Will LifeCell increase collagen in your skin?

LifeCell has been touted as a revolutionary skincare cream with anti wrinkle and anti aging properties. Manufactured by the highly regarded South Beach company, it will be interesting to see if it lives up to its promises.

One of the industry-worrying things about LifeCell is that it is an all-in-one product. This flies in the face of cosmetic marketing principles, where brand-extension is the norm. How often do you see one brand carrying daytime moisturizer, night cream, intensive treatments, eye oil, throat cream, spot vanisher etc etc etc. A quick look at your cosmetics shelf will probably deliver the evidence!

South Beach Skincare seems to have invested quite a lot of research, time and money in the design of LifeCell. It has sought out researchers in Europe as well as at home to deliver the ingredients in the combination and levels necessary for them to be efficacious. The company had to fight a prolonged battle with several government agencies in order to bring in several revolutionary ingredients from Europe.

One of the main areas of their focus was on Collagen, which makes up 70% of the dry weight of our skin. It is produced naturally in sufficient quantities when we are young to give skin great elasticity and strength. But as we get older our bodies are attacked by free radicals, and some of these attack collagen in particular. Thus our skin becomes wrinkled and saggy as we age.

You may have noticed a lot of skincare creams on the market boasting that they contain collage. Sounds good, but the problem is that collagen is a large molecule, and it sits on top of the skin when applied via a cream. It doesn't soak in, and is washed away next time you shower. This type of collagen is usually derived from cattle or bird sources.

In order to strengthen our skin, we need to increase collagen. For our bodies to be stimulated to produce more collagen, it has to effectively fight off the free radicals with antioxidants. Consuming appropriate antioxidant-rich foods will help, but a cream that contains the RIGHT antioxidants will make all the difference.

LifeCell boasts the inclusion of the anti-inflammatory antioxidant Dithiolane-3-Pentanic Acid (D3PA), which has been proven to boost the body's ability to produce elastin and collagen to help skin look younger, healthy and wrinkle-free.

Another great antioxidant is Vitamin C, but many skincare cream manufacturers elect to include the cheap L-Absorbic Acid as their Vitamin C ingredient. This has the undesirable effect of oxidizing rapidly on contact with air, so it loses it efficacy quickly. South Beach decided to use the more expensive Ascorbyl Palmitate, which is proven to be appreciably gentler on the skin as well.

So with these two powerful antioxidants, LifeCell might be on the right track to giving a boost to the body's ability to produce collagen.