Hamburgers, ice-cream, cakes, donuts, fried potatoes…… We have already known that there are so much food in our world which taste so good but are not good for our skin. In this last blog post, I will introduce the reason why eating too much high fat food is not good for your skin as well as how the high fat food influences our skin by explaining the research which is done by the Tokyo University of Agriculture, Department of Nutritional Sciences.
Before I introduce the experiment, I will firstly explain some basic elements which contain in our body, and I hope these can help you to understand the research study better.
Skin Lipid
Skin Lipid is a type of natural molecules on our skin which contain ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol. It has an importance role in energy metabolism and prevents entry of toxic compounds and lose of water from our skin. Thus, any disturbance in the metabolism of these lipids can lead to skin dysfunction.
CeramidesCeramide is a family of lipid molecules, and it is contained in our skin lipid. It is involved in skin metabolism and helps to protect the moisture in the skin goes away. Ceramides is used in many skin products.
Messenger RNA (mRNA)
MRNA is a type of Ribonucleic acid (RNA). RNA is one of the three major macromoleculus (along with DNA and proteins) that are essential for all known forms of life. MRNA is involved in the in lipid metabolism.
Adiponectin
Adiponectin is a protein hormone which helps to regulate lipid metabolism
The Purpose of this Study
The Purpose of this Study is to investigate the molecular changes in skin function that result from High Fat (HF) diets. This study is important because the relationship between HF diets and skin molecules is not well understood, and hence it may help more people who care about their skin to be aware of controlling the amount of HF diets they take.
Methods
At the beginning of the research, 5 four week old male rats are tested. They are divided into four groups: one with 5% corn oil in the daily diet, one with 5% of lard, one with 15% of lard and one with 25% of lard. After 28 days, their skins from the back are cut, and the rest of the skins are frozen and are used to evaluate the genes. Then the level of ceramides, lipids and MRNAs which I mention previously are evaluated through the thin layer chromatography (TLC) which is a technique that is used to separate mixture by colors. Researchers also evaluate the amount of lipids by oil red O, a stain which is used to measured up lipids through distinguishing the differences of the colors. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique which helps to look for DNA is used to evaluate the genes changes in the skin. For the adiponectin, its serum concentration is measured by another technique which calls ELISA. Results
After evaluation, researchers discover that HF diets led to two kinds of
enzymes Serine C-palmitoyltransferase (SPT) and HMG-CoA reductate’s mRNA level decrease, which causes the reduce levels of ceramide and lowered skin lipid. The PPAR-x, the group of proteins that function as transcription factors regulating the expression of genes and help to upregulate SPT and HMG-Coa reductates is also reduced. In addition, the HF diets also reduce the serum concentration of adiponectin. The carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1, the rate-limiting enzyme that act in b-oxidation, however, is increased. B-oxidation is a process which helps to break down fatty acids.
Conclusion
From this research, we learn about how and why HF diets affect our skin.Firstly, the research shows that HF diets can lower PPAR-x activity, and hence reduce the SPT and HMG-CoA reductase, which are linked to the reduction of ceramide and lipid synthesis in the skin. Secondly, the decrease of adiponectin which helps to regulate lipid metabolism also causes the lipid synthesis in the skin decrease. Thirdly, the enhancement of b-oxidation which breaks down fatty acid leads to the decrease of lipid as one takes more HF diets. In conclusion, all of these factors lead to the disturbance in the lipid metabolism as well as the decrease of lipid and ceramide which help us to barrier between our skin and the outside environment. Taking all together, the researchers of this study believe that the data of this study suggests that “HF diets can lead to rough and moistureless skin” (Yamane, Kobayashi-Hattori and Oishii, 2011, page 6).
Now we are more for sure that HF diets like cakes and donuts may affect our skin, and hence even though most of the HF diets are delicious, let us control ourselves a little bit more!! (and perhaps we can buy more skin care products which contain ceramide? : ) )
Finally, I hope my blog can help you to know more about taking care of our skin from paying more attention to our diets!!
Bye~ : )
Research Achieved from:
Yamane, Takumi, Kobayashi-Hattori, Kazuo & Oishi Yuichi. (2011). A high-fat diet reduces
ceramide synthesis by decreasing adiponectin levels and decreases lipid content by modulating
HMG-CoA reductase and CPT-1 mRNA expression in the skin. Wily Online Library. Retrieved
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