The Bionic Apple and its Anti-Ageing Secrets

The cosmetic industry thrives on innovation and with the average life span of a “successful” product being only 18 months – 2 years that innovation has to be rapid.  That is challenge number 1. Challenge two comes in choosing ingredients that are  highly effective and challenge three is finding an active that can be sustainably sourced.  So, when it became possible to grow our own rare and wonderfully active and innovative plants we jumped at the chance. Hello cell culture technology!

An Apple Tree?

Cell culture technology is at the cutting edge of anti-ageing ingredient research because using this technique means that you no longer have to trudge through rain forests, scale mountain peaks or dig deep underground to come up with an abundant source of highly potent natural ingredients. Of course, you have to discover the magical plant in the first place but after that its all done in the safety and cleanliness of the cosmetic chemists laboratory.

The bionic apple or Uttwiler Spatlauber has recently been the subject of cell culture technologies experimenting. This apple is well known in its native Switzerland for living much longer and being much hardier than its other apple cousins.  It also keeps its full and fruity look for an incredibly long time after pickingm properties that are down to its uniquely interesting chemical structure.  The only down side is that these apples are rare and so not a great  option for a fast moving consumer marketplace. The lure of “grow your own” was just too much to bare.

The process of growing a fruit from scraps of its brother or sisters cells takes a lot of time and money.  Stem cells are harvested from the seed plant and grown to produce a healthy plant cell line.  As stem cells are pliable their destiny can be controlled to a large extent by careful selection of nutrients and living conditions.  The “heart” of what makes that extract great is then cultured and extracted, leaving you with all of the goodness of the plant without the need for wanton plundering.

This particular extract has been found to slow down the senesence action of skin cells (that is how quickly skin cells die). As we age our skin cells die off quicker leaving our skin thinner and weaker than it was in our youth.  Bionic Apple seems able to put some oompfh back into ageing cells which in turn helps in making the skin appear younger. The question now is, does this make this extract natural?

Some people would say that this type of hi-tech approach to skincare is anything but natural and for a plant to work it needs to be present in its entirity.  These may well be valid points but consider this. If we want hi-tech skincare that is innovative and naturally inspired then we have two options:  Go harvest our planet hoping that the new crops are able to keep up with demand OR use the technology that is at our fingertips to create highly reproducable and sustainable ingredients based on what nature has given us? From where I am sitting, the choice is ours.

Fresh and Juicy

Oh, just one last word. If we don’t want anything to do with hi-tech  skincare I have heard that some vitamin E and a bit of Jojoba oil can work wonders……