Mankind's exploration of "anti-aging" can be traced back to at least the nineteenth century. With the advancement of science and technology and the development of technology, our cognition of anti-aging has also gone through three stages of 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. Namely, anti-oxidant (the theory of free radicals, proposed by Denham Harman in 1956), anti-photoaging (found by Kligman in 1960 that sunlight can cause skin light damage), and anti-sugar (glycosylation reaction, proposed by Maillard in 1912, 1980 The physiological significance of AGE was discovered).
But since last year, a new concept has been frequently mentioned in the market [anti-inflammatory]. "Inflammatory aging" was first proposed in 2000 by Professor Claudio Franceschi of the University of Bologna, Italy. With the continuous deepening of research, people found that it is closely related to skin aging. Coupled with the sudden "mask face" problem, skin aging caused by chronic inflammation has gradually entered the public eye.
"Inflammatory anti-aging" has allowed many manufacturers/institutions to see new market opportunities.
Whenever a new concept arises, it is always accompanied by a lot of certainty and uncertainty. Is "inflammatory anti-aging" a pseudo demand? Will it be the next market increment?
The crossroads of inflammation and skin aging
In the conventional sense, inflammation can stimulate the body's automatic defense response and is powerful for maintaining health; on the other hand, an inflammation that is considered to be chronic and cannot properly guide the immune response can cause tissue damage and dysfunction, such as certain Some cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, skin aging, etc.
Chronic inflammation and skin aging
It is generally believed that the skin will face two kinds of natural aging and photo-aging. Natural aging is related to age, manifested as skin sagging, fine lines, dryness and increased brittleness; while photoaging is related to oxidative stress caused by ultraviolet radiation. (The imbalance between oxidation and antioxidant effects in the body leads to inflammatory infiltration of neutrophils, increased protease secretion, and a large number of oxidative intermediate products, such as LT (leukotriene) TXA2 (thromboxane A2), etc., which are all pro-inflammatory mediators (1) ])
In addition, the methods of cell biology and systems biology emphasize that inflammatory mechanisms may aggravate the effects of ultraviolet rays and amplify the direct destructive effects on molecules and cells, including DNA, proteins, and lipids, leading to immunosuppression, Cancer and photoaging. [2]
In other words, oxidative stress and chronic inflammation are mutually causal. In the whole process, due to the participation of chronic inflammation affecting the skin barrier function, it cannot normally resist external aggressions, resulting in skin problems such as dermatitis and sensitivity. With the increase of age, the balance between skin repair and destruction is broken, and the overall skin condition gradually forms a phenomenon of destruction>repair, acne, pigmentation, and chloasma begin to appear, and skin aging is magnified.
After "inflammatory senescence" was first proposed in 2000, a large number of scientific studies have since confirmed its existence. On November 24, 2020, an experiment jointly conducted by Liu Guanghui's research group and Qu Jing's research group at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Zhang Weiqi's research group at the Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed a new mechanism of human skin aging.
By systematically drawing a high-throughput single-cell transcription map of human skin aging, it was found that the down-regulation of the expression of growth control transcription factors accompanied by aging is the driving factor of human skin aging. They added that the main characteristics of skin aging include down-regulation of development-related transcription factors, decreased cell self-renewal ability, and chronic inflammation.
@ Research papers published by the research group in Developmental Cell
Natural aging of the skin leads to deterioration of skin barrier function and induces inflammatory aging, and chronic inflammation accelerates photoaging. Natural aging, photoaging and inflammatory aging, the three do not exist alone, but are closely related.
Medical beauty enters the "three-anti-era"
At present, searching for keywords such as "inflammatory and anti-aging" and "anti-inflammatory" in Xinyang and Dianping has led to less than 10 services. Early stage. This may explain why Ecome`s new muscle bottle will win more attention at the Mayworth Hangzhou Conference in May.
The main component of the new muscle bottle, MAP, is a macromolecular protein, which has long-lasting anti-oxidation and anti-sugar ability. The subcutaneous metabolism takes up to 28 days, and it will not be metabolized as quickly as VC. Anti-inflammatory is comparable to fluticasone propionate, but it has no hormonal side effects. Professor Xiang Leihong from the Department of Dermatology, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University once published an authoritative paper in a well-known German academic journal, specifically discussing the powerful effects of MAP on post-inflammatory pigmentation.
On the consumer side, the public has a clear understanding-anti-aging is a long-term process. But in the past, everyone basically followed the principle of treating spots with spots, acne with acne, and lines with lines. The repeated treatment process not only consumed the confidence of consumers, but also strengthened the homogenization competition among the peers.
The market needs a concept, but also a good product.
Anti-aging market
According to the Research And Markets report, the global anti-aging market will be about 163.795 billion yuan in 2020
@ Research And Markets report
At present, there are still few Meso products and services focusing on "inflammatory anti-aging", but on the other hand, we have frequently seen "inflammatory aging" related topics and some mesodermal products in major academic forums.
A new concept forced by the market
Inflammatory anti-aging is a product of fierce market competition and a passive adjustment on the supply side after changes in the demand side.
A word with a slightly ridiculous meaning may be able to summarize the current situation-involution. Upstream manufacturers and downstream organizations are looking for a new breakthrough.
The test of the upstream: the market gradually moves towards standardization
Since the craze of water-light acupuncture and mesoderm swept across the country in 2015, it has quickly gathered a group of fans in the market. However, what followed was the brutal growth of the entire mesoplastic field. The market was chaotic and a large number of non-compliant products poured in. The "underground black needles" also contributed a considerable amount of KPIs in the Chinese medical aesthetics market.
The KPIs of upstream manufacturers are scientific research and product development capabilities. After all, epoch-making products such as hyaluronic acid or botulinum toxin have not appeared in the market for a long time.
Downstream test: Identity change on the demand side
The rise of social software has accelerated the transformation of identities between supply and demand, and has also made competition on the supply side more intense. The rise of various online media and e-commerce platforms has given consumers the privilege of participating in this market carnival and given them a "dual identity." For anchors, KOLs, and Tandian, consumers no longer only have the "buyer" label, they have also begun to participate in the "sell" action and become the new supplier in the market. (The label mentioned here is based on the "seller" label, although it is still hard to escape the entrusting parties such as manufacturers and institutions behind the scenes)
With the promotion of technology and the long-term oversupply in the market, the over-satisfied demand side has begun to actively intervene in the digestion of stock products. Traditional counterparts, new "supply side" and even upstream manufacturers, the downstream institutions in the core vortex, appeared in the "triple attack" chess game.
From the above perspective, the story of "inflammatory anti-aging" in medical beauty should have a lot of room for development. After all, there is no need to start from scratch (depending on the market education of skin care products and the prosperity of ingredients), but this story can Whether it is good or not depends on whether the number of related products invested in the market, the education level of consumers and whether the incremental market created by the shift of demand is large enough.
But from another perspective, whether it is market competition, new business formats triggered by the adjustment of supply and demand, or upstream manufacturers' R&D capabilities that are already a key evaluation indicator, the iteration of new concepts and new solutions is the general trend.