BONUS Women, Skin & Aging: A New Era of Skincare with Dr. Alessandra Zonari

Today, we have another episode in our series of thoughtfully curated companies. This episode is sponsored by OneSkin, a company founded and led by an all-female team of PhD-level scientists. OneSkin is redefining how we think about aging, starting with the skin, our largest organ.

I am delighted to introduce Dr. Alessandra Zonari as our guest today. Dr. Zonari is far from your typical scientist. She is a true visionary with a passion for longevity, skin regeneration, and an occasional karaoke jam. With degrees in biology and stem cell biology and a doctorate in skin regeneration and tissue engineering, Dr. Zonari brings a wealth of knowledge and a fresh perspective to our conversation today.

Join us to learn more about OneSkin and how their products can reverse the effects of biological aging, helping your skin become stronger and more resilient as you age.

My followers get a special discount (15% off your order, using the code CYNTHIA). https://oneskin.pxf.io/092dJN

IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL LEARN:

• Dr. Zonari shares her mission to understand how skin can age healthier and stronger and reduce the risk of inflammation and diseases. 

• How the female-led research team at OneSkin brings a unique perspective to skincare

• How the OneSkin peptide can reverse 2.5 years of biological aging in just five days

• The unique way in which they test their products and measure biological aging at OneSkin 

• How estradiol loss during menopause exacerbates the accumulation of senescent cells and causes inflammation

• Some common misconceptions about skincare for women in perimenopause and menopause

• How lifestyle choices influence the aging process of the skin 

• Why we must protect the skin from environmental stressors to slow the aging process 

• How your skin cells can get reprogrammed to return to a youthful state

• How OneSkin developed a hair care line to address hair loss and thinning

• The importance of self-love and nourishing your body 

ABOUT OneSkin: 

Founded and led by an all-woman team of PhD-level scientists, OneSkin is transforming the way we think about aging, starting with the body’s largest organ, the skin. Our proprietary OS-01 (oh ess one) peptide is the first ingredient to reverse the biological age of skin by targeting cellular senescence, a key driver of aging. By targeting cellular senescence, the OS-01 peptide switches off the damaged cells that contribute to lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin. The result? Skin that looks and behaves younger. Our products are designed for young and mature skin, because it is never too early or too late to invest in your skin health! We create next-level skin care.

BIO: Alessandra Zonari, PhD, OneSkin Co-Founder & CSO

Alessandra is not your typical scientist. She is a visionary with a passion for longevity, skin regeneration, and the occasional karaoke jam. Growing up in a close-knit family in Brazil, Alessandra saw her grandparents struggle with age-related diseases, and she soon became fascinated by the possibility of using stem cells to redefine the aging process. After earning degrees in biology and stem cell biology and a doctorate in skin regeneration and tissue engineering, Alessandra joined OneSkin in 2017 as a founding member and Chief Scientific Officer. Her contributions include 20+ papers, three patents, and the development of their proprietary OS-01 peptide.

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“It's important to have cycles of good, deep sleep so your body can clean up damage and repair.”

-Dr. Alessandra Zonari

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• Submit your questions to support@cynthiathurlow.com

Connect with Dr. Alessandra Zonari

• On the ONESKIN website

• ONESKIN on Instagram

Interested in trying OneSkin for yourself? Visit oneskin.co/CYNTHIA and use code CYNTHIA for 15% off your first purchase!

Transcript:

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:00:02] Welcome to Everyday Wellness podcast. I'm your host, Nurse Practitioner Cynthia Thurlow. This podcast is designed to educate, empower and inspire you to achieve your health and wellness goals. My goal and intent is to provide you with the best content and conversations from leaders in the health and wellness industry each week and impact over a million lives. 

[00:00:29] Today is another in the series of specially curated companies. Today's podcast is sponsored by OneSkin. This is a company founded and led by an all-female team of PhD-level scientists. And OneSkin is transforming the way we think about aging starting with the body's largest organ, the skin. Today, I was joined by Dr. Alessandra Zonari. She is not your typical scientist. She's a visionary with a passion for longevity, skin regeneration and the occasional karaoke jam. She earns degrees in biology and stem cell biology and a doctor in skin regeneration and tissue engineering. 

[00:01:10] Dr. Zonari, what got you so interested in cellular aging and skin health? I know that your research is all really focused on this particular peptide that I know we will talk about today. But what got you so interested in doing this work and being able to share it with the world? 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:01:27] Yeah, I think for me the moment that was even a breakthrough moment in my head was when I started to associate the importance of your skin health for your overall health. So, before I had this idea that in the majority of people associate skin aging with just the appearance of the skin, how the skin is looking, but is our largest organ and has huge implications later on in our life on how we are aging and how our body is responding to stress. So, making that connection that skin is our largest organ and can help us to age strongerly, more powerfully, can help our body to protect from the environmental stressors and help us maybe even to avoid diseases later on because of the size of this organ. That was when I was like, “Okay, my research makes sense. I want really-- this is my mission in my life. I want to understand this.”

