Prebiotics are food-fermented ingredients (ingestible carbohydrates) which stimulate the growth and/or activity of specific microflora that promote internal health. They are the foods that our friendly probiotic bacteria, both in our gastrointestinal tract and our skin, thrive on. So really, you don’t want one without the other.

The two most common prebiotics are inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS). Inulin and FOS are present in over 36,000 plant foods as plant storage carbohydrates.

Some examples of foods that contain them in high percentage are: jicama (Latin American legume), tomato, banana, garlic, Jerusalem artichoke, onion, asparagus, wheat and barley.

Prebiotics & the skin

Skin that is deficient in prebiotics is unable to support its friendly bacteria, which leads to dryness, hypersensitivity, irritation, inflammatory disorders such as eczema and psoriasis, hyperkeratosis (thick skin) as well as fine lines and wrinkles due to slow cell turnover.

But when prebiotics are applied to the skin, the probiotic bacteria living on the surface further ferment these nutrients releasing a mildly acidic lactic liquid that is capable of restoring normal pH balance and exfoliate all cellular debris and grime.

Prebiotics have recently started to pop up in skin care products due, mainly, to their anti-ageing properties. They help counteract the environmental and metabolic toxins (free radicals) which cause premature aging. They have also been shown to be potential skin brighteners as their mildly acidic nature breaks down dead skin cells revealing a clarified complexion.

They also have exfoliating properties, which help improve the permeability and texture of the skin, making it easier to bring in moisture and achieve a smooth complexion.

Most notably, as mentioned, prebiotics help support the friendly probiotic bacteria like Staphylococcus epidermidis that colonize the skin’s surface and stimulate its immune system, thus minimizing the proliferation of Propionibacterium acnes (P.acnes) and other harmful bacteria. A reduction of these bacteria is a good solution for acne and inflamed conditions.

This makes prebiotics a great alternative to topical conventional acne treatments which disturb the skins acid mantle and can not only kill the bad bacteria and but also the beneficial skin flora.

The composition of skin microflora is influenced by factors such as hormonal activity, age, lifestyle, diet and pH.

If we constantly strip our skin of its natural oils by using extremely/barely acidic or alkaline formulations, the microflora will not be able to survive as these micro-organisms need a mildly acid environment to thrive (4.5- 5.5).

Without a healthy microflora, there simply won’t be sufficient skin flora on the surface of the skin to break down prebiotics (reap their benefits) and ward off unfriendly bacteria. This is why it is of the utmost importance to use mildly acidic formulations that support the skin’s natural functions.

Keep your skin healthy with some good bacteria:

The very high percentage of agricultural ingredients present in Sophyto provides our formulas with hundreds of naturally occurring nutrients, including prebiotics.

Prebiotics can be found in the following Sophyto products:

• Tone & Balance Super Bioactive: organic pH-adjusting solution that finalizes the cleansing process and preconditions the skin to accept treatment-based products. It is formulated with certified organic artichoke extract which has strong prebiotic, antioxidant and dermal cleansing properties.

• Polyphenol Skin Drops: contain high concentrations of bio-fermented fruit extracts such as apple and grapes, which help reduce inflammation, tone capillaries walls, brighten the skin complexion and boost the skin’s antioxidant protection against UV radiation.

• Multivitamin Skin Drops: formulated with bio-fermented (hydrating) Hyaluronic Acid and yeast- fermented CoQ10 which help regenerate and brighten the skin as well as bind moisture thus reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

If you have any questions about prebiotics/probiotics, feel free to email me any time.

Ishtar Magally Mobarak

I’ve just come across a discussion about this on a site called vivawomen.net, which claims leaving organic and natural skin care products in the bathroom can cause them to go bad prematurely…presumably because of the damp heat.

The piece doesn’t specify but I’m presuming the authors mean moisturisers more than anything else…? Well, so far I haven’t experienced any problems on that score with SOPHYTO. I don’t tend to keep moisturisers in the bathroom anyway - because I generally put it on as I’m getting dressed or into bed - but I have been keeping my Deep Pore Foaming Cleanser, Super Bioactive Toner and Dual Action Exfoliating Treatment in the bathroom cabinet and so far no problems.

