Buckwheat delivers for antioxidant care products

It can also favour the appearance of cutaneous marks, redness or else fines wrinkles, signs of a maltreated skin. This oxidation phenomenon can be natural, linked to the skin physiological functioning, due to the environment that surrounds us, or else caused by the lifestyle our skin is exposed to.

Free radicals: cutaneous enemies

Oxidants are compounds trapping electrons and responsible for various deteriorations. The dioxygen (O2), chemical element vital to cells and consequently to life, is a compound that can be at the origin of ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) creation, such as hydroxyle (•OH), peroxide (ROO•) and alkoxyle (RO•) radicals, superoxide anions (O2•–) or else hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). All those compounds are both essential to the cell physiological working but can also lead to cell alteration in case of deterioration. To describe those consequences, we usually speak about oxidative stress. Those free radicals are naturally generated by the physiological mechanisms inside the cells: respiration at the mitochondrial level, detoxification at the peroxisomal level, defence reaction by the phagocytes, etc. In parallel, the action of external factors such as UV radiation and other ionizing rays, tobacco, pollution and other chemical compounds also cause an increase of ROS amount and, by extension, potential imbalances. Oxidants when uncontrolled can result in a degradation of proteins, lipids, DNA deterioration and also in a metabolic enzyme inactivation. Those changes can lead to the alteration of membrane structures that disintegrate cells, disturb cell communication and increase water loss. Cell renewal and enzymatic mechanisms can also be damaged and result in chain modifications whose major consequence is the speeding up of skin ageing.