Gelyma’s Sun’Alg clinical trials point to blue light protection
Launched and marketed as a sun care active ingredient in 2015, it is based on Ongamia glabra seed oil, as well as Dunaliella salina and Haematococcus pluvialis extracts to provide natural protection against UVA and UVB rays.
However, the growing trend for blue light protection has prompted the research and development team at Gelyma to carry out a series of clinical trials to investigate if the ingredient also provides this type of protection and the outcome was positive.
Innovative and realistic tests
The research team claims that its tests on blue light are both innovative and more realistic than many of those used by its competitors, and that the outcome is equally promising.
The first part of the trials focused on elastin levels in human skin explants. The trials relied on an explant pre-treated for 24 hours beforehand with a gel containing a dose of 2.5% Sun’Alg, versus a placebo.
Each explant was irradiated three times with blue light with an interval of 24 hours between each treatment, and then tested to see how elastin levels held up in the explant structures.
According to the Gelyma research team, the results showed that the irradiated untreated explant demonstrated smaller, less orientated and less dense elastin fibres, compared with the unirradiated sample.
The results for the Sun’Alg treated sample was quite different, showing longer, larger and more oriented elastin fibres than the placebo, suggesting that the ingredient safeguards elastin and counteracts the loss of skin elasticity.
Protection against the protein caused by blue light
The Gelyma research team also wanted to see if Sun’Alg provided any protection against the expression of the protein carbonylation, which is known to be induced by blue light and can causes inflammatory skin conditions.
The same procedure was used as the elastin experiment, relying on a placebo and a sample treated with gel containing a 2.5% dose Sun’Alg, exposed to irradiated with blue light three times with intervals of 24 hours between each treatment.
This trial showed that the explant irradiated and treated with SUN’ALG showed less oxidized proteins than the placebo, leaving the team to conclude that the ingredient serves to protect the protein function, helping to avoid its deterioration.
Inside and outside protection
“The primary innovative function is that Sun’Alg offers both external (thanks to Karanja Oil, that absorbs UVA and UVB protection and internal, thanks to those micro-algae protection,” said Aurélie Zamboni, communication and sales manager, at Gelyma.
“Those micro-algae are known for their very high carotenoid content : beta-carotene for Dunaliella salina and Astaxanthine for Haematococcus pluvialis.”
The company says that on the back of these trials, it will now promote the ingredients as a natural protective shield against UVA, UVB and Blue Light hazards, while being 100% natural and also China approved.
