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Amino acids and their anti-aging significance

The right mix of amino acids acts as a complete regenerative treatment for the skin, hair and nails. It supplies vital active substances that are essential for improving hair quality, strengthening nails and increasing the skin's elasticity.

Beautiful shiny hair, strong fingernails and smooth, firm skin are characteristics of health and natural beauty. They require an adequate supply of certain nutrients and vital substances that nourish the skin, hair and nails from within¹. They ensure regeneration of the connective tissues, e.g. collagen, elastin and keratin. This keeps the skin supple and elastic, the nails hard and resistant, and the hair strong and beautiful.

Skin and nails

Creatine is good for the skin

Cell functions gradually slow down as part of the ageing process. The skin synthesises less and less collagen and elastin, leading to the typical symptoms of ageing skin such as wrinkles, reduced elasticity and reduced thickness. In addition, highly reactive molecules damage the genetic material in the cells and fewer repair enzymes are produced. Scientists believe creatine stimulates energy metabolism, which slows down as we age. This stimulation has a positive effect on cell functions and thus supports the natural mechanisms of skin functions. Furthermore, creatine can protect cells against external influences by forming a water sheath around them that prevents the entry of harmful substances. The ability to form a water sheath also increases the moisture content of the skin.

Creatine consists of glycine, arginine and methionine

Creatine is an amino acid derivative that occurs naturally in the body and plays an important role in the energy metabolism of the cell. It is biosynthesised from three amino acids – glycine, arginine and methionine (the latter is a component of carnitine). A human body weighing 70kg contains about 120g creatine.

More creatine means more collagen

Creatine acts as a kind of energy store for times of higher energy demand. In experiments with tissue cultures, it was shown that energy metabolism can be increased by adding external creatine. It stimulates the cells to produce not only more proteins, such as collagen and elastin which are important for the skin, but also enzymes that repair damaged genetic material in the cell. ¹

Collagen provides natural beauty from within

Collagen protein is synthesised by the body and bestows firmness and stability to the skin. It binds water and thus increases the skin's moisture content, allowing it to become smooth and supple. From the age of 25 onwards, our skin starts to age and the proportion of collagen in the skin is gradually reduced. By comparison, the remaining collagen is not as effective.

Collagen is an important moisturising factor in the skin and is particularly effective when it can act directly from within. In conventional treatments, collagen is regularly injected into the skin. But who wants to suffer in order to be beautiful? A much kinder and more natural way is to stimulate the body to produce its own collagen. This requires the amino acids glycine and arginine as well as carnitine.

The skin as a mirror of the metabolism

In general, amino acids are like skin care from within. The skin is a sensitive and extremely reliable early warning system. Its appearance reflects the state of the metabolism. Allergic reactions, inflammations and pale skin with poor blood circulation are all physical signs signalling imbalances in the body's metabolism.

Many American studies^{2, 3, 4} particularly those of recent years, have demonstrated the importance of amino acids for healthy hair and firm skin.

Glutamine for firm skin

Glutamine is the most frequently occurring amino acid and is biosynthesised by the body; however, the quantities become insufficient with age. Glutamine plays a highly important role in protein synthesis. If there is not enough available, the organism takes protein from the body's muscle mass and converts it into glutamine and energy. As a consequence, muscle proteins are lost, muscle strands become thinner and the skin becomes less firm.

Almost like a plant, people tend to dry out and “wither” as they age. In this respect, glutamine is an excellent anti-ageing supplement and some scientists refer to it as the “internal fountain of youth”, not without reason.⁵

Carnitine is important for firm skin as it plays a significant role in fat burning

Increasing the carnitine level accelerates fat transport so that more can be oxidised for energy. As a “fat burner”, carnitine can thus make an important contribution to weight control.

It is an important component of fitness and wellness programmes and helps to ensure long-term weight loss.⁶

We also age due to an acidic diet

Overacidification destroys cells and tissue, thus disturbing the acid-base balance. This balance is absolutely essential to ensure the metabolism remains intact as the effects of every enzyme and every hormone depend on the pH value.

The human organism itself ensures that the acid-base balance is in equilibrium. Amino acids neutralise acidic substances. However, the availability of amino acids from our food decreases with age. The required amino acids are then taken from the body's reserves. This affects muscle strands and skin becomes less firm, which can result in face wrinkles, hair loss and osteoporosis.

In short: we age.

Glutamine controls the acid-base balance

The most important amino acid for regulating the acid-base metabolism is glutamine. This amino acid can cleave ammonia in the kidneys (known as the glutaminase reaction). This ammonia is then excreted along with one proton (i.e. as an acid). In this process, acid is excreted on the one hand and bicarbonate is conserved on the other (this is known as carbamoyl phosphate synthesis). The body uses the equilibrium of these two nitrogen excretion processes to regulate the excretion of protons and thus the acid-base equilibrium. ⁷

Hair

Cysteine against hair loss

The treatment of hair loss should also include a check of general eating habits. Sulphur-containing amino acids make up an unusually high proportion of the total protein content of the hair and nails. This is why the amino acid cysteine is particularly important for hair growth.

In a study, test subjects given cysteine in combination with B vitamins showed less hair loss.⁸

The results of another study with patients suffering from hair loss were published during a dermatology conference in Florence in 2005. Test subjects given a combination of amino acids and vitamin B complex showed an increased number of actively growing hairs.

Thirty patients took part in the study. They were divided into two groups. One group was given a combination of the amino acid cysteine and the B vitamins, whereas the other received a placebo.

After half a year, the proportion of hairs in the active growth phase was approximately 10% higher in the cysteine group than in the placebo group.⁹

Furthermore, cysteine can help to detoxify the body as it forms complexes with heavy metals (particularly copper) stored in the body, which are then excreted. Cysteine can also help to protect the body against other harmful and destructive substances produced by smoking and alcohol consumption.¹⁰

Arginine stimulates hair growth

Arginine, as a precursor molecule of nitric oxide (NO), is crucial for hair growth. The vasodilating effect of arginine is beneficial for hair growth. The increased nitric oxide level opens the calcium channels thus improving the blood supply to the hair roots, which stimulates hair growth.¹¹

Like skin, our hair requires considerable quantities of the mineral zinc. As an immunostimulant, selenium is at least as important for the scalp as it is for the rest of our skin. All B vitamins are essential for healthy hair growth. One of the many symptoms of a deficiency in one or more of these vitamins is hair loss and/or brittle and shineless hair.