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LE Magazine January 2003
Skin Care Pioneer
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The
only person to pick up the pieces and carry Dr. Frank's
research forward was his assistant Carmen Fusco. Carmen
spent many years refining the RNA cream, adding new
ingredients, new delivery vehicles and experimenting on
patients she saw as a nutritional consultant.
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Picking up the pieces
Dr. Frank did not live long enough to
carry through his pioneering research. The only person left to
pick up the pieces and carry Dr. Frank's research forward was
his assistant Carmen Fusco, a former instructor of
pharmacology at Cornell University. Carmen spent many years
refining the RNA cream, adding new ingredients, new delivery
vehicles and experimenting on patients she saw as a
nutritional consultant.
By 1983, Carmen had put together an
RNA-based cream with additional ingredients such as the
natural moisturizer NaPCA. The results with her patients were
impressive enough for The Life Extension Foundation to offer
the cream to members. This RNA cream was named Rejuvenex®,
and it became an immediate success, with Foundation members
re-ordering it on a regular basis. The 1983 introduction of
Rejuvenex® was the first time this RNA-based cream had
ever been made available outside the tightly controlled
clinical setting.
Unlike commercial cosmetic companies that
almost never change their formulations, Carmen Fusco continued
experimenting with Rejuvenex®, adding new skin protecting
ingredients when they became available, and testing them on
her patients. The result was that Rejuvenex® became a
formula that was continually being upgraded to reflect
innovative anti-aging research findings.
The first cream to provide alpha hydroxy
fruit acid
One way of encouraging new younger cells to form in the
lower levels of the epidermis is to clear the way by removing
dead obstructive cells and bacteria that dull the surface of
the upper layer of the skin.
In the late 1980s, the media reported on the age-reversal
properties of glycolic acid, an alpha-hydroxy fruit acid that
functioned to slough dead skin cells off the surface so that
more youthful appearing fresh cells would be visible. The
effects of the topical application of these fruit acids was
the disappearance of fine lines and wrinkles and a fresher
looking tone to the skin.
Several years before this announcement, Carmen Fusco had
added an alpha hydroxy fruit acid (lactic acid) to the
formula. Rejuvenex® was thus the first anti-aging cream in
history to incorporate an alpha hydroxy fruit acid as an
active ingredient.
The research findings about the value of fruit acids helped
validate the concept of applying a topical agent to reverse
the signs of skin aging.
The cell renewal effect of vitamin A
The damage inflicted by solar radiation was at one time
thought to be irreversible. Then a drug company developed a
vitamin A analog called Retin-A that demonstrated a partial
reversal of photoaging. A well-financed public relations
campaign caused the media to focus exclusively on the cell
renewal effects of Retin-A, rather than on natural forms of
topical vitamin A that could be obtained without a
prescription.
Carmen Fusco had previously included a potent dose of
retinyl palmitate in Rejuvenex® for the purpose of working
with RNA to stimulate epidermal growth factor (EGF), that in
turn signals fibroblasts to induce young cells to replace old
cells on the surface of the skin.
Retin-A caused significant irritation in many people, and
avoidance of sunlight was mandatory for those using it.
Despite these side effects, Retin-A became a popular drug
prescribed by dermatologists to patients who wanted to improve
the appearance of their face.
Later studies indicated that natural vitamin A (retinyl
palmitate) had some of the cell renewal properties that were
once attributed solely to retinoic acid drugs.
Guarding against solar radiation
Few dermatologists in the past realized that even casual
daily exposure to sunlight resulted in severe cumulative
damage to skin cells. This was evident by looking at portions
of the skin that are never exposed to the sun and comparing
them to parts of the body (such as the face) that receive
daily sun exposure.
Carman Fusco recognized this problem early on, and
incorporated agents to block ultraviolet rays into the very
first Rejuvenex® formula. Cosmetic companies were slow to
catch on to the need to obstruct the damaging effects of solar
radiation, and there are still face creams that claim
anti-aging effects, but provide no UV protection.
Quenching free radicals
The skin is on the front line of exposure to damaging free
radials. Not only do skin cells have to directly contend with
environmental pollutants and UV radiation, but they also
suffer from the same oxidative stress as other cells in the
aging body. The skin is very vascular, but it is also the
outermost organ to receive nutrients. Therefore, it has a
relatively limited blood supply, meaning that it does not
benefit from orally ingested antioxidants as much as cells in
other parts of the body.
