Strategies for successful aging, including the use of food supplements, are part of the approach to support skin youthfulness. In this trial, Complife team aimed to investigate the efficacy of fermented bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) extract (FBE) in reducing the clinical signs of skin aging and improving skin tone evenness.

The primary endpoint was the assessment of product efficacy on the clinical signs of skin aging by measuring parameters related to skin texture and elasticity. Assessment of product efficacy in improving the skin complexion and its antioxidant capacity was also evaluated.

We highlight below the parameters and methods used during this single-center, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial, conducted at the Complife Italia S.r.l. facilities in San Martino Siccomario (Pavia) Italy, between July 2023 and January 2024.

SKIN TEXTURE: evaluated through Wrinkle depth, skin smoothness (Ra), and skin roughness (Rz) measurements in the “crow’s feet” wrinkle area using a Primos^CR small-field camera (Canfield Scientific Europe). Primos^CR is a 3D camera based on the fringe projection.

SKIN ELASTICITY: measured in the cheek area using a Cutometer® MPA 580 (Courage+Khazaka Electronuc ,) that measures the depth of suction of the skin inside the probe and its release.

SKIN FIRMNESS: scored by the dermatologist according to a clinical scale.

SKIN COMPLEXION: measured using a colorimeter/spectrophotometer, CM-700D (Konica Minolta).

SKIN ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY: measured by FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power assay on cheeks stripping samples taken with Corneofix^® foils (Courage+Khazaka Electronic) that allows the collection of different layers of the stratum corneum.

All the instrumental and clinical evaluations  were also integrated with a self-assessment questionnaire to align the measured efficacy with the visual or perceived efficacy.