Vibrant Skin (Alphalipoic Acid, DMAE, and Absorbyl Palmitate)

Vibrant Skin 60 capsules
(Alphalipoic Acid, DMAE, and Absorbyl Palmitate)

Alphalipoic Acid
Alphalipoic Acid is a very powerful antioxidant that plays an important role alongside Vitamin C and E. Alphalipoic acid can even recycle Vitamins C and E after they have quenched a free-radical in order for them to do it again. Additionally, because alphalipoic acid is both water and fat-soluble, it can work in both the lipophilic and hydrophilic areas of the cell making it accessible to areas where Vitamins C and E are not able to travel.

Beyond antioxidant activity alphalipoic acid plays more important roles in the promotion of youthful, vibrant skin. Alphalipoic acid can effect metabolism from inside of a cell. This is important because as we get older, our cell metabolism slows down and the cell is not able to perform important functions as efficiently. Therefore, when alphalipoic acid is present, the higher energy cells can perform DNA-repair more efficiently, remove wastes, and perform metabolic functions better.

Alphalipoic acid also has a key connection in preventing the inflammatory processes that lead to aging skin. Although the free-radical damage that is connected to inflammation can be helped by many types of antioxidants, most antioxidants get overwhelmed when there is a large number of free-radicals. Alphalipoic acid, on the other hand, can prevent the activation of certain substances in the cell (specifically NFk-B, a type of transcription factor) that can produce an "overdrive" of free-radical damage and inflammation. Therefore, alphalipoic acid can actually stop the production and assault of the large number of free-radicals associated with inflammation.

Another area that alphalipoic acid is helpful for is in controlling the effect of sugar imbalance on aging. Sugars can cause the cross-linking mentioned above on our collagen molecules that lead to aging skin. When alphalipoic acid is taken internally it can prevent this reaction for all of our proteins and also help the uptake and balanced metabolism of sugars by our body.

DMAE
DMAE (dimethylaminonethanol) is described by Dr. Perricone as an "antioxidant membrane stabilizer." DMAE can actually incorporate itself and become part of the skin plasma membrane. Here it works both as an antioxidant and a stablizer to the actual structure of the membrane.

One of the components of aged-looking skin is sagging. Sagging does not just occur because of gravity's affect on the body, but because the tiny muscles under the skin have become loose and less responsibe to acetylcholine; a nerve chemical that causes muscles to contract. Not only are they less responsibe to acetylcholine, aging persons generally produce lower qualities of acetylcholine. One way to reverse this process is to eat more fish or supplement with other sources of DMAE, which is a precursor to acetylcholine production.

C-Ester (Ascorbyl Palmitate)
Vitamin C-Ester is a special form of Vitamin C that was designed to access the outer membrane of the cell, the part of the cell where most of the oxidation occurs, due to its fat-soluble nature. Vitamin C is an essential part of the collagen formation process; the substance that gives our skin elasticity. Additionally, it is an important antioxidant that can prevent the dangerous effects of oxidation on the outer surface of our cell membrane and give a more youthful appearance to skin. However, Vitamin C in its regular form is only water soluble and cannot help to protect skin cells and membranes very well from aging because it cannot access the areas where most of the damage occurs.

Vitamin C-Ester is composed of L-ascorbic acid (which is regular Vitamin C) that has been joined with a fatty acid derived from palm oil called palmitic acid. In addition to being able to access the fat-soluble areas of the cell to prevent free-radical damage, it has several other benefits. When discussing bioavailability, it has 10 times the uptake into the skin compared to regular Vitamin C according to Dr. Perricone.