Benjamin Frank was a proponent of Denham Harman's free
radical theory of aging, and was one of the first physicians
to routinely prescribe antioxidant supplements to his
patients. Based on research indicating that topically applied
antioxidants could protect and improve the appearance of skin,
Carmen Fusco incorporated vitamins C and E into early versions
of Rejuvenex®. As enhanced delivery systems became
available, it became possible to penetrate these antioxidants
deeper into the skin. With the new QuSome® delivery
vehicle, it is now possible to deliver the optimal forms of
vitamins C and E to the lower layers of the skin and delay
their release so that the skin can obtain ongoing protection
against damaging free radicals.
Vitamin C, however, does more than quench skin-damaging
free radicals! It is also required for collagen synthesis,
which declines markedly in aging skin. As humans age, they
suffer diminished microcapillary circulation within the skin,
thereby depriving skin cells of the supply of vitamin C it
needs for youthful collagen synthesis. The topical application
of vitamin C in a skin-penetrating medium can enhance the
availability of vitamin C for collagen production.
Vitamin C regenerates vitamin E in the skin. An antioxidant
like vitamin E can only suppress a limited number of free
radicals before it runs out of electrons to donate. Vitamin C
regenerates vitamin E and enables vitamin E to provide
sustained antioxidant protection in the skin's elastin
fibers.
Vitamin C also plays a vital role in skin repair. When skin
is injured, its vitamin C content is used up rapidly in the
scavenging of free radicals, and in synthesizing collagen to
speed healing.
Dehydration accelerates skin aging
As we grow older, the outer layer of the skin (the stratum
corneum) changes from the smooth, vibrant appearance of youth
into the rough, dry, wrinkled appearance of old age. Loss of
moisture is one reason why skin loses its elasticity and
becomes dry, dull and wrinkled.
There are many moisturizers sold on the market, but unless
they contain a proven humectant (an agent that attracts and
holds water), they fail to protect against age-related water
loss. Moisturizers without humectants are really skin sealers
that only temporarily help to prevent the evaporation of the
skin's own moisture. They usually contain mineral oil, lanolin
and an emulsifier. The failure of these oil-based moisturizers
is demonstrated by the dry appearance of skin as soon as the
oil is washed off.
One of the natural humectants in young skin is NaPCA (the
sodium salt of pyrollidone carboxylic acid). NaPCA functions
to naturally draw moisture and holds it in place within the
skin. Aged skin is depleted of NaPCA and other humectants
needed to retain water.
One of the problems with Dr. Frank's original RNA cream was
that it induced a drying effect on the skin. Patients were
told to alternate application of the RNA cream with a
commercial moisturizer to reduce the drying effect. When
Carmen Fusco added NaPCA to Rejuvenex® in 1983, the drying
problem went away and patients no longer had to use a
moisturizer with the RNA-based Rejuvenex®.
By 1986, an even more potent moisturizer was developed at
the University of Missouri by Drs. Stig Friberg and David W.
Osborne. This discovery was called Ceraphyl® NGA
(glyceridacid) and was the first substance that worked in the
cell membrane to keep skin cells plump with moisture like
young cells even when moisture levels were low.
The availability of Ceraphyl® NGA was announced at the
April 1986 Life Extension Breakthrough Conference in Anaheim,
California. Its inclusion in Rejuvenex® resulted in even
more pronounced moistening effects.
Unparalleled track record
Over the past 33-years, a lot of creams with purported
anti-aging properties have come and gone. The facial cream
called Rejuvenex®, on the other hand, has been continually
upgraded as new findings appear in the scientific literature.
With the advent of the QuSome® delivery system, it is now
possible to concentrate alpha lipoic acid, DMAE, RNA, vitamins
A, C, E, natural moisturizing factors and other active agents
into the deeper layers of the skin.
By encasing the active ingredients using QuSome®
technology, Rejuvenex® is now able to provide more alpha
hydroxy acid to the skin's surface to slough off older
unsightly cells, while simultaneously nourishing and
protecting living cells in the dermis and lower epidermis.
Based on newly published findings, there now exists a
scientific basis to apply nutrients to the surface of one's
skin to help counteract the consequences of aging.
Benjamin Frank would have been proud to see the
controversial concepts he long ago espoused on national TV
being validated in prestigious journals today. In Dr. Frank's
era, he was forced to debate conventional doctors who
adamantly insisted that the type of food you ate had nothing
to do with your future health prospects.
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Carmen Fusco is an Assoc. Professor, maintains a clinical
nutritional practice and participates in cancer research
as part of an American Health Foundation group. She
continues to see many of Dr. Frank's original patients;
many who have reached advanced ages in good states of
health.
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