Blackcurrant anthocyanins and skin collagen in cells and rats
What it found
In human skin cells and in rats without ovaries, blackcurrant anthocyanins increased collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid.
The authors say this points to a phytoestrogen effect on skin.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Estrogen-like gene activity
In human skin cells, blackcurrant extract switched on many genes that estradiol controls. The authors say this shows the extract acted like estradiol in these cells.
Collagen and elastin in cells
In human skin cells, blackcurrant extract and the four anthocyanins raised the mRNA for collagen types I and III and elastin. Staining showed more of these proteins in the cells.
Hyaluronic acid and breakdown enzymes
In human skin cells, blackcurrant extract raised mRNA for hyaluronic acid synthase 3 and for TIMP3, which blocks matrix breakdown. It lowered mRNA for HYAL3 and MMP12, which break down matrix proteins.
Collagen thickness in rats
In rats without ovaries, 3 months of a 3% blackcurrant extract diet gave thicker skin collagen than in untreated rats without ovaries. The treated rats measured 1156 micrometers on average, the untreated 726, and sham surgery rats 845.
Elastin and hyaluronic acid in rats
The skin of rats without ovaries fed 3% blackcurrant extract had more elastic fibers and more hyaluronic acid than untreated rats without ovaries. Hyaluronic acid was even higher than in sham surgery rats.
What the authors conclude
“In this study, we did not administer blackcurrants to humans, but long-term ingestion is expected to be effective, even at low concentrations.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say this is the first report of phytoestrogen activity of blackcurrant extract and anthocyanins in the skin.
- They note that they did not give blackcurrants to people, but they expect long-term intake to be effective even at low amounts.
- They plan to study this in future research.
How it was done
Estradiol drops during menopause, which reduces the skin's collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid. The authors wanted to see whether blackcurrant anthocyanins act like plant estrogens and help the skin.
They treated a human female skin fibroblast cell line with blackcurrant extract and four blackcurrant anthocyanins, then measured gene and protein changes. They also fed 3% blackcurrant extract to rats without ovaries for 3 months and examined their back skin.
What it can’t tell you
- The cell and rat results cannot show what happens in people.
- The authors did not test blackcurrant in humans, so no human effect can be concluded.
- The rat study was small, with 3 to 4 rats per group.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
- Authors work at
- Hirosaki University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Japan; Hirosaki University, Japan
The paper
- Title
- Blackcurrant Anthocyanins Increase the Levels of Collagen, Elastin, and Hyaluronic Acid in Human Skin Fibroblasts and Ovariectomized Rats
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Nanashima N, Horie K, Maeda H, Tomisawa T, Kitajima M, Nakamura T (2018). Blackcurrant Anthocyanins Increase the Levels of Collagen, Elastin, and Hyaluronic Acid in Human Skin Fibroblasts and Ovariectomized Rats. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu10040495Free full textPubMed 29659549DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error