[00:02:30] Potentially, this was in the beginning of OneSkin, of helping our skin to age healthier and stronger. And maybe this will have this longtime effect that will help our body to protect from less inflammation. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:02:47] Well, even as a clinician, I think the perspective has been, oh, it's this decline in sex hormones, it's inevitable. And so, I love that, your work is really finding this reframe of how to slow or reduce the biological aging of skin. Can you speak to us a little bit about the science, like what your work has demonstrated because one of the things I love about OneSkin is that it's all-female-led scientists that have actually formulated these products. And to me, I think-- I always say I love, male researchers and male clinicians, but women understand things at a different level because we have a shared experience.

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:03:24] Yes. And yeah, me and my cofounders, we are all the four of us from Brazil. We met when we were doing our PhDs back in Brazil and we shared this passion of doing research that one day would be translated into something. And throughout our research from academia to starting OneSkin, so many papers start coming out showing that aging is reversible. The fact is not an inevitable fate that everyone will age and get diseases. And it's a horrible thing in your life. The science was showing that we can maximize our cell function to embrace this process and be stronger. So, while you're aging with time, your chronological age, your body can be aging on a different speed and the aging process can even be reversed. 

[00:03:24] And this was all possible because now we are able to measure the biological age of our body, meaning we can read our DNA and tell what's the age of that specific tissue or even the general age of our body. This kind of research allows us to demonstrate that we can really reverse the aging process. So, at OneSkin, we specialize on the skin and how we can measure the biological age of the skin. Our first goal was really to even test products in the market and see how they are reversing the age of the skin. And what we soon realize is that a lot of products, sometimes they don't do anything positive to your skin and sometimes they can even be more proinflammatory and do the opposite of what you're expecting of antiaging product. 

[00:05:15] So, we soon got interested on, “Okay if things in the market are not working and if there is a route here why we are aging and how we can reverse this age, if we find another molecule that can really target the root cause of skin aging, maybe we can reverse the biological age of that skin. And that's what our research showed us, is that our peptide, the OS-01 peptide, when we treated skin in the lab with this peptide and we measure the biological age, we can reverse after 5 days, 2.5 years of the skin's biological age. So, meaning that the skin now it's functioning like it's behaving as a younger skin, which is what we want, like we want to maximize this potential of our body to be working at the best stage, so deaccelerating this aging process internally at the cellular level. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:06:11] I think it's really exciting because I have been privy to try different types of products from different companies. And as an example, there are products on the market that are designed to be, and I'm used to term antiaging, but they end up being incredibly irritating. You mentioned this inflammatory response and although I would not describe my skin as sensitive, in some instances, I've had to stop products entirely because they're creating a lot of redness, a lot of irritation, they're itchy. No one wants to have a skin cream or an eye cream that makes your skin itch because then, you know, it's irritated. And as you mentioned, the inflammatory process starts to unwind. In the lab, how are you all measure- in the past how are you measuring biological aging?

[00:06:54] You mentioned that within five days you were seeing significant improvements is it with skin biopsies, what types of things-- as the clinician nerdy side of me is like, “Oh, I want to know how does that work?”

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: So, the way we started out, we test the products and molecules on ex viva skin. Ex viva skin is skin that we get from leftover of plastic surgery. So that leftover skin, we can keep it alive in the lab. We can culture and keep for not too long, but one week, we can still keep that skin alive. And we can literally treat the skin with different products, different molecules and we can see how the skin responds to it. So, first of all, we treat them with different products and see the response of increasing inflammation on a lot of products, increasing the senescence markers, what's causing aging is actually being-- when treated with some products. And we can isolate the DNA of the skin and we can measure the biological age looking to the epigenetic changes on this DNA.

[00:08:02] So, the epigenetic is what tells the DNA what they should be doing on the skin is like telling the DNA to produce the genes that will produce collagen, that will reduce inflammation. And with aging, what happens is that signal of what the cell needs to do. It starts to get scratchy and the cells start to behave differently and that accelerate aging. And we were able to build an algorithm that reads that changes on the epigenetic of the DNA in the terms what's the biological age of the skin? And with that tool we were able to see, “Okay, this skin here has in that case was a 76-year-old skin and it got reversed to 73.5 years after five days of treatment with our new molecule.” 

Cynthia Thurlow: It's really exciting because I think that one of the things that I like to do on the podcast is just introduce my community to the science behind the aging process. And so, when we talk about cellular senescence, maybe we'll back it up a little bit and talk about, how does that process kind of occur and I think many people attribute it to lowered NAD levels. It's a process of loss of sex hormone signaling. It's dysfunctional mitochondria. As a scientist, can you explain how cellular senescence actually works and why it becomes so important as women are navigating perimenopause into menopause? Because this is probably one of the most common concerns women will express is like, “Oh, I look at photos from five years ago, 10 years ago, and I suddenly have skin laxity. I've noticed my skin doesn't look as supple. It's not as hydrated.” These are all signs that there is this-- I always say ovarian aging is what drives aging in a woman's body, but this overall cellular senescence process is the primary driver of what we're seeing in terms of changes to our skin, to our turgor, to our hydration.

