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to a small pilot study, moisturizing our skin might reduce the risk of
developing a range of chronic conditions, including heart disease, diabetes,
and even Alzheimer's disease.
Aging skin may play a role in
driving chronic disease.
The skin is our largest organ. One of its
primary functions, of course, is to protect our insides from the dangers
outside.
It also detects heat and cold, helps to
regulate our internal temperature, and allows us to sense touch.
Despite its huge size, scientists do not
often consider the skin's role in chronic disease.
However, a group of researchers from the
University of California San Francisco (UCSF), are bucking the trend. They are
focused intently on understanding the role of skin in age-related chronic
disease.
As people age, levels of inflammation in
their bodies steadily increase. Scientists refer to this as inflammaging. Cytokines are important drivers of this
inflammation, and the scientists involved in the current study want to
understand whether the skin might be involved.
Inflammaging and the skin
Scientists have already outlined a
relationship between inflammation and a range of conditions, including type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's
disease, and osteoporosis.
In the past, scientists thought that the
immune system or the liver drove inflammaging. However, according to a new
study that the Journal of the
European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology recently published, the skin might play a significant role, too.
"The
inflammation must come from an organ big enough that very minor inflammation
can affect the whole body. Skin is a good candidate for this because of its
size."
Senior author Dr. Mao-Qiang Man
Dr. Man, who is a research scientist in the
Department of Dermatology at UCSF, continued, "Once we get old, we have
dermatological symptoms like itchiness, dryness, and changes in acidity. It
could be that the skin has very minor inflammation, and because it's such a
large organ, it elevates circulating cytokine levels."
Skin and chronic disease
As we age, skin becomes drier and less
reliable. Age also affects the skin's permeability, meaning that it has trouble
keeping water in and pathogens out. A reduction in skin moisture allows small
cracks to appear, which sparks the release of cytokines into the blood supply.
In younger skin, cytokines help to repair
cracks in the skin. Older skin, however, is more difficult to fix, which means
that the body continually releases these inflammatory messengers; once they are
in the blood, they can travel around the body.
Dr. Theodora Mauro, the lead author of the
newest paper, explains, "Until recently, the scientific community didn't
believe that skin could contribute to systemic inflammation and disease. But in
the last 5 years, studies of psoriasis and
dermatitis have shown that skin inflammation from these diseases likely
increases the risk of heart
disease."
Of course, aging
skin is far more common than dermatitis or psoriasis; therefore, according to
Dr. Mauro, "the overall risk to the population from aging skin could far
outweigh that seen from skin diseases."
She believes that "[d]ecreasing
inflammation simply by treating the skin dysfunction seen in aging could have
profound health effects."
Can we reduce the risks of
inflammaging?
In their recent study, the scientists set out
to measure the impact of aging skin on inflammation and, importantly, to see
whether they could reduce signs of inflammation using a skin moisturizer.
The proof-of-concept preliminary pilot study
involved just 33 participants aged 58–95.
The researchers measured cytokine levels at
the start of the study; then, for 30 days, the participants applied moisturizer
all over their bodies twice a day. After the study period, the researchers
looked for changes in their cytokine levels.
Specifically, the scientists measured three
cytokines that have links to age-related inflammatory diseases: interleukin-1
beta, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis
factor alpha.
Dr. Mauro and Dr. Man formulated the
moisturizing cream following their previous studies. It includes three types of
lipids: cholesterol, free
fatty acids, and ceramides.
As expected, applying moisturizer for 30 days
reduced the levels of all three cytokines in the blood. The cytokine levels
were also lower than those in a control group of similarly aged adults who had
not used the cream.
According to the
authors, the participants' cytokine levels were equivalent to people in their
30s.
Because this experiment used a particularly
small sample, researchers will need to carry out much larger trials before they
can reach reliable conclusions. Firstly, future studies will need to confirm
that they can replicate the effect that they measured.
Secondly, they will need to demonstrate that
a reduction in circulating cytokines has significant health benefits in the
long run.
It is also worth noting that, as the authors
disclose, two of the scientists involved in the study work as consultants for a
South Korean company called Neopharm, Ltd., which produces the moisturizer used
in the trial.
Follow-up research will, no doubt, begin
soon. Whether the scientists replicate the findings or not, the topic of skin
inflammation and chronic disease is sure to enjoy further scrutiny.
As the United States population ages, one
can't help but hope that an intervention as simple as applying moisturizer
might ward off age-related disease.
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