Levagen+ PEA now available for beauty applications
Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) is an endogenous fatty acid amide produced naturally in the body in response to injury and stress. The production of PEA decreases with aging, which could lead to unbalanced levels of inflammation and a lowered immune system. Gencor has come out with a dispersible version of PEA, branded Levagen+, powered by Pharamako’s LipiSperse delivery technology which increases the bioavailability and functionality of PEA for use in beauty applications.
Levagen+, which won NutraIngredients-USA’s Ingredient of the Year for Healthy Aging in 2021, can be applied in several formats, including gels, creams, effervescents, powders, and more. The ingredient targets inflammaging–the chronic, low-grade inflammation associated with age-related changes in the skin. Common signs of this are uneven skin tone, dullness, fine lines, and dehydration.
Beauty
One beauty brand that has seen success is in using Levagen+ in its formulations is LYMA Skincare, which aims to improve elasticity, reduce redness, protect against oxidative stress-induced damage, and help slow the skin’s immunological dysregulation through the skin’s extracellular matrix (ECM).
Lucy Goff, LYMA’s founder, said the development of LYMA Skincare started five years ago and has been building up and fine tuning the research ever since.
“Our team of leading scientists, plastic surgeons, geneticists, and longevity doctors spent years analyzing existing skincare formulas, only to realize that most are doing the same thing and nobody’s making any meaningful strides outside of making the epidermis look better,” said Goff.
What happens in the epidermis isn’t the benchmark because by that time it’s already too late. The holy grail is to change the age of the dermis; to alter gene expression to fundamentally shift the aging mechanisms at a cellular level. When we knew for sure our formulation was achieving that level of profound change, that’s when we knew we'd hit the mark.”
Beyond looks
R.V. Venkatesh, co-founder of Gencor, said PEA is a versatile ingredient that can be applied in several health categories from beauty to sports nutrition.
“We are excited and humbled that cosmetic brands are utilizing Levagen+ for its ability to aid in a healthy inflammatory response, protect from oxidative stress and improve skin appearance,” said Venkatesh.
“PEA has multiple properties covering efficacy in therapeutic segments like pain management, inflammation, sleep, immunity, allergies, stress management, cognition etc. It's got solid clinical data in all these areas with multiple published human clinical studies,” added Venkatesh. “PEA has clinical studies published in doses ranging from 150mg a day to 2.5 grams a day. The typical sweet spot for dosing of 300 - 600mg per day as evidenced from multiple published human clinical studies.”
A few of the finished products include GNC’s Beyond Raw Anabolic Sleep for improved sleep, stress, and recovery support, and RAIN Bend, a gel superfood supplement for joint health, Amazon's AMFIT Whey Protein for recovery, UNITY's Mind for nootropic, and Vitamin Shoppe's BODYTECH collagen blend for joint health.