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:10:10] Yeah. So, as you said, we start to see the signs of skin aging by noticing lack of hydration, the fine lines, the sagging of the skin. And what's happening is that there is a dysfunction in that tissue that is making, not the healthier environment in the tissue so the cells cannot produce collagen as they were producing before. Collagen starts to degrade. The skin barrier starts to become dysfunctional. And this is happening because damage is accumulating in some of the cells of that tissue. And when a lot of damage accumulates on a cell, that cell will stop dividing and secreting inflammation. And usually, these cells that stop dividing and secrete inflammation, those are the senescent cells. And those cells, when they are formed, our body should get rid of these cells.

[00:11:06] When we are young our body is very strong, okay that cell is not good remove from the body. But with aging, with all these changes on other hormonal changes in our body, our body does not react so well when it sees those senescent cells, and they start to behave like zombie cells. They are not removed, so they stay there and that inflammation that they are secreting starts now to impact the healthy cells in the surrounding environment. And then you have more inflammation on that tissue signaling bad signals to the healthy cells, so they start producing less collagen. That inflammation also degrades the collagen that you have already, it thins your skin barrier. So, your skin barrier is not super strong, meaning you start losing water from your skin and you start feeling that hydration. And that's a cumulative process. 

[00:12:05] So, if you're not able to reduce the accumulation of those senescent cells, they are just like building up more of this damage that is turning out into the visible signs of skin aging. And you start seeing your skin more sensitive, more redness, more itching, and less collagen. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:12:27] Does the research support that loss of estradiol, so the predominant form of estrogen that our bodies make until we go into menopause, is that also a primary driver of this aging process in our skin?

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: Yeah. So, the lack of estradiol also enhances increase the appearance of senescent cells on the skin. So, increased inflammation and it's a driver for accumulating more senescent cells. So, that's why when you start going through this period in your life, it's a massive change on your skin because you reduce this hormone. That's very important for the cell function and then that's creating this bad environment that is promoting the spread of more of those senescent cells. And if you're not doing anything about it, it's just a decline phase that's terrible to be part of, right? 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:13:22] Yeah. No, I mean, I feel like when I talk to girlfriends or I talk to patients or even clients and the thoughts around the aging process, I think most people are very accepting of the fact that, we're chronologically older. Many of us are doing the right lifestyle things on hormone replacement therapy. But the skin piece, for a lot of people, they're like, I feel really young and vibrant. And then I look in the mirror and I feel as if I'm like, not looking at myself. I'm like, “Who is this person?”

[00:13:51] And one thing I find interesting, I haven't suffered with a lot of hydration issues with my skin, but what I have noticed is I have to work a whole lot harder to exfoliate my skin gently and to be proactive about utilizing products that are ensuring that we're able to clear it, because that outer layer just is not as good. If you look at your children like I have teenagers, but their skin always looks amazing and so hydrated and so supple. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that they're not dealing with this aging process of their bodies or their skin yet. And comparatively looking at, “Okay, if you're still using the same products in your 40s and 50s that you were in your 20s,” you're probably missing the mark quite a bit. 

[00:14:32] What are some of the common misconceptions as a scientist that you see in the market about products specific for women at this stage of life, either ineffective ingredient too much irritation. What are some of the common issues that you see as a scientist? 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:14:49] Yeah, one of the problems there, I mean, you mentioned a little bit, is that the skin barrier is not strong enough. And a lot of times if you are using-- if you are extra exfoliating your skin or if you are using things that is peeling out your skin too much, you can have the opposite effect of what you're looking for. You're trying like to make your skin more smooth, but if you overdo it, what you're doing, you're removing that barrier that's protecting and that is locking the hydration on your skin. So, you're increasing dehydration, which leads to increasing of redness and itching. And instead of getting that effect of a smooth skin, you are irritating your skin.

[00:15:39] So, we need to be very careful with peeling effect and excess of exfoliation because they are good tools to remove the dead cells, some debris, it's important to do. But overdoing this kind of steps can actually irritate more and dehydrate your skin, create more sensitivity and redness on your skin. So, even retinol, it's a molecule that's been used for over 50 years on skin aging. And that molecule has this effect of increasing cell turnover and sometimes increasing the peeling of your skin. And for some people, they react to retinol in a way that they respond too much to that peeling effect. And if they cannot overcome that phase, if your skin is constantly peeling, you're not getting benefits of that molecule, you're just irritating more your skin.

