According to a new study, red wine and acne could really be sworn enemies, as the fermented alcoholic beverage might help with skin care even more than it had been previously suggested. Red wine's acne-fighting properties come from resveratrol, which is an antioxidant found in grapes and therefore in wine; this compound hinders the growth of the bacteria that cause acne, says a new study by the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
UCLA scientists tested red wine's acne-fighting properties, says a report by United Kingdom's journal The Independent. The way they tested red wine's acne-fighting properties was as follows: researchers used the blood of healthy volunteers and those without skin conditions to test the ability of the resveratrol compound to inhibit the growth of the bacteria that leads to acne. The research paper was published in the journal Dermatology and Therapy under the name "Resveratrol Demonstrates Antimicrobial Effects Against Propionibacterium Acnes In Vitro."
While often associated with adolescence (85% of teenagers suffer from it), acne as a skin condition that also takes its toll on 10% of adults.
However, it's important to note that red wine's acne-fighting properties weren't only studied around resveratrol: scientists observed that the best results happened when the compound was used in conjunction with bezoyl peroxide. The combination of both chemicals proved the most successful treatment, which was an important discovery in itself for the research team, as resveratrol is an anti-oxidant and bezoyl peroxides is an oxidant, and at first it was thought that they would cancel out each other's effects.
Luckily, this wasn't the case, and the research team actually found that the combination showed "high initial antibacterial activity and sustained bacterial growth inhibition."
According to The Daily Mail, Dr. Emma Taylor, one of the study's researchers, stated: "This study demonstrates that combining an oxidant and an antioxidant may enhance each other and help sustain bacteria-fighting activity over a longer period of time," she said, according to the Daily Mail.
The discovery of red wine's acne-fighting properties could possibly mean less invasive acne treatments in the future, as today this is often treated with antibiotics and the body eventually grows past.
