The ghaf, the UAE’s national tree, has long been celebrated for its traditional roles, including as a source of livestock feed and wood for building.
But research suggests the species could take on a new role in the modern world: helping people to stay looking young.
Scientists have found that extracts from the ghaf tree can combat the chemical processes that cause skin to age. They have developed and patented a cream for potential commercial use.
The researchers, based in France, Italy and the Maldives, collected twigs, roots, leaves and bark from ghaf trees in the UAE.
The samples were ground into a powder and their chemical properties were analysed. The extracts were found to have “exceptionally high” activity when combating free radicals, the molecules that cause skin to age by damaging DNA and the protein collagen.
The ghaf tree extracts, which contained more than 20 different chemicals, were found to be more effective than vitamin C or ascorbic acid, a common ingredient in anti-ageing skin creams, at dealing with free radicals. Additionally, they inhibited several enzymes associated with skin ageing.
“These combined activities position ghaf extract as a multifunctional natural ingredient for dermo-cosmetic applications,” the scientists wrote.
Further studies needed
Although researchers have produced a “stable facial cream prototype”, further studies are needed to confirm its effectiveness and safety. With the natural cosmetics sector worth as much as $33 billion last year, creams and other products containing ghaf tree extracts could find a ready market.
The new study, titled Prosopis cineraria (Ghaf) Extract as a Natural Ingredient for Anti-Aging Dermo-cosmetic Applications, has been published online as a preprint, meaning that it has not yet been reviewed by other scientists.
Other examples of UAE trees and plants providing potentially useful chemicals include the yusor tree, extracts of which appear to have anticancer properties, and mulberry trees, which could be sources of antibiotics.
Dr Rakesh Kumar Mishra, a dermatologist at Aster Cedars Hospital and Clinic in Jebel Ali, said the conditions that ghaf trees grow in – dry, hot and exposed to extreme ultraviolet light – promoted the formation of chemicals with anti-ageing properties.
“Plant extracts are the compounds which plants generate naturally to cope with adverse weather and extreme living conditions,” he said. “This can be described as evolutionary methods which plants have adapted [over] millions of years of existence.”
Dr Mishra said that although the study indicated that ghaf tree extracts could be effective ingredients in anti-ageing skincare products, “long and sustained methodical follow-up” was needed to make the extracts commercially viable.
“Going along with the current trend of using more and more naturally available products for anti-ageing, this sounds very promising,” he said.
Dr Sherin Mohamed Attalla, a dermatologist at Medcare Hospital Sharjah – Sheikh Saqr Al Qasimi, said the results were “particularly interesting” because the ghaf extracts appeared to work on more than one pathway involved in skin ageing.
She said the extracts’ antioxidant activity might protect the skin from oxidative stress, which is caused by free radicals, while their ability to inhibit certain enzymes “suggests potential benefits for skin firmness, elasticity, hydration and radiance”.
“This multi-target activity is exactly what makes an anti-ageing ingredient attractive in modern skincare,” she said.
“Ageing is a complex process involving collagen breakdown, loss of elasticity, reduced hydration and pigment irregularities, so an ingredient that can address several of these mechanisms at the same time has strong cosmetic potential.”
