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Fruit stem cells
Hello,
I am curious what folks think about the skin benefits of plant/fruit stem cells.Is it just marketing hype, or are there actual proven benefits? I can quite tell from the research I’ve done so far (which is not extensive).
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8 Replies
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IMHO it’s just fancy overpriced fruit juice.Read THIS thread which is likely covering what you’re asking. -
Marketing hype.What is it about the concept of stem cells makes you find it compelling? -
- Stem cells are omni-/toti-/pluri-/multipotent immortal cells = they can turn into anything they want (as long as it’s fruit-related) and live forever… until they get extracted and just look like ordinary fruit juice diluted with solvents.- They produce a set of highly active growth hormones and ‘rejuvenating’ factors… too bad these are plant specific and don’t work on animal cells (with few exceptions such as salicylic acid though the effect is completely different).- Scientists have developed these, are grown in bottles on synthetic nutrient media, come out of fancy labs, and sound super futuristic… hence, they have to be good (especially with that price tag)!
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The marketing trick here is that the stem cells are used as biological factories to manufacture the plant extract, but the marketing makes one think that the cosmetic ingredient is actually the plant stem cells.
So, if you buy Gotu Kola Stem Cells … what you are actually getting is Gotu Kola extract that is manufactured using stem cells. Little different than Gotu Kola extract that is manufactured by extraction. The difference is there are fewer impurities in the Gotu Kola extract manufactured using stem cells.
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They are less effective than the separated active ingredients. But if you would like to focus on plant extracts:
- stem cells can be considered more eco friendly due to less water consumption and less fertilizers, but it would be necessary to evaluate the entire production process to assess it. The production of stem cells may require many reactants that are not needed in the production of common extracts. Then you can check if the stem cells have determined reaction mass efficiency,
- can be more effective than common extracts, but the same can be achieved by using standardized extracts,
- fewer differences in appearance between batches,
- they are often available in the form of a powder (they are more concentrated then), which generally allows to reduce the dosage, but the common powdery extracts also have the same advantage,
- powdered versions have a smaller impact on the color and properties of the product, but a similar effect can be obtained using common powdered extract made with maltodextrin. On the other hand, common extracts with maltodextrin are also very expensive, and usually they are are not standardized.
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Yes, but at $700 to $1,100 per kilo with efficacy that may be at best a fraction better than extracts from traditional means, the cost/benefit just isn’t there for a cosmetic product.
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Thank you for your input. Every post had really good points!
@MarkBroussard, I really appreciate the clarification that it is not the fruit stem cells that constitute the extract,
@Pharma, that even if it was the stem cells themselves, it wouldn’t help regenerate human cells, although Biohacker and TED Fellow Andrew Pelling found a way to combine apple cells and human cells make ears. He used the apple cellulose as scaffolding for the ear. Of course, that’s not what we’re doing in cosmetics with fruit stem cells, but interesting nonetheless, maybe in the future future (wink)?
@grapefruit22, thank you for outlining your way of thinking about fruit extracts. Helpful!
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@Anca_Formulator Missed that. Thanks for sharing! That’s the things happening when people thing outside the box. I like that! 🙂
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