We are sorry. Ketsugo is
discontinued!
Please
try Phyto
Essence products to get rid of oily
skin problems.
Text
Of The Article!
What does a shark and oily skin have in common? The
answer is Isolutrol, a substance derived from shark bile said to have miraculous
properties for curing oily and blemished skin.
Australian and Japanese scientists have spent the
last five years researching, developing and testing this substance first discovered by a
Japanese professor.
During extensive testing, Isolutrol, scientifically
known as sodium scymnol sulphate was found to control the skin's oil production, said
Professor Robert Borland of the Natural Products Unit of the Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology (RMIT).
He said that Isolutrol was found to normalize the
skin's oil production glands, thus curing excessive skin oiliness.
"By normalizing the oil glands, it is switching
off the excessive oil production usually activated by the body's hormones. Normal oil
production is not affected so there is no drying effect on the skin," he explained.
In controlling oiliness, pores are kept free from
clogging, thus eliminating the cause of oily skin problems like acne, blackheads,
whiteheads, open pores and shiny skin.
He added that Isolutrol does not block hormones as
it did not have any hormonal or steroid properties.
According to Professor Borland, Isolutrol is
extracted from shark bile through a complex process developed by an RMIT research team
headed by himself.
The shark bile is extracted from shark live, which
in turn is obtained from fishermen in New Zealand, Japan and Australia, he said.
"Shark liver containing the necessary bile is often discarded by the fishermen who
hunt sharks for their meat."
Isolutrol was first discovered by natural products
chemistry expert Professor Takuo Kosuge at the Shizuoka Pharmacy College in Japan in the
mid-80s.
He had been led to this discovery after hearing
about fishermen off the Japanese coast who rubbed extracts of shark's liver onto their
face to acquire clear, smooth skin.
Isolutrol was then introduced in Australia in 1987
when Professor Kosuge presented it as a gift to Jim Broadbent who had hosted Professor
Kosuge's son while he was studying English in Australia.
Broadbent, the managing director of Melbourne-based
McFarlane Laboratories was also given the rights to market Isolutrol anywhere in the world
except Japan.
McFarlane Laboratories then contracted Prof. Borland
and his team of researchers at the RMIT to study the substance and its reputed properties
in helping oily skin.
The team, in collaboration with Prof. Kosuge worked
on Isolutrol for five years, first purifying the original substance received from Prof.
Kosuge.
"It was only 60 per cent pure when we received
it, but our chemist Dr Theo Macrides developed a method to purify it up to 99.9 per
cent," Prof. Borland related.
The team then commissioned safety tests and skin
patch test which proved that Isolutrol had no obvious toxicological or allergenic effects,
he said.
Subsequently, trial tests were carried out on human
volunteers; Prof. Borland and his team chose to conduct the first test in Paris, the
cosmetic capital of the world with the help of dermatologist Dr P. Fabre.
The first test on Isolutrol was carried out on 40
men and women in the 20s age group with severe oily skin. The test results showed that 85
per cent of the group had skin within the normal oiliness range after using the substance
for three weeks.
Further tests were made by skin specialist Dr David
Fenton of St Thomas Hospital in London which proved that Isolutrol, by controlling
excessive oiliness, could help cure facial acne, Prof. Borland added.
To enable the public to gain access to Isolutrol,
McFarlane Laboratories collaborating with the RMIT team and Japan's Shizuoka College of
Pharmacy, developed a spray lotion using Isolutrol as the key ingredient.
Marketed as Ketsugo, the product has been successful
in Australia, Britain and France, said Prof. Borland.
As for continuing research on Isolutrol, Prof.
Borland added that the RMIT team was at present looking into ways of synthesizing
Isolutrol and chemically producing the substance. |
