DNA in skincare:Is Nivea DNAge=RemergentDNA? cheaper option?
EDS Skin Care Forums Forum Index » Skin Care and Makeup Forum

free skin care · Sat Feb 03, 2007 12:19 pm

Hi there EDS ladies,
DNA research is sweeping the skin care industry, and I suspect we're going to see this pop up a lot more frequently now. I am a big fan of Remergent DNA repair, and I see that it gets rave reviews here. I have yet to ask my best doctor friend her opinion on this and whether this type of skin care has credibility, (for some reason I can see her dismissing the whole thing), but so far, I'm sold. The problem? The price.

I just came back from a layover in Paris, and all my friends over there were going on and on about the new DNA skin care by Nivea, at a fraction of the price of Remergent. I've seen the ads in the French Marie Clair, did some research, etc. So.....I ask you, is it time to make the switch when my next bottle of Remergent is empty?

I have read the ingredients in Remergent products over and over again, but am I getting caught up in their own jargon for their ingredients? Could I be starting to doubt my beloved Remergent product? Can anyone make sense of all the "Photosomes-Ultrasomes" thing? Is it credible and most importantly, worth the price?

Also, from all my travels around the world, I can see that Nivea has a long-standing reputation, and is actually a lot more popular in other countries than perhaps it is in North America. Do I make the jump? Below is an excerpt from the Nivea website about DNAge:

http://www.nivea.com/frameset.php?content=dpl_manager%2Fdpl_dispatcher.php%3Fquery_string%3D%26dpl_id%3D1179%26language%3Dcom%26count%3Dtrue

"80% of skin ageing is a result of external influences, e.g. exposure to sunlight, which lead to damage at the skin cells’ core – the DNA, which is the base for every cellular renewal process. Its’ integrity is paramount for healthy, younger looking skin. With age, the DNA’s own renewal capacity declines and cell damage accumulates. Leading scientists at NIVEA Laboratories developed an innovative Anti-Age skincare system to rejuvenate skin from within. The DNAge Cell Renewal Anti-Age system consists of special Day, Night and Eye care products. All of them contain the powerful combination of cell-active Folic Acid and Creatine to stimulate cell renewal from within and protect the skin cells' DNA against future external damage. The result: The skin looks younger and firmer and wrinkles are visibly reduced. ."

Thanks!
steffers

free skin care · Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:46 pm

Steffers, I don't know, but I'd be very interested to find out.

As of last night, I finished my Remergent DNA as well....I have been so on the fence about reordering b/c on the one hand I think I'm not sure if I'm seeing an improvement, but on the other, I think I need to give it more time....oh but for the price.....even with our generous EDS discount, the price just kills me. I think I may have used too much too b/c I want to say that I have only been using this bottle since X-Mas? I'm going to check my records, but I thought it was supposed to last three months? I could be just making that up, but I thought I read it somewhere.

It would be great to have a cheaper alternative.

Maria Smile

free skin care · Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:48 pm

Maria - that doesn't seem like it lasted you very long at all.
Sad

free skin care · Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:55 pm

Here's in a nutshell what I think Remergent DNA Repair is supposed to do.

Okay, we're hit by UV radiation. It damages part of a strand of DNA. A cell with messed up DNA isn't going to divide; it's just going to die.

How terrible. Say 1 skin cell was going to become 2. Now you get none. Nobody wants to lose living skin cells.

The good thing is your body has enzymes to repair DNA. They can cut the damaged part of DNA off, insert some undamaged nucleotides, and then link the new section in with the rest of the strand.

What Remergent is saying is that they can supply your skin with more of these DNA repair enzymes, in addition to what you already have. They get these enzymes from algae or something. I think Remergent's claim to fame isn't these enzymes however. It's the fact that they've found a way, they say, to deliver them into cells via liposomes, like little fat sacks filled with water with the enzymes in the water.

