A new Italian study has discovered a potential beer by-product that may help to keep skin healthy for longer.
It was left to the Italians to discover that beer has a beauty benefit. A group of Italian scientists claims to have found antioxidant potential in some craft beers that may respond to two tell-tale indications of ageing skin, at a time when many of us prefer cleaner cosmetics products without the hazardous components of decades past.
For a recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal Cosmetics, pharmaceutical researchers from the University of Camerino, near Rome, collaborated with colleagues from the University of Bologna, near Milan. They realized that many craft beers are made with natural ingredients like malts, hops, and yeast, which have been proved to contain antioxidants and phenols (healthy, disease-fighting compounds).
Indeed, the scientists discovered that hops had the highest phenol content and that yeast, a by-product of craft beer, had the potential to absorb phenols from the beer more effectively.
Hops and yeast formed during the beer's manufacture "showed the ability to boost mitochondrial function and reduce oxidative stress," according to the study's authors, which are "two aspects in skin ageing."
They concluded that "waste from handcrafted brews can be an intriguing source of phenols for the preparation of skin anti-ageing cosmetics," based on the findings.
Attention, if we may: This isn't to mean that drinking craft beer is inherently good for your skin (though science has suggested that craft beer now and then may provide some health benefits if consumed as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle).