ABSTRACT
The visible changes associated with chronological aging and chronic sun exposure, especially to the face, head, and neck areas, are particularly concerning for a signicant percentage of the general population. This fact, along with the powerful inuence of advertisement and the popular press, has led to an increasing demand for natural and efcient cosmetic ingredients that claim to reduce manifestations of skin aging (Baumann et al., 2009). More importantly, while skin cancers account for up to 40% of the newly diagnosed cancers in the United States (Afaq et al., 2005a), there are no natural preventive methods to avoid cutaneous malignancies associated with chronic sunlight exposure for individuals with pigmentary traits associated with high cancer risk (Zanetti et al., 1996). Consequently, new effective antiaging and chemopreventive agents are in high demand. Although many of the skin-protective claims attributed to botanical products still lack sufcient scientic evidence, the use of natural bioactives with potential antiaging and/or skin-protective properties continues to receive attention from consumers. During the last decade, a substantial body of knowledge has been produced in this area (Chiu and Kimball, 2003; Afaq et al., 2002, 2005a; Afaq, 2011).
