Plants and the chemicals they make
August 22nd, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Incidentally, the “celery tacos” is an obscure reference dedicated to mothers and grandmothers of children 2-5 years old who watch Wonder Pets. Some plants, like lime, lemon, celery and many others, contain chemicals called furocoumarins that absorb UV radiation. If a product containing this chemical is applied to the skin, UV will start a chain of chemical reactions that can damage the skin severely. The phototoxic inflammatory eruption usually appears 24 hours after exposure and peaks within 48-72 hours. Initial burning erythema is followed by blistering, epidermal necrosis and desquamation. Hyperpigmentation is one the the long-term effects. Furocoumarins absorb UV-A (320-380 nm) light enable furocoumarins, increasing the energy state of…
July 17th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
First of all, WHY do you have to use retinoids? Because retinoids will help you with very common problems that everybody will have at one time or another: acne and skin aging (wrinkles, etc.). What retinoids do After retinoic acid enters the cell, it binds to specific nuclear receptors. These “activated” nuclear receptors, in turn, bind to specific regulatory sequences (called retinoic acid response elements) in the DNA inside the nucleus and directly change gene expression of specific genes. Such changes in gene expression translate into changes in the production of proteins, and are responsible for the biological and therapeutic effects of retinoids. Acne and retinoids In the 1970s, retinoic…
June 14th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Argan oil is extracted from the seeds of the fruit of the argan tree (Argania spinosa). The fruit takes a long time to mature and is not really edible, it is used as animal feed. Everything in the fruit is used: the peel and pulp of the fruit for animal feed, and the same for the paste that remains of the kernel after the oil is extracted by pressing. The nut inside the fruit contains one (occasionally two or three) small, oil-rich seeds; the oil is pressed from these seeds. The method used to extract the oil depends on what is available. Using stones is the most basic method. The…
June 13th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Updated 10/8/2019: SAS line with apocynin is now available! Let me tell you all the reasons why I love apocynin. First of all, I like it because it is old. Apocynin is as old as the plants that make it, and they are many of them. Even its health promoting properties have been known for quite a while. Old means that we know more of its tricks, its benefits and that it is OK for humans to use it. Second, I like it because it has anti-inflammatory activity. Extracts containing apocynin have been used for centuries to help with asthma and heart problems. Purified by Schmiedeberg in 1883 from Canadian…
May 24th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
You will find Centella asiatica extract in several Skin Actives products, including the capillary health cream, restoration cream, scar vanishing gel , ultra calming cream, and antiaging cream. We also sell it as a Do It Yourself (DIY) ingredient. As you can see, it is a favorite active that we have been using since we started Skin Actives. Centella asiatica (Gotu kola, a.k.a. Hydrocotyle asiatica). This oriental herb has been used for centuries in both traditional Chinese and Indian medicine. The active chemicals in the extract are terpenoids including asiatic acid, madecassic acid, and asiaticoside. Centella asiatica promotes wound healing, apparently by stimulating the production of type I collagen and…
April 24th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Petroleum is a fossil fuel derived from fossilized organic materials. Fossils are leftovers of life that existed eons ago. Petroleum is as natural as plants and animals that live right now. What is different is that the remains of all that old organic matter settled at the bottom of the sea or lakes or mud and in certain environment conditions including very little oxygen it decomposed first into something called kerogen, a waxy substance that includes fulvic acids and other solids, and then into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. So petroleum is as natural as me and the tress is my backyard. Why the “horror” of some people at the thought…
April 23rd, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Skin Actives capillary health cream contains the best that tradition and phytochemistry can offer us to protect the fine capillaries that bring oxygen (and take away the carbon dioxide) to our cells. Essential fatty acids present in the traditional rosehip seed oil will help the skin build a strong barrier to keep water inside and bad stuff out. Sea kelp bioferment, has all the benefits that brown algae bring from the ocean. Horse chestnut and butcher’s broom have been used for centuries to protect blood vessels and phytochemistry has elucidated which are the chemicals in them and how they work. You will also find other traditional extracts: liquorice, grape seed,…
