Green tea extract
is well known for its oxidation regulating effects, so as you now know, it is going to help protect our skin by regulating the harmful effects of oxidative damage to our skin. However, we already have a good number of highly competent oxidation regulating extracts in this blog, so that is not what we are going to primarily discuss regarding green tea extract. In fact, green tea extract doesn’t appear to really help much at all with maintaining skin firmness and elasticity. Instead, it may help fight off one the most dreaded threats to our skin! You know what we’re talking about, you wake up, you look in the mirror (and gasp!)... what do you see there? A tiny little red spot? Yes, that’s right... you’ve got some acne! No matter how great your skin looks, acne can really put a damper on your confidence levels.
There are two main pathways by which acne can form.
The first is through the accumulation of the lipids squalene and wax esters in sebum glands. Sebum glands continuously produce these lipids through a process called lipogenesis, and when sebum production ramps up and there is nowhere for the excess lipids to go, there is a chance that these excess lipids can form acne. The second pathway by which acne can form, is out of control proliferation of a bacteria called propionibacterium acnes (P. Acnes) P. Acnes predominantly exists deep within our hair follicles and pores, where it feeds and thrives on sebum and various cellular byproducts. The more sebum you feed P. Acnes, the faster it will grow, especially if you lock it in. This happens when pores or hair follicles get blocked by the build up of materials such as sebum which then can enable P. Acnes to grow out of control. When P. Acnes grows out of control, it may cause inflammation and cellular damage, which then results in acne. This is why acne often looks red and inflamed.
Green Tea Extract, which is high in a polyphenol called EGCG, can quite effectively combat the formation of acne through a few different pathways. The first of which is to inhibit lipogenesis in sebum glands, which EGCG can achieve by inhibiting the function of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP-1). SREBP-1 can take carbohydrates, such as glucose, and turn them into fatty acids. SREBP-1 is one of the main ways by which sebum glands can produce sebum, thus, by inhibiting the function of SREBP-1, EGCG can quite effectively halt the generation of sebum, which should then translate to a reduction in acne. Furthermore, EGCG has also been shown to slow down the growth of P. Acnes, so not only are we reducing the availability of one of its main food sources (sebum), EGCG also directly gets in the way of P. Acnes. As the cherry on top, Green Tea Extract also supports inflammation-regulating effects, which can help ease acne discomfort.
Overall, Green Tea Extract appears to be highly beneficial for individuals who have occasional minor acne and would like to regulate the occurrence of those small, annoying, and sometimes painful zits. It is important to note that while green tea extract alone will likely not be the most beneficial product to take for overall skin health, it would certainly be a great add-on to some of the other skin health supplements on this list if you experience minor amounts of acne.