The Nivea site is really confusing with all these pop ups. I don't think they're giving you these DNA repair enzymes, so it's not a replacement for Remergent. They probably just put DNA in the name, because it sounds cool.

The question is whether these DNA repair enzymes actually work so that you would want to buy Remergent's DNA Repair Formula.

I've used a bottle of the stuff, and it didn't do anything for me.

See, what I don't get is how such a product would correct past DNA damage. If I suffered DNA damage in the past and my own repair enzymes didn't take care of it, I probably just lost the cell. It hasn't been dividing or else I would have all these cells with damaged DNA.

Now if past DNA damage just means the damage you took a few seconds ago when the sun hit you, then I guess they could say it corrects past damage. But that's pretty shady.

In my mind I think the DNA Repair formula is more like Vit C in that it's preventative. I don't think it's taking care of wrinkles, age spots, etc. So if you like it for its preventative capabilities buy it. If you're looking for something to correct previous damage, I think you could spend your money elsewhere.

free skin care · Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:28 pm

Lucky you Steffers w/ a layover in Paris Smile

I'm pretty much just bumping b/c if Nivea does do the same as Remergent I'd like to get some! Thanks for the heads up!

free skin care · Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:58 pm

I do think Nivea is more popular in Europe than North America. That's the impression I got when I last visited there.

I would love to find a cheaper alternative to Remergent DNA Repair because its my new found love. But, I really don't know about Nivea...it will take a lot of convincing for me to use their product on my face. Shock

free skin care · Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:02 pm

free skin care · Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:09 pm

Disclaimer: The following is not a slam or anything. It's provided in the spirit of debunking cosmetic ads.

Let's think about the science a bit. If these cosmetic companies have come up with an amazing technique of delivering the "DNA repair enzymes" to the cell nucleus via liposomes to enhance repair of the "damaged" DNA, it would be quite a scientific breakthrough.

If the science were really true, then scientists would have used this wonderful discovery to deliver new DNA or repair enzymes to the cells of people who have genetic disorders and "repair" their cells and thus "cure" their disorder especially for the patients with genetic skin disorders. This would be the same story for cancer patients who would benefit greatly from DNA repair in the cells that lost their "control" signals.

I'm not saying that the cream doesn't do good things to your skin. There may be great actives in it that work well, but their claims to help repair your skin's DNA is a stretch.

free skin care · Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:37 am

Genie, I actually think the makers of Remergent products have another product which is supposed to cure skin cancer. It was from that research that the Remergent skin products evolved.

free skin care · Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:54 am

Genie and RMB make a lot of sense.

If you like the product it's more than likely some other ingredient and not because it's repairing your DNA. Confused

Save your money!

free skin care · Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:28 pm

I still like this product & would definitely use it while I'm on vacation -esp. in a sunny climate..as a preventative measure as well. It dosen't matter how much sunscreen I slather on...still get sundamage...if there's even a remote chance it'll stop the damage in it's tracks, it's well worth the money.

free skin care · Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:40 pm

I'd be really happy to spend less if it's the same. Thanks Steffers for giving us the heads up.

free skin care · Sun Feb 04, 2007 7:43 pm

Okay, this topic made me curious so I went and read the scientific publications by the original scientists. I disregarded the articles that were published in what is generally thought of as "publication mill" type vehicles and took a good look at the articles in more respected publications.

The original research is being done for patients with a genetic disease called Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP). Among many other problems, people with XP have damaged DNA that can't repair UV damage to their skin leading to bad skin cancer. The company is currently studying if liposomes can carry specific DNA repair enzymes into the skin of people with XP via a lotion. This won't repair any damage that's happened (i.e. cells that are damaged already or have turned into skin cancer) and will only try to prevent more damage. The company is not claiming that the technology will "cure" the DNA damage. The preliminary results with a limited number of subjects shows that it may be preventing some of the occurence of skin cancers. I don't have the raw data so I can't tell how they did their calculations. It makes a difference depending on the type of patient in the study, levels of UV exposure and whether the patient changed activities during the study. Anyway, I hope that this research is successful since it would really help the people with XP.

