New skin health insights revealed.

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Today's health-conscious consumers understand that skin health is highly dependent upon what they eat. That includes antioxidants and other nutrients which can be taken in the form of dietary supplements and functional foods and beverages. To serve this market, DSM Nutritional Products, Inc., Parsippany, NJ, has a range of ingredients that address the needs of millions of consumers who are concerned about maintaining and restoring skin health.

At a presentation at the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) show in June, Caroline Brons, senior marketing manager, Functional Food Marketing Group, discussed market data and application opportunities in the skin care arena. Citing statistics, she said the interest in oral beauty continues to grow, with 64% of consumers strongly ranking nutrients as being beneficial for skin health. Antioxidants figure prominently in this market, with 71% of consumers interested in learning more about them.

The good news is DSM believes this is a major trend that is here to stay due to the large population of aging consumers. Some of the applications consumers are interested in include beverages, dairy and dietary supplements. In the past three years, global product launches in this vein have grown significantly. In the past two years alone, according to Mintel International, Chicago, IL, more than 600 new products targeting the beauty food and beverage market have been introduced.

In the supplement arena, products targeting beauty are also doing quite well. Data-monitor, New York, NY, predicts the category will be worth $1.2 billion by 2011.

DSM offers nutritional ingredients that work individually or in combination with each other in several food, beverage and supplement applications to protect, repair or hydrate the skin from within.

DSM's platforms for its "Beauty from Within" ingredient solutions include UV protection, oxidative stress protection, skin barrier maintenance and hydration, skin structure, metabolism and repair, and hair and nail health.

There is a lot of growing evidence to support the use of nutrients to promote skin health, according to Ms. Brons, who said a majority of studies focus on UV protection. Some of the stars in the UV protection area include beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin, along with DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), GLA (gamma linolenic acid) and vitamins C and E.

DSM's full "Beauty from Within" portfolio of skin health ingredients includes carotenoids (beta-carotene, Redivivo lycopene, Optisharp zeaxanthin, FloraGLO lutein), antioxidant vitamins E and C, vitamins A and D, B vitamins, polyphenols (Teavigo EGCG, Resvida resveratrol, Hidrox olive polyphenols, Bonistein genistein), Ropufa omega 3 and omega 6 and All-Q CoQ10.

Resvida in particular has been exciting for DSM, especially since it has been in development for several years. Most recently, it was granted GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status, which gives it the green light to be added to a variety of food and beverage applications.