[podcast] Author Commentary: Fabio Apone, Ph.D., on Cold Stress Skin Damage

The negative effects of cold stress on skin are a novel area of focus for cosmetic science. Therefore, in his January 2018 Cosmetics & Toiletries feature, “Cold Stress Damage, Banished,” Fabio Apone (FA), Ph.D., of Arterra Bioscience and Vitalab, explores the mechanisms of cold stress damage and tests an approach incorporating natural Daphne odora extract to mitigate them.

In this Author Commentary podcast, Apone shares what drove his team’s interest in this area, along with the next steps. Listen below to the full podcast.

Cosmetics & Toiletries: What prompted your interest in cold stress?

FA: One of the reasons that prompted us to explore cold stress was certainly scientific interest. Cold stress, together with other types like heat stress, are some of the most studied areas in science, as it is interesting to explore how organisms [have adapted] to cope with these types of stress.

If we think about Antarctic or Arctic organisms, for example, they have evolved several defense strategies to cope. They contain a lot of [protective] compounds and are able to activate defense response mechanisms, allowing them to survive in such extreme environments.

The second reason is, for sure, that on the cosmetic market, there is gap in this type of active ingredient; very few active ingredients defend and protect the skin against cold stress. And our skin is affected by all weather conditions, especially in winter, like wind, rain and cold temperatures.

But also it’s important because in summer, our skin is subjected to variations in temperature since outside, it’s hot but inside, it’s always air-conditioned and much colder. So [even in the summer], skin is subjected to these variations in temperature shift [and as a result], becomes dry, inflamed and dull. So for this reason, we thought that developing such a type of active ingredient could really be helpful and prevent this type of stress damage.

Listen now!