Most people know dandelion as the yellow weed growing through sidewalks and lawns.
Scientists see something considerably more complicated.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) contains a diverse collection of naturally occurring plant compounds—and researchers have investigated those compounds for everything from antioxidant activity to their interaction with human skin cells.
What's actually inside dandelion?
Different parts of the dandelion plant contain different combinations of phytochemicals.
Researchers have identified phenolic compounds, flavonoids, phenolic acids, terpenes, and other naturally occurring compounds throughout its leaves, flowers, and roots.
One compound that has attracted particular research interest is taraxasterol, a triterpene naturally found in dandelion.
That chemistry is one reason a plant most people consider a weed has remained a subject of scientific research.
Dandelion and antioxidants
One of the most studied characteristics of dandelion is its antioxidant activity.
Plants naturally produce compounds that interact with reactive molecules and oxidative processes, and dandelion contains a number of antioxidant-associated phytochemicals.
Laboratory research has demonstrated antioxidant activity in extracts produced from different parts of the plant.
But one study gets especially interesting for a topical formula.
What happened when researchers studied skin cells?
Researchers have directly investigated dandelion extracts using cultured human skin cells.
In a published laboratory study, scientists examined leaf, flower, and root extracts from Taraxacum officinale and evaluated their effects in human skin-cell models.
The leaf and flower extracts demonstrated notable antioxidant activity.
Researchers also investigated how the extracts behaved when cells were exposed to UVB radiation and oxidative stress.
The findings gave scientists another reason to continue investigating dandelion's compounds in relation to skin biology.
Dandelion and skin-aging research
Oxidative stress is one of many biological processes researchers study in connection with skin aging.
Because dandelion contains antioxidant-associated compounds, scientists have become interested in how extracts from the plant interact with those processes under laboratory conditions.
That's a much more interesting story than simply saying dandelion is "natural."
There's real chemistry inside the plant.
And researchers are actively trying to understand it.
Why it's in Just Relent
Dandelion isn't in our formula because we needed another botanical for the ingredient list.
It's there because this incredibly ordinary-looking plant contains an unexpectedly complex collection of compounds.
Phenolics.
Flavonoids.
Taraxasterol.
Antioxidant activity.
And laboratory research involving human skin cells.
The research doesn't mean spraying Just Relent reproduces the conditions or results of those experiments. But it tells us something important about the ingredient we chose:
There's much more going on inside dandelion than its reputation suggests.
Alongside aloe vera and seaweed extract, it gives Just Relent another deliberately chosen botanical component surrounding our magnesium chloride foundation.
The weed you've stepped over your entire life?
We thought it deserved a closer look.
RECOVER. RECHARGE. REPEAT.