[00:16:39] So, being aware of where you are in this journey and how the products are reacting to your skin, because it can react differently from your best friend. So, we need to really understand our own selves and avoid things that extra exfoliate or create excessive peeling on the skin, especially on this age of perimenopause, that the skin is already dehydrating by itself. If you are just creating more of that unprotected barrier, you're just speeding the process.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:17:10] Yeah, it's so interesting because I think it is human nature that people think of a little bit of exfoliation is good, more is better. If a little bit of topical retinoid is good, more is better. I think it is such human nature. And I'll have women share with me or just disclose in conversations. And I'm sometimes shocked. Like I always say, like, a little bit goes a long way when it comes to these kinds of products. And so, I think that cautionary tale, reminding women to be conscientious. The other thing that I think is fascinating is how many women in perimenopause are dealing with acne. Like, maybe they haven't had acne in 20 years, and all of a sudden, they're getting breakouts and how frustrating.

[00:17:48] I have teenage boys, one of whom has had some hiccups with some skin care issues, which are now stable. But I know women in their 40s and 50s don't expect to have pimples and acne, and that can be a byproduct of these hormonal changes as well as, how we are treating our skin in the interim. When you think about how skin ages differently than other organs in the body, talk to me, about your research and how skin aging differs from other organs in the body. Because maybe listeners don't know our ovaries primarily drive our aging in our bodies, ovarian senescence. But each organ has its own interplay with how quickly or how slowly it actually ages. 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:18:30] Yeah, and our whole body is aging on a similar way and it will depend a lot on how much damage you're exposing that tissue and what's going on. Meaning, for instance, if a person is a smoker, their lungs are aging way faster because they are inhaling all those substances that is creating stress in that tissue and is accelerating the aging process. The skin is the organ that's exposed to the environment. So, our skin is constantly fighting damage, especially from UV radiation, from pollution. So, there is a direct exposure to the environment that can accelerate the aging process compared to other organs internally that are protected. 

[00:19:23] So, the whole process of aging, it's happening of you giving the right nutrition and trying to get your body on that healthier state so it can function well and can fix by itself the damages that occurs on our daily basis and is able just to repair that damage. So, in the skin, if you are, for instance, a person grown up on a very tropical environment, exposing their self to a lot of UV radiation without any sun protection, the skin can be aging. It can be accelerate that process compared to someone that's avoiding that excess of UV and unprotected UV exposure. So, the main difference of the skin is that-- I think we can see the signs of aging and we cannot see what's happening internally. 

[00:20:15] But the skin is communicating a lot of like, if you're having like a healthier skin that is not irritated, this also means that probably your body internally, there's less inflammation as well. Sometimes, when you start seeing something excess of acne popping on your skin or more of dryness maybe can also be an internal issue that is helping to accelerate that process. So, the skin, it's communicating your inside out. And it's also like an organ that we need to protect because it's very exposed to the environment. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:20:51] Well and I think for a lot of people, they don't even think about their skin as an organ. So, that's number one. Number two, I'm so glad you brought up smoking because we know smoking not only damages our cells externally, but internally. It's actually one of the biggest risk factors for earlier menopause, which I find really fascinating. UVA, UVB exposure will definitely age the skin. I think about here in the United States, unfortunately about 70% of us eat ultra processed foods. We know that, the long-term effect of a lot of processed carbohydrates, a lot of inflammatory seed oils, just not being metabolically healthy. So, individuals that have got insulin resistance, prediabetes or even type 2 diabetes, understanding that they're aging differently than people that are eating a less processed diet. 

[00:21:38] And I think the other thing that I would probably tack on there is alcohol, which I think is now being spoken about more. There was a podcast with Huberman Lab, I think for three years ago that I passed along to as many people as they’re willing to listen. And I was like, “I'm not suggesting being a teetotaler, I'm just saying like let's be conscientious” about if we're having alcohol, being conscientious about how much you're consuming, how regularly you're consuming it. Because I just think a lot of people, it's just not on their radar. And the last thing that I would just dovetail into that is the impact of stress. 

[00:22:10] So, like chronic stress, trauma, we're just starting to fully understand and appreciate how adverse childhood events impact the aging process, how like trauma and dissociative issues can impact overall aging and I would imagine can exacerbate skin aging, because as you appropriately stated, our skin is exposed to the elements, whereas a lot of our other organ systems are covered by skin or our bodysuit, as we like to refer to it. So, I love that you addressed all of those, because I think for a lot of individuals, it's understanding, like, what is driving this inflammatory process or even inflammaging, which is a concept that I think is getting more focus and attention these days. 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:22:53] Yes. And it's important to realize that the aging process is an holistic process. The skin aging, it's dependent also on how you're treating your overall health. It's not just about applying a topical product on your skin or like doing some plastic surgery or Botox to look younger, but it's the whole process of what you are eating, how you're dealing with your sleep, the stress, all of that will be contributing to how you're aging and how your skin is aging as well. So, I like that now we are on a time that we are being more conscious and aware that the choices that we have on our daily basis, they affect our health for the long term. And it's an individual choice of what you're eating, what you're ingesting, what you're consuming as a content, how you're dealing with people around you. 

[00:23:54] If you're finding a community purpose on what you're doing, all of that is contributing to the skin aging process. The beauty of age is like, if you start making better choices, our body can reverse some of that damage that was already done in the past. So, knowing that, it just empowers us to be responsible for our own health. Instead of like, “Oh, I'll get older, I'll get cancer, I will die.” No, I'll get older, I will continue be living a good life, doing what I enjoy and being happy, healthy with my family and my friends or whatever I want to do at that time. And this is all like, the choices that I'm having now that will determine what that can look like. 

