Bakuchiol

Bakuchiol is a plant derivative that is known to be a functional analog of Retinol except that it is much gentler and safer to skin giving comparable results to a retinol on photoaged skin. It is extracted from the plant, Psoralea corylifolia. Literature suggests that other plant species can also be a source of bakuchiol too. ¹

Psoralea corylifolia itself has been used in traditional Indian and Chinese medicine to treat skin ailments, alopecia, inflammation, leukoderma, leprosy, psoriasis, and eczema, as a healing agent of kidney, spleen, and many more. Psoralea corylifolia has many bioactive compounds which confer medicinal properties to it. Bakuchiol is extracted from the seeds of the plant. Bakuchiol itself is known to be antibacterial, antifungal, anti-acne, anti-aging, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, as a treatment for postmenopausal symptoms, as an estrogen agonist, etc.^1,2,3,4,5

Bakuchiol is called as bio retinol and has demonstrated its efficacy as an anti-aging agent comparable to retinol. A clinical study done to compare the efficacy of Bakuchiol and Retinol showed that both Bakuchiol and Retinol both significantly decreased wrinkle surface area and hyperpigmentation, with no statistical difference between the compounds. The retinol users reported more facial skin scaling and stinging . The study demonstrated that Bakuchiol is comparable to Retinol in its ability to improve the skin texture damaged due to photoaging and is better tolerated than retinol. ^6,7,8

Another study group reported that Bakuchiol leads to the expression of the same set of genes as Retinol. Genes involved in the synthesis of collagen I and III were unregulated and synthesis of collagen IV was stimulated as well. Their results showed that, after 12 weeks of treatment, significant improvement in lines and wrinkles, pigmentation, elasticity, firmness, an overall reduction in photo-damage was observed, without usual retinol therapy-associated undesirable effects.⁹

Figure1: Percentage of stimulation of collagen 1, II, III in skin cells treated with Bakuchiol and Retinol. Bakuchiol stimulates the production of more collagen.

Figure 2: Comparison of the effect of Bakuchiol and Retinol treatment. women of age groups 30 – 50 plus years old were subjected to the clinical study. The skin was treated for 28 days with Retinol ( shown as R in the figure) and Bakuchiol ( shown as R in the figure) and the wrinkle reduction was observed using NatiV 3 Analyzer.

All the research done points out that Bakuchiol is promising as a more tolerable alternative to retinol.

References:

1. Psoralea corylifolia L: Ethnobotanical, biological, and chemical aspects: A Phytotherapy Research. 2018;32:597–615.
2. Bakuchiol suppresses inflammatory response via Dow regulation of P38 MAPK/ERK signaling pathway. Int J Mol Sci, 2019, 20.
3. Phytoestrogen Bakuchiol Exhibits In Vitro and In Vivo Anti-breast Cancer Effects by Inducing S Phase Arrest and Apoptosis. Front Pharmacol. 2016 May 24;7:128.
4. Assessment of Antifungal Activity of Bakuchiol on Oral-Associated Candida spp.Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015.
5. Bakuchiol Alleviates Hyperglycemia-Induced Diabetic Cardiomyopathy by Reducing Myocardial Oxidative Stress via Activating the SIRT1/Nrf2 Signaling Pathway. Oxid Med Cell. 2020 Sep 30;2020.
6. Design and Engineering of “Green” Nanoemulsions for Enhanced Topical Delivery of Bakuchiol Achieved in a Sustainable Manner: A Novel Eco-Friendly Approach to Int J Mol Sci,2021, 22,10091.
7. Prospective, randomized, double-blind assessment of topical bakuchiol and retinol for facial British Journal of Dermatology (2019) 180, pp 289–296.
8. Bakuchiol may be another natural solution to reverse the course of nature. Br J Dermatol. 2019 Feb;180(2):253-254.
9. Bakuchiol: a retinol-like functional compound revealed by gene expression profiling and clinically proven to have anti-aging effects. Int J Cosmet Sci. 2014 Jun;36(3):221-30.