Is Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) the Skin Care Ingredient of the Future?

First, it was retinoids. Then, it was antioxidants, like vitamin C, vitamin E, green tea, and a plethora of others. And then it was all-natural and/or organic ingredients: Think rose petal extract, oatmeal, and more.

Now we’re starting to finally see a synergy of science and nature. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is naturally found in three different forms of the body, and carry zinc, manganese, and copper.

SOD is valuable as an enzyme in the body because it undergoes a process where it essentially neutralizes cell-harming superoxide molecules. Cells naturally produce the enzyme SOD to mitigate the potentially harmful effects like DNA damage. One study showed that this happens to three in every 10,000 cells upon exposure to environmental toxins — making it a pretty sizable problem Protein Data Bank.

SOD has been proven to have effects in early skin care studies. UV-irradiation has been found to compromise the SOD process for us to 72-hours in murine skin. In another study on animals, superoxide dismutase was found to speed up the healing process after wounds sustained from burns . A study on human skin after breast cancer treatment found that it helped to return dermal fibroblasts and epidermal cells to normal function and reduce collagen accumulation