[00:24:47] So, learning more that of the power of our choices and how they influence the skin aging process and knowing that this is a malleable process, I think it's very exciting. And now we are learning more even of the impact of all these things and I mean, I speak to myself on when I started OneSkin and understanding more about longevity and the changes I made in my life. And then I look now, eight years later, that I arrive in the US to start OneSkin, I age at eight years, but I feel much better, much healthier, I look better. So, I feel that I'm walking backwards on this aging process. And it's a lot about, I became conscious about what I'm eating, what I'm doing to my mental health, the products that I'm applying. 

[00:25:42] So for me, the research on OneSkin started with the skin, but it really opened up broader to the whole longevity space and how everything is holistic and how we can empower our health.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:25:56] And I think that's an important message. I always say that, “Aging is inevitable, suffering is not.” And so, I think that for so many people, it's understanding that we can continue making choices and changes throughout our lifetime. I was at my 30th high school reunion a few years ago, and I remember the conversations that I had with former classmates. And for most of them, it was very much. They were still, very active, happy, very fulfilled. And then a couple people were just incredibly honest and said, “This is not where I expected to be.” And I said, “Here's the really great thing is you can always course correct.” We always want that to be the message. There's always something that we can do positively. And I think that good choices lead to other good choices. 

[00:26:37] I would say it's like this domino effect. It's like you suddenly start feeling better, you're having less aches and pains, and then you get more physically active, and then your sleep becomes better, and it just becomes this snowball effect. And so, I love that you definitely embrace that kind of shared philosophy. So, let's talk a little bit about the peptide that you were involved in creating and how does it work at a cellular level to actually improve and support aging skin? And let me be clear, we're aging every day. It's not suddenly like it gets arrested and never goes away. It's like, this is something that we can do proactively to improve our health.

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:27:13] Yeah. So, we spent five years researching skin aging and looking for a molecule that would specifically target the accumulation of the senescent cells. In the beginning, when we start testing products, what we realize is that there was no product that targets senescent cells in the skin. We started to look to novel peptides that could specifically reduce the inflammation that these senescent cells are secreting and reduce the accumulation of those senescent cells in the skin. And after researching over 900 peptides, we found the OS-01, what we call the OS-01 peptide. That's a peptide that our research showed that can reduce from 25% to 50% the load of senescent cells in the skin. 

[00:28:07] It can reduce the inflammation that the senescent cells are secreting and can help the healthy cells to increase the DNA repair, so it repairs better the damage and avoid the formation of novel senescent cells. So, by doing that, by treating a skin with a peptide that is reducing cellular senescence, what we saw is that we started to have more collagen production, we started to have a thicker epidermal layer with a stronger skin barrier. And when we measure those markers of senescence, they are being reduced, inflammation is being reduced, and as we mentioned before, the biological age of the skin is being reversed. So, the skin is functioning and behaving as a healthier and younger skin.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:28:57] That's really exciting. And I think for many listeners that might be using other products right now, even topical retinoids, how is this different? Because inevitably people will ask like, how is this different? Is it something we use separately? Is it something we use in conjunction with retinoids or other types of products? Even right now, topical estrogen is a hot topic. I don't know if you've seen that, but that has become like the rage. Everyone's putting their vaginal estrogen on their face, which is a whole separate conversation. But how do these products differ from this OS-01 peptide? 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:29:31] So, mainly, as we mentioned retinoids, they have a different mechanism of action. They are not targeting the senescent cells, they're helping on cell turnover, they are helping the cells to produce more collagen, but they are not reducing what's causing the damage on the skin. So, you can have positive effects of retinol but you can associate with OS-01 peptide to reduce the load of those senescent cells on your skin. So, our approach is very complementary to others and also a basic complete routine to those that wants to minimize their steps on their skin care routine or want something more simple, you can have the OneSkin regimen or you can associate. The good thing is this peptide pairs well with other products and pairs well with other ingredients. 

[00:30:30] So, it can be used in conjunction and it's always adding step on those routines. That is positive because it's targeting something that the other products are not. So, it's helping to treat the root causes of the skin aging. So, it's very complementary.

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:30:45] Yeah, no, and I wanted to make sure. I asked that question very specifically because I thought that was the case but I wanted to clarify. And one of the things I really like is that, especially the skin care product line is simple. One thing that has driven me crazy and I say this in most loving way possible between an estheticians, dermatologists, except over the years, you end up walking out of an office with 10 products and you're like, “I need a list to make sure I know what I take in the morning, what I take in the evening. And so, I love something that's simplified.” I've been using the product since December, but for me, something that's simplified and effective and something I can travel with that was my biggest bugaboos. 

