White Tea A Wrinkle-Free Cure? Scientific Review Found Tea Outshine 20 Herbs

by Julian
(Horsham)

The process of skin ageing has been divided into two categories: Intrinsic and extrinsic ageing.

Intrinsic skin ageing or natural ageing is caused by changes in elasticity of the skin over time.

Extrinsic skin ageing is predominately a result of exposure to solar radiation (photoageing).

According to a 2009 study conducted by Kingston University in London, scientists explored the skin-protecting effects of 21 different extracts of plants and herbs (including burdock root, green
tea, and lavender).

A number of the studied extracts (such as bladderwrack, green tea, rose, and pomegranate) were found to fight the breakdown of collagen and elastin (a protein that supports skin's elasticity and plays a role in the prevention of sagging).

However, white tea outperformed all the other extracts in the study.

Anti-elastase activities were observed for nine of the extracts with inhibitory activity in the following order:

white tea (~89%)
cleavers (~58%)
burdock root (~51%)
bladderwrack (~50%)
anise and angelica (~32%)

Anti-collagenase activities were exhibited by sixteen plants of which the highest activity was seen in:

white tea (~87%)
green tea (~47%)
rose tincture (~41%)
lavender (~31%).

Nine plant extracts had activities against both elastase (E) and collagenase (C) and were ranked in the order of:

white tea (E:89%, C:87%)
bladderwrack (E:50%, C:25%)
cleavers (E:58%, C:7%)
rose tincture (E:22%, C:41%)
green tea (E:10%: C:47%)

Which green and white tea tops my 2009 list of recommendations? Read My Top 3 Tea Shop Recommendations to find out.

Tea Shop - Top Three Recommendation

References

Tamsyn SA Thring , Pauline Hili and Declan P Naughton 92009).
Anti-collagenase, anti-elastase and anti-oxidant activities of extracts from 21 plants. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2009, 9:27doi