April 23rd, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Once upon a time I was in love with algae (I almost named my daughter after a Diatom, class Bacillariophyceae). Then I fell in love with polysaccharides. In fact, I am still in love with both. So what could be more perfect that to work with algae polysaccharides? Nothing, but, in top of the beauty of algae and the complexity of polysaccharides, there are all the health benefits that these special polysaccharides have for us, humans. What so special about algae? It depends. All the plants we are familiar with, like the palms in my back garden or the roses in the front, evolved from green algae. The basic cell…
April 22nd, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Note: as usual, please feel free to skip stuff as you wish. There is a lot of “jargon” below. Do you remember the stories about sirtuins, resveratrol and the “French paradox”? Sirtuins are proteins with a very important role in the cell: they control the enzyme that converts acetate, a source of calories, into acetyl CoA, a key point of entry to cellular respiration. Because of this crucial role, it has been proposed that it may be possible to control age-related disorders in various organisms, and in humans. These disorders include obesity, metabolic syndrome, type II diabetes mellitus, Parkinson’s disease and the “ultimate disorder”: aging. What is the French paradox?…
February 18th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Aloe vera has been used for centuries in traditional medicine in many cultures. This, however, is not enough. We should be more demanding of our skin care ingredients; we can’t accept, at face value, what traditional medicine has been saying, even for centuries. After all, it was not so long ago that a very sick person was further weakened, using bloodletting, by “doctors”. Bloodletting may look romantic in Sense and Sensibility, but this does not make it OK nor remotely reasonable. Nowadays, we have the scientific method to examine the evidence. So, what does the evidence say about Aloe vera extract? Aloe vera, leaves, like many plant extracts, contain many…
February 1st, 2017 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Squalane Oil, the serum base in the new Oil Serum For Beginners Kit, is extracted from olive fruit, not from shark liver. This light oil is full of beneficial actives especially suited for the skin; among them are oleuropein, hydroxytyrosol, caffeic acid, catechin, and rutin. Loss of skin lipids results in an increased water loss and increased penetration of harmful compounds, especially for people living in big cities. Continuous use of squalane oil should alleviate skin dryness. Why Squalane? Lipids are an important part of our skin chemistry, they are necessary for the skin to do its job of limiting water loss from the body. Lipids also work by blocking…
October 5th, 2016 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Our Anti-Aging Cream contains soy isoflavones and resveratrol, but if you are a woman over 50 you may need even more help. Our Elixir10 booster is a mix of beneficial botanical extracts that can supply your skin (and scalp) with beneficial chemicals that will bind to the estrogen receptors left vacant by menopause. Phytoestrogens are plant chemicals that can interact with two of the most important receptors of steroid hormones: the sex hormone-binding globulin and the cytosolic estrogen receptor. The chemical structure of phytoestrogens differs greatly and may seem very different from estradiol, but a part of the molecule is similar enough to human estrogen to fool the receptor.…
January 8th, 2016 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What is a fatty acid? A fatty acid (example: palmitic acid) has a carboxylic acid attached to a long hydrocarbon chain. Why are fatty acids so important? Fatty acids are used as a major source of energy during metabolism and as a starting point for the synthesis of phospholipids, the main category of lipid molecules used to construct biological membranes (generally composed of two fatty acids linked through glycerol phosphate to one of a variety of polar groups). Why are the differences in chemical structure so important? The chemical structure makes the function possible. Stearic acid cannot do what linoleic acid can. Fatty acids can differ in number of carbon…
October 2nd, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Let’s discuss Sangre de Drago, Dragon’s Blood, because it sounds so very exciting. Exciting, yes. But would we use this plant product in SAS produts? No. Why? Dragon’s blood, the red latex obtained by wounding the trunk of Croton lechleri, is an almost perfect active for a skin care product. It has some attractive properties, a fantastic name and a nice story. This red latex can be used in an emergency as a liquid bandage: apply to an open wound, and it will help stop bleeding and prevent infection. Sangre de Drago (what a beautiful name!) is used by indigenous cultures of the Amazonian basin for it’s wound healing properties.…
January 28th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Deficiency of vitamin C results in scurvy (the name “Ascorbic Acid” is derived from the Latin word for scurvy, scorbutus), a nasty illness whose easy fix, citrus fruit, eluded pirates and sailors until 1753. Why is L-ascorbic acid a vitamin? Most animals can make their own vitamin C, but humans can’t. Somewhere along the line we lost a crucial enzyme, L-gulonolactone oxidase, required for the synthesis of L-ascorbic acid, making it an essential nutrient (i.e. we must get it by eating food containing it, or applying the vitamin to our skin).