[00:31:25] I was like, “I don't want to travel with 15 products when I'm traveling.” And so, this allows me to have certainly a much more condensed product regimen. And so how can we as consumers navigate choosing skincare products aimed at longevity rather than just symptom alleviation? I know this is tying into the last question I asked, but I think this is important. I think for many of us, we want to simplify. I always say, “I'm at that stage in my life where I rather have less stuff. I'd rather be really targeted and like, this really works, therefore, I want to continue using it. Extraneous products that I don't need. I'm happy to donate them to a neighbor.” 

[00:32:06] I think that when we're navigating choosing skincare products aimed at longevity rather than just hydration, like how many people have hyaluronic acid, which is great for hydration, but it's not addressing the root cause, as you appropriately stated. 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:32:21] Yeah. So, it's looking for products that has the science behind that shows that that product can boost the cellular function of your skin. So, a lot of times there's so many claims on the marketing world, and this product does this, reverse your wrinkles in three days or boost collagen. How does the product does that? So, the consumer needs to be a little bit more curious to go beyond that PDP and understand what are those claims. And if there's something, okay, if for longevity, you really need to boost the function of the cells, you need to be increasing either the mitochondrial function, you need to be reducing cellular senescence, reduce inflammaging. 

[00:33:09] So, there's something there that does that and meaning that does beyond what is written on the marketing claim. Because sometimes they can claim anything. There's research behind that, there is publications, there are scientists behind that brand. I think like if you go through this step of really doing a more like diving deep into the brand and understanding who is behind, there is science behind. What is the data? They have data. Even if you cannot read the scientific manuscript, sometimes very complex. But seeing that there was research done, it can help you to choose between one and other product. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:33:49] Well, and what's interesting is a lot of what's on the market. There is no real science behind it. It might just be claims. And I know here in the United States you have to be careful. Even with supplements, you have to be careful what you claim. But you know, for me, I'm just at a stage in my life where I want to actually look at the research, be able to understand it, be able to speak from a place of authenticity to say like, “There's actually companies that are funding research to ensure that their products are really effective.” When we think about lifestyle, and you've alluded to some of it, we talked around like some lifestyle choices. When you're thinking about skin senescence, let's talk about sleep. 

[00:34:24] I think this is probably one of the more challenging aspects of even the beginning stages of perimenopause. How does poor sleep impact how our skin ages? 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:34:35] So, the sleep is the time that our body is repairing damage and removing the toxins from the day. So, it's resetting all our cells. So, it's very important to have the whole that cycles of sleep, good deep sleep. And when you go through that, your body is able to clean up damage to repair. And it's just when you wake up, it's ready to face that next day. When you have poor sleep and you don't allow your body to repair, what happens is that the damage is still there and starts to accumulate. So, it's like some way you, instead of cleaning up your body, you're accumulating more damage and all damage, inflammation that's not being cleaned up from your system, that continues there. It's leading to more cellular senescence. 

[00:35:33] It's contributing is like driving more senescence and accumulation of damage. So, with time, like the accumulation of not a good routine of sleep, with time that is contributing to have more damage and stress and more of those stress hormones in your body that drive cellular senescence as well. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:35:52] Yeah, it makes sense. And you mentioned that through this process changed the way you were eating. What are some of the foods that you feel like for yourself show up in the way your skin looks like the foods that you think are most beneficial just in the context of for you, what have you felt like has been most impactful in terms of how your skin looks and how it's aging? 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:36:15] I think the most important one is not what I'm eating, is what I'm not eating anymore. [laughs] So, removing most of those processed food full of sugar, that makes a big change in your skin. Because excess of that refined sugar, it drives the skin aging. It leads to like pick of insulin in your body that's inflammatory. Excess of sugar can bind to the collagen and then it can identify your collagen. So, I think the most impactful was reducing-- It's not that I don't eat any sometimes like something junky, but if you reduce 70% of those junk food and processed food, your skin will just start to be much better, focus on keeping your hydration levels, drinking water and eating real food. Like when you have a lunch, eat real food at breakfast, real food at dinner.

[00:37:18] Like remove all those excess of cookies and processed chips and things like that. I think that's the main difference that I felt in my skin. It's not a specific diet, but it's removing the excess of process and added sugar that we have in so many products. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:37:35] Do you feel like it's any different in Brazil as opposed to living in the United States? Do you feel like that a lot of processed foods proliferate or is it more of an issue here in the United States? I'm just curious because I know when I'm interviewing guests and they either have spent part of their lifetime outside the United States, I'm like from your perspective because you're looking at it from fresh eyes. Do you think it's a bigger issue here with processed foods or do you feel like it's equally problematic in Brazil right now? 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:38:03] It's also problematic in Brazil. But a main difference I feel in Brazil, especially growing up there, with our lunch, we have rice, beans, salad and a source of meat of protein. And that is sometimes is the standard for dinner. So, it's more real food. While here there's so much of pizza, burgers. People eat so constantly. And I get sick even of looking of that much of those type of food, I think that's a big difference. But they still in Brazil they have problems as well of some of processed food outside the main dishes. But I feel that generally our lunches and dinners are a little bit more healthy than what I see here in the United States in general. 

