What is retinol, which is also praised in skin care, where is it best to get it, what should be considered in the cosmetic use of retinol and what does it do to our skin?

Why is retinol beneficial for our skin?

Vitamin A, or retinol, is a fat-soluble vitamin that plays a vital role for the skin and the whole body.

• Retinol e.g. maintains the structure and function of the cell epithelium in the skin.
• It participates in building a protective wall against various infections and pathogens
• Necessary in the regeneration process of healthy cells and slowing down too fast cell division.
• In skin care, it has even been praised as the anti-aging elixir of all time, because retinol has the ability to e.g. increase skin collagen production.

Plant-based vs. and animal-based retinol

Animal-derived vitamins A, or retinols, are called retinoids, and plant-derived retinols are called carotenoids. Beta-carotene is probably the most well-known of the plant-derived forms of vitamin A. Animal products mainly contain the retinyl palmitate form of vitamin A, which is eventually broken down into retinol in our body. It can be stored e.g. to the liver and from there it is converted in the liver into a bioactive form for use by the body. Two retinoid receptors are expressed in human skin, which can be activated by retinol and its metabolites. It is important to note that without vitamin A, vitamin D cannot form and function normally in your body either. According to the WHO's assessment, there is a worldwide deficiency of vitamin A, which affects approx. 70 different countries, including Finland.

Why is animal-based retinol better for our bodies than plant-based beta-carotene?

It is often thought that beta-carotene is as good a source of vitamin A for our bodies as animal-derived retinol, but, for example, according to this research article, there is a significant difference between them.

Carotenoids such as beta-carotene is the so-called precursor of vitamin A, which is found especially in green, yellow, orange and red vegetables. According to research, the enzymes in our body are able to convert only about 10% of beta-carotene and other carotenoids into retinol in the liver.

Genes play a surprisingly large role in the conversion of beta-carotene to retinol, and this event is dependent on the BCMO1 enzyme, which research shows is lacking in a large proportion of people. Also taking into account the overloaded state of the liver in modern humans, not a little bit of beta-carotene and other carotenoids necessarily turn into retinol, because the liver is able to save it from its numerous tasks and prioritize the most important functions.

Animal-derived retinol has been found to be the most bio-free form of vitamin A and therefore the best for our skin and our whole body to utilize. From the point of view of skin care and the health of the whole body, retinol should primarily be obtained from food. The amount of retinol contained in grass-fed beef tallow cannot, of course, meet the retinol needs of the entire body and skin, but it works as a great external skin care product precisely because of the bio-free vitamins it contains, such as retinol, and the skin-identical fatty acid profile of beef tallow.

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Where is the best place to get retinol?

Retinol is not born in a laboratory, but in the meadow. The best dietary sources of retinol are organic liver from a young grass-fed animal, organic egg yolk from a green-fed chicken, fatty carcass parts from a grass-fed animal, organic goat's milk, organic butter and ghee from grass-fed beef, and high-quality cold-pressed cod liver oil such as Rosita.

Did you learn something new about retinol?

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In the next part of the blog series, we will discuss the effects of retinol deficiency on our skin, so stay tuned.