SOPHYTO products have a unique patent-pending, part food-grade preservative system which gives the formulas a 3 year shelf life (unopened) Once opened, each container has an ‘open jar’ symbol which denotes the time in which it is recommended to be used by. However everyone I know uses them so voraciously, there’s never any left long enough to meet the suggested use by time!

Have you experienced a problem with any natural or organic brands? Either way please do drop us a line and let us share the wealth, as it were…

Getting SOPHYTO off the ground has been a long and, sometimes arduous, journey…. and it’s far from over! But, as we get closer to world domination, there are some interesting pit-stops, which big boss Karen Sinclair Drake would like to share with y’all. This week, she’s been hanging out at QVC HQ…

“The Americans sure know how to sell! (And being a Brit, I can say that without bias!) Hats off to QVC, the home shopping channel… Having just spent 2 days of my life surrounded by high octane sales people, I really came to - dare I say - ‘admire’ this very successful format of selling.

Beaming into millions of people’s homes across the nation, you get a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate and talk about the product. It’s supposed to look like 2 people having a conversation over their back garden fence… best buddies and all that.

I think the QVC bods do an incredible job of checking each and every aspect of your product, its ingredients, the packaging, the claims and much, much more. They really invest in the brands they are going to air and more importantly, they really put each vendor through their paces regarding their claims. Perfect! I love that because we all know it’s like the wild wild west out there.

SOPHYTO’s Dual Action Exfoliating Kit is launching on or about April 11 with QVC US and they expect the product to be a huge hit… Why? Well simply put, our newly launched Dual Action Exfoliating Kit takes seconds to work and you don’t need water… Yeah, that’s the part that people seem to home in on. No H20.  The reason being, when exfoliating, the pH of the product is really important for it to work correctly. Keeping the skin in a mildly acidic environment is key here - and that includes the rinsing part. Water is neutral at pH7, so it essentially ‘neutralises’ this mildly acidic effect.

For this launch we are teaming our new Dual Action Exfoliating Treatment (formerly Refining Peel Active Mask) in a 50ml airless pump dispenser along with Tone & Balance Super Bioactive in a 100ml spritzer. This way you can be sure your skin is kept in the perfect pH range during both the treatment and rinsing stages - if you want to rinse with water afterward, no problem

But don’t just take our word for it - we actually did a clinical study on the exfoliating duo (which you can download: Clinical study 03/09). When women aged between 30 and 70 tried the kit, 84% said their skin felt smoother and softer, 71% thought their skin was more even and refined, 68% said their skin was brighter, 71% thought the kit would improve the performance of their existing skin care regimen, and 63% thought the treatment improved the overall appearance of their skin. Pretty good, eh?”

To celebrate the launch we’re giving away 50 FREE samples of the Dual Action Exfoliating Treatment teamed with the Tone and Balance Super Bioactive. Check back tomorrow to see how to get your hands on one of these awesome little organic skin care kits…

Ps. if you can’t wait until next week to see Karen in action, you can catch her latest video demonstrations here… courtesy of YouTube.

Yes, yes, the snow we Brits are experiencing is very, very pretty. And, it’s kind of nice to be holed up somewhere, unable to move for a wee while. But snow, and cold wintriness in general, ain’t so good for keeping our skin looking tip-top. The red nose look is not such a hot one!

Now is the time to armour up - not just in terms of thermal vests and long johns - but in terms of moisture-rich, hydrating professional grade organic skin care too. Both SOPHYTO Normalising Day Face Moisturiser and Mega Omegas Day Face Cream are designed to offer intense and lasting hydration. But, if those creams alone aren’t enough to combat the dryness, try the combination of apple and olive-leaf rich Polyphenol Drops and CoQ10-enriched Skin Energising High Potency Concentrate, otherwise know as “the ultimate solution for moisture retention”. Your skin will literally drink them in with this kind of weather.

Plus, cleansing with water is the most drying thing you can do, so avoid the taps and stick to a non-drying toner - Tone & Balance Super Bioactive or Purify & Energise Super Bioactive. Not only will you steer cleer of the harsh chlorine in most tap water which is uber-drying, but these toners also prepare the skin to absorb the wonderful moisturisers described above.

Wintry love from Snowman Mao and his organic nose XOXO