Steamed Citrus Peel Extract for Skin Care
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for utilizing citrus peel extracts in cosmetics, food, and quasi-drugs face limitations due to the presence of furanocoumarins, which can cause phototoxic effects, and the challenge of converting flavonoid glycosides into more effective aglycones without generating impurities or requiring complex chemical processes.
Innovation Solution
A method involving steaming citrus peels under optimized conditions (103° C. to 150° C., specifically 105° C. to 130° C. for 1 to 15 hours) to increase the content of flavonoid aglycones while reducing furanocoumarins, thereby enhancing the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and wrinkle-improvement effects of the extracts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If acid hydrolysis or fermentation is used to convert flavonoid glycosides into non-glycosides, then the physiological effects are enhanced, but impurities are generated due to additional mixing of chemicals and microorganisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and utilizes the natural enzymatic activity present in citrus peel itself to convert flavonoid glycosides into aglycones, eliminating the need to introduce external chemicals or microorganisms. This self-contained extraction approach converts harmful impurity generation into a clean, natural process while maintaining enhanced physiological effects.
Solution Approach 2:
The citrus peel serves its own conversion function by utilizing its inherent enzymatic systems to transform flavonoid glycosides into aglycones during the extraction process. This self-service mechanism eliminates dependency on external chemical or biological agents, thereby avoiding impurity generation while achieving the desired physiological effect enhancement.
2Ease of manufacture
If furanocoumarins are not removed from citrus peel extract, then the extraction process remains simple, but phototoxic effects and skin reactions occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the extraction parameters (using ethanol concentration, temperature, and time) to selectively extract furanocoumarins separately from the main citrus peel extract. This parameter modification allows simple process maintenance while achieving harmful substance removal through controlled differential extraction.
Solution Approach 2:
The extraction process is segmented into separate stages: first extracting the desired citrus peel components, then separately extracting furanocoumarins using different solvent conditions. This segmentation isolates the harmful substances without complicating the main extraction process, maintaining ease of manufacture while eliminating phototoxic effects.
3Productivity
If conventional extraction methods are used without steaming, then the process is simpler and faster, but flavonoid aglycone content remains low
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies steaming as a preliminary treatment before extraction to pre-convert flavonoid glycosides into aglycones and break down cell walls. This preliminary action increases flavonoid bioavailability and extraction efficiency, achieving high aglycone content without extending the actual extraction time, thus maintaining productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The steaming process utilizes phase transition of water to heat and penetrate the citrus peel, facilitating enzymatic conversion of flavonoid glycosides to aglycones. This phase transition-based heating method efficiently prepares the material for extraction, increasing aglycone content while keeping the overall process time reasonable through optimized steam parameters.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The steamed citrus peel extracts demonstrate improved antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and wrinkle-improvement effects by increasing phenolic compound content and converting flavonoid glycones to aglycones, while reducing harmful furanocoumarins, making them suitable for use in cosmetic, food, and quasi-drug compositions.
Implementation Method 1
Flavonoids are glycosides and are known to provide stronger physiological effects when converted to non-glycosides (aglycones) through in vivo metabolism. However, acid hydrolysis or fermentation has been reported as a method for converting flavonoid glycosides into non-glycosides
Implementation Method 2
Furanocoumarins are known to cause phototoxic effects in human skin by plants. This causes skin reactions similar to sunburn (erythema, edema, blisters, etc.) or cell necrosis
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to cosmetic, food, and quasi-drug compositions having antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and wrinkle or elasticity improvement effects, comprising citrus peel extracts as an active ingredient, which increase phenolic compounds, increase the generation of flavonoid aglycones, and reduce furanocoumarin, a harmful substance, a method for preparing the same, and citrus peel extracts prepared by the method. The present invention has excellent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and wrinkle or elasticity improvement effects, and thus can be used as a cosmetic composition, a food composition, and a quasi-drug composition that are safe for the skin and have excellent skin condition improvement effects.