Will Elderberries Give You Perfect Skin?

Whenever I see stories about skincare my attention is piqued. Who doesn’t want great looking skin? And when I see those stories published in some legitimate scientific sources, it’s even more exciting.

That’s why this story about elderberries and their effect on skin was particularly interesting. The headline “The Elderberry Way to Perfect Skin” sounded impressive. Here is a naturally derived ingredient that will work wonders on my skin. What great news.

Unfortunately, when you read the story you get a slightly different impression. This is just a press release announcing they will be testing the effects of elderberries on skin in a study starting in September. This is science news? What annoys me most is if you just read the headline you might believe that the positive effects of elderberries have already been established. I’ve seen this story spun the same way in at least 4 places (Science Daily, Medical News Today, NutraUSA, & Cosmetic Design-Europe). All I can say is Prof Aedin Cassidy at the University of East Anglia and Dr Paul Kroon at the Institute of Food Research have some great PR firm working for them.

We’ll let you know when they report their results. Until then, the jury is still out as to whether eating elderberries will improve your skin.

For those that are curious, here is a list of 6 berries that are already being used in cosmetic products.

5 Berries You Might Find in Your Cosmetics

1. Elderberry (Ingredient Name : Sambucus nigra (elderberry) fruit extract). Contain anthocyanins which is an antioxidant. Soon we’ll know if they have any real effect.

2. Bilberry (Huckleberry) (Ingredient Name: Vaccinium myrtillus (bilberry) fruit/leaf extract). Huckleberries contain antioxidants including anthocyanosides and vitamin C. There’s no evidence it will help your skin but they taste good.

3. Blackberry (Ingredient Name: Rubus fructicosus (blackberry) fruit extract) Blackberry contains anthocyanosides, vitamins C and E and selenium. There’s really no good reason to use this one on your skin versus any others but it’s natural.
4. Black Currant (Ingredient Name: Ribes nigrum (black currant) fruit extract). Black Currant has a high level of vitamins and minerals including things like potassium, magnesium, iron, calcium, and vitamins A, B and C.

5. Cranberry (Ingredient Name: Vaccinium oxycoccus (cranberry) fruit extract) Cranberries contain high levels of anthocyanidins and vitamin C. While we can’t say it will help your skin we do know cranberries can stain your skin. So, don’t use too much.

All this berry talk is making me hungry. This Beauty Brain is going to go have some of my favorites, blueberries. But I’m going to eat them. There’s no sense wasting them by rubbing them on my skin.