Weleda Pomegranate hand-cream

I’ve long wanted to do a review of weleda’s pomegranate hand-cream, and as winter is approaching- I know it’s still October, but in Norway the cold rains and dark mornings of late are getting more and more winterish- and so a comfort review seemed like a good idea.

My love for Weleda is ever growing. I’ve done two product reviews previously- almond-oil and skin-food, and yet again I find myself impressed by their simple yet potent product compositions, and visible effects. Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Hand-Cream is no exception to the “rules” of this brand.

Pomegranate- flowers, fruit, seeds and leaves. According to wikipedia, the plant is native to the geographic Kurdistan of modern day Iran and Iraq, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as well as the Himalayas in Northern India.
- wikipedia.

There’s a lot of skin-candy in this product, which is typical for Weleda. I’ll choose to focus mostly on the absolute hero ingredient this time though, namely pomegranate.

1. Pomegranate and UV-protection: Solar radiation and consecutive damage is perhaps the most important cause of premature-skin-aging. Using sunscreens daily are priority number one in prevention here, but adding antioxidants to your diet and through skin-care products can immensely boost your protective shield. Pomegranate fruit extract is a rich source of anthocyanins, ellagitannins and hydrolyzable tannins and possesses strong antioxidant activity. Oral feeding of Pomegranate flower extract to SKH-1 hairless mice in a UVB initiation-promotion protocol resulted in reduced tumor incidence, delay in the latency period of tumor appearance, and lower tumor body burden compared to that of non-PFE-treated and UVB-irradiated control animals.

2. Pomegranate and anti-aging: Pomegranate seed oil has been attributed to inducing keratinocyte (skin-cell) proliferation, with a resulting thickening of the epidermis (uppermost layer of the skin). Some studies point to parts of the fruit being able to induce pro-collagen production, increase ceramide content, enhance the recovery of epidermal permeability barrier function after disruption by tape stripping, and hydration levels as well, all of which decrease as we age. Add that to the anti-inflammatory and UV-protective properties, and you got yourself a nice all-around-anti-ager-superstar!

Pomegranate fruit. Symbolizes life, fertility, hope, prosperity and love.

3.Pomegranate and cancer prevention: In vitro studies using normal human epidermal keratinocytes (skin cells) and pomegranate flower extract, demonstrated that pomegranate flower extract incubation with cell cultures ameliorates ultraviolet A and B radiation-induced cell damage in a dose- and time-dependent manner, providing evidence at a cellular level that pomegranate flower extract may be an effective photo-chemopreventive agent.

pic credit: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3288507/figure/F1/

4. Pomegranate and skin-lightening: When administered orally, pomegranate extract had been shown to inhibit UV-induced skin pigmentation on the back of brownish guinea pigs. The intensity of the skin-whitening effect was similar between guinea pigs fed with Pomegranate extract and those fed with vitamin C. Interestingly, Pomegranate extract reduced the number of DOPA-positive melanocytes in the epidermis of UV-irradiated guinea pigs, but vitamin C did not. These results suggest that the skin-whitening effect of Pomegranate extract was probably due to inhibition of the proliferation of melanocytes and melanin synthesis by tyrosinase in melanocytes.

5. Pomegranate and inflammation: A number of studies report on the anti-inflammatory properties of the anthocyanins and hydrolysable tannins found in pomegranates. A study by Zafar Rasheed et al. published in the January 2009 issue of the “Journal of Inflammation” examined the effect of pomegranate on mast cells and basopils. These cells play a key role in the inflammatory process. The results showed pomegranate juice inhibits the inflammatory activity of human mast cells. Mast cells play an active role in skin-diseases such as psoriasis, rosacea and acne.

Keeping inflammation to a minimum will ensure health and disease protection, as well as a radiant and young looking face. Cold pressed pomegranate seed oil has been shown to inhibit both cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase enzymes in vitro. Cyclooxygenase, a key enzyme in the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins (important inflammatory mediators), was inhibited by 37 percent by a pomegranate seed oil extract. Lipoxygenase, which catalyzes the conversion of arachidonic acid to leukotrienes, also key mediators of inflammation, was inhibited by 75 percent by a pomegranate seed oil extract.