In the August 2011 issue of Life Extension Magazine they promote a product called Cosmesis DNA Repair cream, which contains the ingredients teprenone, caprylic acid, hyaluronic acid, and red tea extract. To promote this product, on page 75 of the magazine they publish an article with the title of "Delay Skin Aging with Cutting-Edge Topical DNA Technology." The advertisement for the DNA repair cream appears one page after the article. I like the idea of DNA repair technology, but I thought it would be a good idea to read the article.
Life Extension magazine publishes articles that have the appearance of a scientific article, with footnotes scattered throughout the article and a long list of references at the end. However, when I take the time to check some of these footnotes my experience has been that they cite references which do not really support statements in the text very well, if at all. The Topical DNA Technology article is a good example of this.
The author states that tepronone "actively inhibits or limits the programmed cellular senescence (aging) and apoptosis (programmed death) of skin cells..." This is followed by footnotes 8 and 9. These do not refer to published scientific articles but instead to websites on the internet. Footnote 9 refers to wipo.int, a website that lists patents and trademarks.
The author then states that "Hyaluronic acid has a volumizing or 'plumping' effect on the skin's extra-cellular matrix, which adds fullness and minimizes the appearance of facial wrinkles." This is followed by footnotes 15 and 16. Footnote 16 refers to an article about the use injectable hyaluronic acid fillers as used by cosmetic surgeons to plump up lips and so on. This is simply not related to topical use of hyaluronic acid. Footnote 20 also refers to injectable hyaluronic acid gels as used by cosmetic surgeons. There is no explanation in the text as to why the author is referencing articles about injectable hyaluronic acid gels. Hyaluronic acid is a huge molecule. Is it even absorbed at all when applied topically?
The author then states that "Red tea extract further boosts the skin's ability to ward off and reverse skin aging." This dramatic statement is followed by no fewer than 5 footnotes. Footnotes 24 through 28. However when I check these footnotes they refer to articles which don't even address the topic of using red tea extracts on the skin. For example footnote 26 refers to the article "Identification of chlorophylls and carotenoids in major teas by high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection." This is completely unrelated.
Footnote 27 is titled "Health promoting properties of common herbs", and was published in September 1999 by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The full text of this article is available free online at the website of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. I don't find any mention of red tea in the entire article. Why would the author make the statement that red tea extracts can help "reverse skin aging" and then cite for support a scientific article that does not even mention red tea?
Some footnotes lead to the statement "Data on File." As much as I would like to believe that the data they have on file is valid, the way most of the article is written leads me to question that possibility.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this article in Life Extension Magazine or their new "DNA Repair Cream" product?