[00:38:53] But at the same time, what I loved when I moved here is the access to alternatives and to learning. There's more options here and the conversation around what is healthy and unhealthy is way up front of what's being talking in other places and what the research is coming out. So, I think like the innovation side of things, even in the food industry is way stronger here. And if you're willing to pick the right choices, it's easier to start that here than in Brazil and other places. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:39:27] Yeah, it's interesting. I always say when we're traveling internationally with our family, I'm always curious like where do the locals want to eat, what types of foods do they enjoy. And last year we were in Portugal and for me it was like every single meal was protein and vegetables and everything was super fresh. And so, I remember I came back, I was like, I feel so spoiled because in the United States sometimes you really have to look if you're not cooking for yourself, you're going to a restaurant. Sometimes, it can be more challenging to get those kinds of authentic, really home cooked, not prepackaged like a lot of restaurants here in the United States. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the conversation, but a lot of things come pre-prepared. 

[00:40:07] So, it's not even the foods are being prepared in the restaurant. It's some of the meat and fish is already precooked or a lot of things, they just heat things up and put them on a plate and serve them. So, I love that you can see the differences and then the pros and cons of both environment. Let's just touch on stress, I know again we touched on a little bit earlier. But from your perspective as a scientist, how does stress influence the senescence process presuming that it accelerates things if it's prolonged and chronic as opposed to just an acute stressor? 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:40:40] Yeah. So, a lot of stress hormones. There is research that can induce cellular senescence. So, constantly chronically on a stress situation and those hormones spiking all the time, this is leading to damage on your skin, but in also other organs as well, so managing stress levels and sometimes can be challenged, depending on the circumstances. But trying to manage stress levels is so important as what you're choosing to eat. And I know it can be challenging depending on the period of life that we are. I always say that being aware of things that stresses you is the first step to start slowing down that process. Because when you are aware of things, you're able to shift your mindset and try to figure out solutions to reduce that situation or that stress.

[00:41:44] But scientifically, we have research on different issues that stress hormones can induce cellular senescence. So, it's accelerating the aging process. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:41:54] I mean, it makes sense. And we talk a lot about cortisol as one example on the podcast. And knowing that a little bit of cortisol is good and too much prolonged over time can impact immune function, can impact the aging process, can impact leaky gut, can lead to food sensitivities and a whole slew of issues. So, for all of us as we're navigating the aging process, we have to manage our stress without question. From your perspective, what is the future of skin health look like for middle-aged women? And how close are we to creating truly regenerative science-backed skin care? Obviously OneSkin is a step absolutely in that direction. But what does the future look like for you from your perspective as a scientist? 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:42:40] I think we are understanding more and more this process of aging and how we can deaccelerate and what I find fascinating in the science community is that we already showed that we can reprogram cells to turn them back to a very young state. So, this nowadays it's a standard procedure that you can do in the lab in a petri dish. You can take a cell from an 80 years old person and turn it back to behaving as 20 years or even turn back all the way to the embryonic stage. And this is incredible. It's a powerful tool that's hard to translate to completely bring that into a product. But there is a lot of research on how we can reprogram, not only the skin, but the body to be functioning in a younger state. 

[00:43:31] So, this I think is more long term, but it's something that excites me a lot to see like how we can reprogram ourselves to better function, to really see a powerful rejuvenation process. Because even OneSkin OS-01 peptide is deaccelerating the accumulation of senescent cells. But this process you're still encountering aging and damage every day. So, you're battling something that's always happening, right? So, you're deaccelerating, you reverse. But I will tell you, I cannot make a skin 60 years old look completely as when it was 18 years old. It's not possible yet. But I feel that more and more-- I don't even know if we want to completely go back there, but we'll be able to reverse to levels that strengthen even more. 

[00:44:19] And you can like really see a huge impact on that reversal side of the function of the skin. So, I think that's one way of reprogramming. And it's also increasing, how we measure that change, right? How, we're able to see the impact of the things that we are applying on our skin and our whole body. So, it's growing this measurement tools so we can really understand how much we are reversing, how the skin is going. There's still a lot to learn in this process. But it's very exciting that all those tools are coming out and the science, it's already there. It just needs to know how we will translate it better. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:45:01] Well, and I think this is really unique. I mean, that is one of the things that I was so interested in wanting to bring to my community was this is unique technology. This is very different than anything I personally have ever used before. And I think for everyone listening, we want to be as proactive as possible as opposed to being reactive. And by that, I mean, how many of my college friends were like big sun devotees? And when I talk to them now, in many instances, they're like, “Oh my gosh, I wish I'd lay in the sun so much.” But understanding there are things they can do proactively that can help improve the quality of their skin as well as these senescent cells. 

