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Abstract: Carotenoids, naturally occurring lipophilic micronutrients, possess an antioxidant activity associated with protection from damage induced by free radicals. The present study investigated an innovative non-invasive method to measure cutaneous levels of lycopene and β-carotene and to monitor the distribution of orally administered lactolycopene in human skin and plasma. A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized study was performed in 25 volunteers, who were under a lycopene-deprived diet (4weeks prior to study until end of the study) and orally received either lactolycopene or placebo for 12weeks. Skin and plasma levels of lycopene and β-carotene were monitored monthly using Raman spectroscopy and HPLC, respectively. Cutaneous levels of lycopene and β-carotene monitored by resonance Raman spectroscopy showed high reliability. Irrespective of the investigated area, cutaneous levels were sensitive to lycopene deprivation and to oral supplementation; the forehead showed the closest correlation to lycopene variation in plasma. Plasma and skin levels of lycopene were both sensitive to oral intake of lactolycopene and, interestingly, also skin levels of β-carotene. Thus, oral supplementation with lycopene led to an enrichment of β-carotene in human skin, possibly due to the fact that carotenoids act in the skin as protection chains, with a natural protection against free radicals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Antioxidant substances in the skin are expected to slow down photo ageing. We therefore developed the hypothesis that high levels of antioxidant substances may be correlated to lower levels of skin roughness. By utilizing modern optical non-invasive in vivo methods, the structures of the furrows and wrinkles as well as the concentration of lycopene were analyzed quantitatively on the forehead skin of 20 volunteers aged between 40 and 50 years. In a first step, the age of the volunteers was correlated to their skin roughness. Here, no significant correlation was found. In a second step, a significant correlation was obtained between the skin roughness and the lycopene concentration (R =0.843). These findings indicate that higher levels of antioxidants in the skin effectively lead to lower levels of skin roughness, and therefore support our hypothesis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]