Glycyrrhizin: excellent plant whitening effect

Glycyrrhizin is a rare substance extracted from licorice. Only 100 grams of glycyrrhizic acid can be obtained from 1000 kg of licorice. Insufficiency and difficulty in extraction make 1g of glycyrrhizic acid equivalent to 1g of physical gold. Through the detection of the IC50 value of melanin inhibition, it is found that the whitening effect of Glycyrrhizin is 232 times that of Vitamin C.

    structure type

    Glycyrrhizin is a flavonoid compound extracted from a precious plant licorice. It is an active ingredient that is difficult to obtain. It is popular because it is widely regarded as a whitening ingredient and widely used in skin care products such as creams and masks.

Glycyrrhizin

    The reason why the Glycyrrhizin extract is called "whitening gold" is because the source of Glycyrrhizin is small and the amount of extraction is small. Only less than 100g of Glycyrrhizin can be extracted from 1000 kg of Glycyrrhiza root and leaves. The second reason is that the inhibitory effect of Glycyrrhizin on melanin is 232 times that of vitamin C.

    The efficacy of Glycyrrhizin

    1. Whitening

    Glycyrrhizin inhibits the formation of melanin by inhibiting the activities of tyrosinase, dopa mutagenase and DHICA oxidase. At the same time, it can prevent skin pigmentation and melanin formation after sun exposure, inhibit post sun erythema, and improve sun protection factor.

    2. Anti-inflammatory

    Glycyrrhizin inhibits the production of arachidonic acid by inhibiting cyclooxygenase, thereby reducing inflammation.

    The results showed that ultraviolet radiation can induce pigmentation in guinea pigs, smear with 0.5% glycyrrhizic acid solution. Studies have found that Glycyrrhiza can reduce skin inflammation caused by UV stimulation.

    3. Antioxidant

    Free radicals oxidize the cell wall or other oxidation-sensitive biological macromolecules (low-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, DNA), etc., which can cause cell senescence.

    The chemical structure of Glycyrrhizin has an isoflavone core. The A ring and the b ring are aromatic rings. There are two phenolic hydroxyl groups on the B ring and an ethylenic bond at C9, so it has strong oxidation activity.

    In addition, the isoflavones in Glycyrrhizin can inhibit the metabolism in the body during the production of free radicals and prevent the damage of free radicals to the skin.