DNA in Cosmetics: The New Frontier in Customized Cosmetics

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The cosmetics industry invests heavily in innovation. It is a dynamic market in which consumers are always avid for novelty.

Recent years have seen the launch of a new class of skincare products, whose appeal is customization based on genetic analysis.

Genetic sequencing is the result of the Human Genome Project which closed in 2003 and brought about a greater understanding of the order in which genes are combined in the genome (chromosome pairs) and thus of individuals’ hereditary characteristics.

In the future, gene sequencing will make it possible to carry out studies to perform increasingly more precise diagnosis and prognosis of diseases and, consequently into the development of individualized treatments.

A little over ten years ago, gene sequencing was the object of advanced research at a cost of millions of dollars. Today, thanks to advances in technology and with the development of new methodologies, these tests can be performed for under a thousand dollars.

In the world of medicine, genetics is already showing the way towards more honed and effective treatments. Investment has been made in the genetic sequencing of patients with cancer and other diseases.

In tandem, there has been increased development in pharmacogenetics or phmacogenomics, consisting of the study of the genetic factors which may interfere in the effects of medication. Genetic mapping allows the determination of the optimum dose of medication for a patient, one which which may be non-efficacious for another patient with the same diagnosis. Here nutrigenomics comes into play. Nutrigenomics is an area of science which studies how foodstuffs may interfere in gene performance. Nutrigenomic studies have concluded that vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower are a component able to stimulate carcinogenic genes. Read more