This adds to the company’s existing range of beauty-from-within functional ingredients that target hair growth, collagen repair, although it also develops ingredients for immunity, healthy ageing, and fitness.
Its latest launch, trademarked MintyBrightTM Nu is an extract from dried apple mint leaves or Mentha suaveolens.
It was officially launched during Vitafoods Asia held in Bangkok in September.
Speaking to NutraIngredients-Asia, Dr Torsten Grothe, biochemist and head of food and health at Mibelle, said that the ingredient has been tested to inhibit the biosynthesis of the skin pigment melanin.
The company first identified the potential of this ingredient by testing its melanin inhibition abilities in melanocytes – cells that produce melanin.
About 10 different plant raw materials were screened for this ability, with apple mint leaves extract producing the best results, said Dr Grothe.
“There are specific flavonoids in apple mint leaves extract that are able to block the biosynthesis of melanin. It can also reduce oxidative stress in skin tissues.
“In contrast, other ingredients that are investigated so far are more of strong antioxidants,” he said, explaining how the ingredients work in different pathways.
“Also, flavonoids typically stay up to 48 hours in the bloodstream, and so they are able to reach skin tissues, since it takes some time for the actives to travel from the gut to the blood and then into the skin,” he added.
The ingredient was assessed in 84-day clinical trial involving Mediterranean females, which showed significant improvement in skin lightness and brightness of skin colour as compared to baseline.
The research findings are currently under review for publication in a scientific journal.
The company notices that skin brightening demand is strong in Asia, with market potential in the Middle East and South America.
The ingredient could also be formulated with zinc, vitamin E, and the amino acid cysteine for synergistic effect, though it could also be used as a standalone solution, Dr Grothe said.
“Zinc is a general beauty mineral; it is required by many proteins as a co-factor in skin tissues.
“Vitamin E, with its antioxidative activities might be a good partner and cysteine as an amino acid is also involved in such processes,” he said.
Hair growth trending in Asia
Asked the firm’s current bestselling ingredient in Asia, Dr Grothe said that hair growth and hair loss were trending concerns, with the firm’s ingredient AnaGainTM Nu the most popular in Asia.
The ingredient, an extract from organic germinated pea seeds, is particularly popular in places like Japan, China, South Korea, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Dr Grothe said that the ingredient was sought after possibly because it was one of the few beauty-from-within botanicals investigated for hair care.
“Its mechanism also makes it different, as we can rebalance the hair growth cycle which consist of the growing phase and resting phase.
“Most other actives in the market are testosterone boosters and there are potential for side effects because these are hormone boosters.”
According to the company, the ingredient can “stimulate dermal papilla cells by enhancing the expression of two specifics signalling molecules called FGF7 and Noggin.”
These molecules are said to be responsible for the initiation of new hair growth and stimulation of the natural hair growth cycle.
Findings of an eight-week study, published in Phytotherapy Research, showed that the daily intake of 100 mg pea AnaGain™ Nu has significantly reduced hair loss after 28 days of intervention.
