Flower: The latest weapon against wrinkles?

The new generation of treatments have been dubbed "cosmeceuticals" as they're created using research technology from the pharmaceutical industry. In this case, computer software was used to screen thousands of naturally occurring chemicals to find one that stimulates a specific type of skin cell that produces collagen, say the scientists. They were then further filtered to see if they were small enough to penetrate through the outer waterproof layer of the skin. It then underwent human trials involving 400 women aged 50 to 70.

Experts are, however, not fully convinced. "No one had ever heard of rhamnose. It was selected by screening thousands of compounds which could have an effect on fibroblasts (skin cells). We've a separate project looking at skin ageing and we are working with L'Oreal in a way which would have been unthinkable 10 years ago."