Has Unilever Developed the Anti-Wrinkle Pill?

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What if all the best skincare products could be reduced to one simple, anti-aging pill—would you pop it? New research says you may be making this decision sooner than you think. 

This magical pill, created by the U.K. branch of Unilever and set to launch next month in spas in the U.K., Spain and Canada, is packed with natural food extracts that the company says flips the switch on genes that build collagen in the skin. It’s the breakdown of this structural material that causes wrinkles.

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Now, how does this pill differ from every other “anti-aging pill” on the shelves of your local vitamin store and taunting you from late-night infomercials?

New Scientist reports that the company conducted a series of independent, double-blind trials, which is the highest standard of efficacy testing and is rarely used by beauty companies, whose products rarely make medical claims and therefore aren’t regulated.

In four separate research groups, 480 post-menopause European women were tested. In three-and-a-half months, crow's feet became 10 percent shallower, with the best responders enjoying a 30 percent decrease. Women taking a placebo pill saw no significant improvement.

In another independent study on the pill, French researchers extracted biopsies of the deep tissue dermis layer of 110 women, and found “fresh collagen” in women taking the pill.

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