[00:45:39] And I know that there are some new products that are out, which I've been enjoying using. Let's talk about the new products, the hair care line that is out right now. That is really exciting because most, if not all of my patients talk about changes in their hair. either they have less fullness, they're having more shedding, they might even have some alopecia where they have specific areas of their scalp where they're not getting any hair growth, which is an autoimmune-related issue. But let's talk about some of the new products that are out because I think this is really exciting. 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:46:15] Yeah. So, it's been two years of research that we started to extend our research to the scalp tissue. Because the scalp is a continuation of our skin. And as cellular senescence is accumulating on the skin of your face, it's also accumulating on the hair follicles. And there is research already showing that senescent cells accumulate on the hair follicle and this is leading to the thinning of the hair. So, under stress condition, you also increase senescent cells on the hair follicle. That's why a lot of times when you go through like periods of stress, you notice more shedding of your hair because there is this association of senescent cells being accumulated on the hair follicle. 

[00:46:58] And there's also research that in areas affected by more hair loss or alopecia, those hair follicles has more senescent cells than other areas where the hair is growing fuller. So, understanding that this senescent cell is accumulating on the scalp, we started to investigate first in the lab if our peptide could reduce the damage of those senescent cells in hair follicle to deaccelerate this thinning process and promote more of a fullness hair. And the research in the lab showed that yes, we can reduce the senescent cells. This can help promoting hair growth. And we developed this serum containing the peptide that's water based, so it does not leave your scalp greasy. That also contains some prebiotics to help with the scalp microbiome. 

[00:47:52] And we ran a clinical study and was very interesting to see that after three months we had already increased the unit of hair per cm2. And this was even more pronounced after six months also, the hair got more fuller. So, it improved the density of the hair, the thickness of the hair and it all associated with this aging fact that we're accumulating cellular senescence. And that is creating this environment that's not the best one for that full beautiful hair that we have when we're young. So, there is now ways of proactively- we think about a lot of times, “Oh, I will only react when I already lost a lot of hair.” No, if you start like whenever you start like preventing the hair loss, the better for your hair as well. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:48:47] And I love that it's female scientists because I can speak from personal experience. When you use greasy products in your hairline, even on your scalp, it just makes your hair greasy. So, knowing it is water based, recognizing that there was so much thought involved and I'm like a complete microbiome nerd. So, I love knowing that it's nourishing the microbiome of our scalp. That is completely in alignment with things I love to talk about. 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:49:12] Yeah. Let me tell you then, since you like this, we sequence the scalp microbiome in the beginning of this study and at the end and after the six months of period. What we saw is a shift of a more balanced scalp microbiome with the increase of the bacteria that promotes more hair growth and reduces dandruff on your scalp. So, really like balancing to a more healthy state of the scalp that it's all combined. 

[00:49:44] The microbiome is communicating with the cells that are on top of your skin and they're balancing each other. So, you are reducing the inflammation of the senescent cells. You are promoting the healthy bacteria and fungi. So, you're balancing a healthier scalp microbiome and then your hair can grow like thicker and faster as well. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:50:08] I love that because I, I have girlfriends that are now like considering getting extensions and I'm like “No, no, no.” There's all sorts of ways around this. Don't add that burden to what you're doing day to day. I've so loved this conversation. I'd love for you to share like one last thought about empowering women at this stage of life and perimenopause and menopause in a way that is authentic. I think this has been such an important conversation to talk about ways that we can address aging from a proactive perspective. Instead of feeling like we're sitting back and just this kind of passive conduits to the aging process. 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:50:45] I think it's all in our mindset and how we deal to things in our lives, how we see the things that, how we want to age, how we want to live the day of today. It's a lot on our mind and we are all like responsible and need to take responsibility for our choices. Sometimes it's hard to make that first step. But I guarantee that better life choices leads you feeling better, feeling more energetic and just wanting to continue those things as a routine. So, taking care of yourself internally and externally is an act of self-love to your own body and your own body like is what-- your health in your body is the most important asset that we have because if we lose our health, that doesn't matter anything else. 

[00:51:38] So, making the choices that will nourish this important temple that's our body and our health. It's on the hands of each of us and only us can do it for us. It's sometimes we look “Oh that person it's easier for them to do that.” No, you can also do it was probably hard in the first step, but after you take that step things get better. So, being conscious that you are the true like power decision of how you want to age and embrace that power and make the right choices. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:52:10] Well, I so have enjoyed this conversation. Please let listeners know how to connect with you outside of this podcast. Obviously, we'll have links to the products and everything else, but let listeners know how to connect with you specifically. 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:52:22] Yeah, I mean you can find about OneSkin on our Instagram @oneskin.co. I highly recommend people to go to our website where there is a lot of more information and subscribe to our newsletter because we love sharing not only about our products but about skin health, about longevity, about new science that's coming out. So, it's a very informative newsletter. So, subscribe to that. And we are on all the platforms, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn. You can find us on all of the platforms of social media. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:52:59] Thank you again for your time. 

Dr. Alessandra Zonari: [00:53:00] Yes, thank you so much Cynthia. 

Cynthia Thurlow: [00:53:04] If you love this podcast episode, please leave a rating and review, subscribe and tell a friend.

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