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Boots £19 cream really does beat wrinkles
Anna Davis28 Apr 2009
A face cream which costs £19.75 has been declared a success in clinical trials — prompting predictions of frenzied demand for the over-the-counter product.
Boots No 7 Protect and Perfect Intense Beauty Serum was said to make an objective difference to the wrinkles of 60 volunteers aged 45 to 80 in a trial by the University of Manchester.
The chemist — which funded the trial — is braced for massive demand for the 30ml bottle when it goes on sale on Thursday. It is expected to repeat the success of the original No 7 Protect and Perfect Serum which sold out in hours when it was declared clinically successful in 2007.
The new serum is intended to tackle “deep wrinkles”, while the earlier product was for shallow wrinkles.
Scientists measured wrinkles on volunteers' skin on a scale ranging from zero to eight. Before the
12-month trial the average severity of wrinkles was 5.2, but after the experiment it fell to four.
The study, published in the British Journal of Dermatology, showed that 70 per cent of people using the Boots product had significantly fewer wrinkles after a year of daily use compared with volunteers using a different moisturiser.
Researchers took skin biopsies from the volunteers' wrists. Those using the Boots cream had higher levels of Fibrillin, a protein that improves elasticity of the skin, while those using other moisturiser had no change.
Chris Griffiths, professor of dermatology at the University of Manchester, said: “This is statistically significant. We ran the same type of trials that would be run on medicines.
“We have, for the first time I am aware of, an over-the-counter anti-ageing product that can improve one of the key features of photo ageing, which is wrinkles.
“It is rare for such benefits to be reported for an over-the-counter anti-ageing product and this study paves the way for larger studies with more statistical power.”
The cream contains peptides, pro-Vitamin A, anti-oxidants, white lupin extract and extract of alfalfa. The original Protect and Perfect cream contained different peptides and no alfalfa.
Boots said: “We think our customers will love this news and be delighted to hear scientific proof of what they've known all along, that the Protect and Perfect range really works.”
Reader views (6)
@Gail Renard: great idea, you'll be able to stick your head in them.
- Richard, Madrid, Spain, 06/04/2010 10:53
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When will it be available in U.S.
- Kathi Dowling, Atlanta, Ga, 01/05/2009 15:34
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Then I guess a few months down the line we can expect a No7 super-duper-more-intense-than-ever magic serum? (at an even higher price)
- Ben Adamson, New York, NY, 28/04/2009 17:19
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Can I get a couple of 55-gallon drums shipped over?
- Gail Renard, Florida, USA, 28/04/2009 16:19
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Hang on, I'm still working my way through my stock of No.7 "miracle" cream .....
- Marianne, SW France, 28/04/2009 15:07
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Where can I get it in Canada?
- Chris Darling, Hubbards, Nova Scotia, Canada, 28/04/2009 14:52
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