As for using the technology in commercial skincare, it's still questionable. The studies are using very specific DNA repair enzymes for some of the people with XP. There are 7 types of XP so each lotion would have to be customized with the specific DNA repair enzyme in the liposomes to target the specific type of XP. In general skincare, they'd have to include such a wide array of DNA repair enzymes to meet the needs of the different women using the product that it would be cost prohibitive. I'd say that the more likely scenario is that the lipsomes can help carry the actives into the cell better.

For people without a genetic disease causing an increased risk for DNA damage in their skin cells, wearing a good sunscreen will probably be a better and cheaper way to prevent sun damage.

free skin care · Sun Feb 04, 2007 8:37 pm

I can't explain why my skin looks better ever since I started using Remergent DNA Repair. I am not saying its a HG miracle product...but I am optimistic about seeing more improvement.

free skin care · Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:41 am

Wow! Thank you RMB and Genie. I find this topic so fascinating and I appreciate your insights, and all other responses as well.

I understand much better now how Remergent is claiming this works, and yes, if the product did find a way to repair DNA damage be delivering enzymes through liposomes, then they would be making front-page news and it would mark a huge milestone in the research for people with genetic diseases. It's the word "repair" in "Remergent DNA Repair" that had me skeptical. I just didn't see how a topical lotion could in fact repair past DNA damage. Using it for preventative measures makes sense, but then this means that their marketing is misleading.

I wonder then, if the Nivea DNAge is also preventative. Must be. I also wonder if i could supply my skin with the enzymes necessary through other means (cheaper means!), for example, the algae in Remergent and Folic Acid and Creatine in Nivea DNAge. I could just rely on the algae in a DIY mask, keep taking my multi vitamin that has folic acid in it, and get creatine from another supplement. Done!

Now if i can only find out if the "liposome-carrier" truly works. But still, for preventative measures only, it's an expensive way to prevent skin cancer. I may just stick to a good sunscreen once my current Remergent bottle is finished, although I will be watching this technology for future developments, as it's a fascinating field!

Anyone else with thoughts on this, please chime in.

Thanks for all your help! Very Happy

free skin care · Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:50 am

Genie, I am not sure which product you are referring to but the info on the Remergent skin cancer product can be found at:
http://www.agiderm.com/dimericine.php

This may also help people understand the basics behind the Remergent skin care line.

Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:33 am

I'm really curious why people still think that some cosmetics have any measurable medical effect at all: At least in Germany - I don't know about other countries - any product that actually has a medical effect, by law cannot be sold as cosmetics, but as medicine. Since NiveaDNAge and others aren't sold as such, it is safe to assume that the whole bruhaha is only marketing lingo.

free skin care · Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:53 am

leirac.com wrote:

I'm really curious why people still think that some cosmetics have any measurable medical effect at all: At least in Germany - I don't know about other countries - any product that actually has a medical effect, by law cannot be sold as cosmetics, but as medicine. Since NiveaDNAge and others aren't sold as such, it is safe to assume that the whole bruhaha is only marketing lingo.

I agree with you. I'm sure it's the same in Australia, UK and USA - if a cosmetic has a biological effect then it will be classified as a drug. As is the case with Retin-A. Also, cosmetic companies don't want their products to be classified as drugs because then they are subject to far more rigorous testing and their claims must be certified as true. Could you imagine all the cosmetic companies not being able to make outlandish and misleading claims - the industry would grind to a halt!!

Automatic Message

If this is your first visit to the EDS Forums please take the time to register. Registration is required for you to post on the forums. Registration will also give you the ability to track messages of interest, send private messages to other users, participate in Gift Certificates draws and enjoy automatic discounts for shopping at our online store. Registration is free and takes just a few seconds to complete.

Click Here to join our community.

If you are already a registered member on the forums, please login to gain full access to the site.