The debate about whether a little wine is good for your health has gone on for years and likely will continue for many more. The new question is: Is wine — or at least wine-based products — good for your skin?

Yes, says Mathilde Thomas, founder of Caudalie, a French skin-care company that is built around the vitamins and antioxidants found in grapes.

Back in 1993, a scientist from the pharmaceutical department at Bordeaux University visited the estate of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, a vineyard owned by Thomas' family in Bordeaux, France. He told her that grapeseeds contain the polyphenols that effectively fight free radicals generated by sunlight, smoke and pollution.

Thomas and her husband Bertrand decided to try to put the polyphenols into skin-care products. What they didn't know was that grapeseeds produced an unstable extract — which turned red and smelled bad when it got old — so they first had to develop a stabilized cream, which they patented in 1994.

A few years later came the patent for resveratrol, which is extracted from grapevines.

For the vines, resveratrol acts like an antibiotic to protect the vines from fungus; for skin, it firms the surface, improves elasticity and stimulates cell multiplication.

"You know (how) a grape vine always look healthy, even though it's always in the sun? The vine protects itself against ultraviolet light by generating resveratrol, which stimulates cell renewal by 24 percent," according to Thomas.

Over the past few years, Caudalie has expanded its line of grape-based products to include skin treatments at spas in France, Italy and Sonoma County, Calif., formulated in conjunction with Bordeaux University researchers.

The Merlot Wrap features oil from the merlot grapeseed combined with benzonite clay to absorb impurities in the skin. (Benzonite is also used in winemaking; it catches the impurities when wine is moved from barrel to bottle, Thomas explains.)

Meanwhile, the Wine and Honey Wrap focuses on toning and strengthening skin using honey and wine yeast extract, which, when used in winemaking, begins the fermentation process.

Other "vinotherapy" treatments include baths enhanced with an extract from marc, a blend of grape skin and stems, which helps remove dead skin cells; and a crushed cabernet scrub uses real seeds to exfoliate.

How does sake skin care sound?

A line of products called SK-II is built around a clear, nutrient-rich liquid called pitera that is extracted during the yeast fermentation process when sake is made.

The skin-smoothing properties of pitera was discovered by a Japanese monk who, when visiting a sake brewery in Kobe, Japan, noticed that all the workers had extraordinarily soft hands, explains Simone Bretherton, product development manager for SK-II.

"The monk had been in multiple sake factories before. He was there to analyze the taste of the sake, he wasn't interested in skin care," she says.

But since this was the only brewery where he noted the workers' hands, he worked with scientists to discover what was special about its particular formula. Their joint experiments lead to the creation of SK-II.

(The company, created more than two decades ago, maintained a relationship with the monk until his death. It was a mutual agreement that his name not be tied to the product, Bretherton says.)

SK-II grows, harvests and ferments the yeast to produce pitera the same way now as it did when the first product was launched.

SK-II's first product — and still its most popular — is the 90-percent pitera Facial Treatment Essence. Additional products include cleansers, moisturizers, anti-aging treatments and masks, all with pitera as a dominant ingredient.

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On the Net:

http://www.caudalie.com

http://www.skII.com

Reference Source 102

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