. Caudalíe’s founder Mathilde Thomas first discovered the true power of grape vines and grape polyphenols after a chance encounter with Professor Vercauteren, a renowned expert in Polyphenols. Four years after they met, in 1997, they went on to discover, concentrate and stabilise the exceptional antiageing ingredient - resveratrol. The Caudalíe research team had to find a way to stabilise the natural molecule which naturally degrades and loses all its properties even before being in contact with the skin. The team were able to control it using a unique method so that it is actively triggered when it comes into contact with the skin, not beforehand - they had encountered something truly unique! The resveratrol used in Caudalíe’s formulas are always of 100% French origin having been extracted from vine shoots from Merlot, Cabernet and Sauvignon grapes, which are mainly recovered from the Caudalíe family vineyards of Smith Haut Lafitte and from vineyards in the Champagne region. Caudalíe have conducted further research since its discovery with the Laboratory of Doctor David Sinclair from Harvard Medical School. They started their collaboration in 2013 with a primary goal to better understand the effects of resveratrol on cellular mechanisms associated with ageing. During their research process, they discovered a surprising partnership between resveratrol and micro hyaluronic acids. Hyaluronic acid is naturally found in our bodies' tissues and approximately 50% of this is found in the dermis layer of the skin. The dermis layer of the skin is where fibroblasts (cells that produce the cutaneous framework) give the skin its structure and the extra-cellular matrix (a gel-like substance made up primarily of hyaluronic acid) which gives the skin its density and plumpness. As we age, these skin functions deteriorate and start to lose their strength. When Caudalíe were conducting their research, they discovered that the combination of resveratrol and hyaluronic acid resulted in the overproduction of the hyaluronic acid naturally found in our cells. The new complex not only increased the production of hyaluronic acid, it also encouraged the activity of the genes responsible for collagen and elastin creation. The beneficial discovery made by Caudalíe and Harvard University has since been patented and has led on to create the Caudalíe Resveratrol Lift range. So could resveratrol be the best antioxidant for your skin? It certainly has the potential to be! With research continuing and new discoveries being made with its connections to other skin-loving ingredients, it is certainly doing no harm in protecting your skin from ageing and environmental damage. It will work hard to protect your skin from free radicals, as well as boosting cellular energy, for firmer, healthier looking skin. So next time someone offers you a glass of red wine at the end of the working week, remember the skin benefits that it comes with too! Shop skincare with resveratrol here: Caudalie Resveratrol
