We were formulating with CERAMOSIDES™ in 2022. The science has only become more compelling.

At Agent Nateur, we have always believed that some of the most profound changes in the skin begin from within.

Long before “beauty from within” became one of the fastest-growing categories in wellness, we were searching globally for clinically studied ingredients that could support the skin at a structural level—not simply provide another vitamin or antioxidant.

In 2022, Agent Nateur was at the forefront of formulating with Seppic’s CERAMOSIDES™, a patented wheat polar lipid complex rich in phytoceramides and other polar lipids, the key ingredient in holi (radiance).

What fascinated us then is even more compelling today.

CERAMOSIDES™ had already been clinically studied for its ability to support skin hydration, elasticity, smoothness and the appearance of wrinkles. Since then, additional clinical research has expanded the story beyond skin to something we have always considered inseparable from beauty from within: hair.

The emerging body of research helps explain why we believed in this ingredient so early.

What are CERAMOSIDES™?

Ceramides are naturally occurring lipids that are fundamental to the skin barrier. Think of the outer layer of the skin as bricks and mortar: skin cells are the bricks, while lipids—including ceramides—help form the mortar that keeps the barrier intact.

Ceramides play an important role in helping the skin retain water and maintain its barrier function. Their quantity and composition can change with aging and environmental exposure. (Seppic⁠)

CERAMOSIDES™ takes this concept inside the body.

Developed by Seppic, CERAMOSIDES™ is a wheat-derived polar lipid complex containing sphingolipids—including glucosylceramides—as well as digalactosyl diglycerides, or DGDG. Rather than approaching dryness exclusively from the surface of the skin, CERAMOSIDES™ has been studied as an oral beauty ingredient. (MDPI⁠)

And importantly, its research includes randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled human clinical trials.

The first skin research: visible changes from within

An early pilot human study investigated oral wheat polar lipids in women with dry skin. That preliminary work found improvements in measures including moisturization, elasticity and skin microrelief after supplementation, helping lay the groundwork for larger controlled trials. (MDPI⁠)

Researchers subsequently conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study involving 60 healthy women with dry and wrinkled skin.

Participants received either placebo, 70 mg per day of the oil form, or 30 mg per day of the powder form of the wheat polar lipid complex for 60 days.

The researchers measured hydration, elasticity, smoothness, transepidermal water loss, roughness and wrinkling.

The results were significant.

Compared with placebo, supplementation was associated with:

Increased skin hydration
Improved elasticity
Improved smoothness
Reduced transepidermal water loss
Reduced skin roughness
Reduced wrinkledness

The improvements developed over the supplementation period, supporting the concept that specific dietary lipids can influence measurable characteristics of the skin from within. (MDPI⁠)

Results beginning in as little as two weeks

One of the reasons CERAMOSIDES™ originally caught our attention was the speed at which changes had been observed in clinical research.

A later randomized, double-blind study enrolled 72 women between 30 and 60 years old with dry skin and mild-to-moderate signs of skin aging.

Women received the wheat polar lipid complex in oil or powder form or a placebo for 56 days. Researchers measured their skin at baseline and again after 14, 28 and 56 days. (PubMed⁠)

After only 14 days, supplementation had already produced improvements in measured skin parameters.

Researchers reported:

Increased hydration
Increased elasticity
Increased smoothness
Reduced transepidermal water loss
Reduced roughness
Reduced wrinkle depth

The benefits continued during supplementation. (PubMed⁠)

This matters because beautiful skin isn’t simply about what we put on the stratum corneum. The nutritional environment we create within the body can influence the condition of the skin barrier as well.

An especially interesting finding for women in menopause

The researchers deliberately included postmenopausal women in the clinical study.

That matters because aging and menopause can alter the lipid composition of the stratum corneum and contribute to dryness and changes in the skin barrier.

The improvements observed in the overall study population were also seen in the subgroup of postmenopausal women. Participants additionally reported improvements in their perception of their skin. (PubMed⁠)

The researchers also followed participants after supplementation stopped.

The benefits were not permanently maintained after discontinuation—an important detail that we believe should be communicated transparently. Like so many nutritional interventions, consistency matters. (PubMed⁠)

Then the research moved from skin to hair

This is where the CERAMOSIDES™ story became even more interesting.

Researchers investigated whether the same wheat polar lipid complex could influence hair shedding and growth.

The study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial involving 66 healthy women experiencing excessive hair shedding, defined in the study by more than 15% of hairs being in the telogen phase.

Participants received either 30 mg of CERAMOSIDES™ per day or placebo for 84 days.

Researchers didn’t simply ask women whether they thought their hair looked better.

They objectively evaluated the hair cycle using phototrichograms and measured anagen and telogen hairs, hair shedding with a pull test, growth, resistance to breakage, diameter, scalp sebum, density and volume. (PubMed⁠)

By day 56: a measurable shift in the hair cycle

Hair continually moves through different phases.

Anagen is the active growth phase.

Telogen is the resting phase that ultimately precedes shedding.

In women experiencing excessive shedding, too many hairs can move into telogen.

After CERAMOSIDES™ supplementation, researchers observed a decrease in telogen hair density and proportion alongside an increase in anagen hair density and proportion.

These differences were statistically significant compared with placebo by day 56.

Hair shedding measured through the pull test was also reduced. (DOI⁠)

In other words, the study wasn’t simply documenting cosmetic shine or softness. Researchers detected measurable changes in parameters associated with the biological hair cycle.

By day 84: growth, strength, density and volume

After 84 days, the findings extended further.

CERAMOSIDES™ supplementation was associated with improved hair growth and greater resistance to breakage.

Clinical evaluation also found improvements in hair density and volume.

Interestingly, researchers did not find a change in individual hair diameter. We think this distinction is important: the results shouldn’t be translated into claims the study didn’t demonstrate.

Instead, the data suggest improvements in shedding, growth, resistance to breakage, density and overall volume. (PubMed⁠)

Women with oily hair also experienced a decrease in scalp sebum, and benefits were observed in the study’s subgroup of postmenopausal women. (PubMed⁠)

Why these results matter

Hair supplements have traditionally focused on vitamins and minerals.

Those nutrients can be incredibly important—particularly when a deficiency exists—but the CERAMOSIDES™ research investigates a different nutritional pathway: polar lipids and sphingolipids.

The hair study’s authors noted that although ceramide supplementation had previously been investigated extensively in relation to skin, considerably less was known about its potential relationship to hair growth and hair condition. That gap was one of the reasons the researchers conducted the trial. (DOI⁠)

For us, this represents exactly the type of science we look for at Agent Nateur: ingredients that challenge the conventional boundaries between skincare, nutrition and hair health.

Skin and hair are not separate conversations

We don’t believe beauty should be divided into isolated categories.

Skin. Hair. Nutrition. Hormones. Aging. The barrier. The scalp.

They exist within the same biological system.

CERAMOSIDES™ is particularly compelling because the clinical research now spans several of those visible manifestations of beauty.

Across human clinical studies, the wheat polar lipid complex has been associated with improvements in measures of:

Skin hydration
Skin elasticity
Skin smoothness
Skin roughness
Transepidermal water loss
Wrinkle depth and wrinkledness
Hair shedding
Anagen/telogen hair distribution
Hair growth
Resistance to breakage
Hair density
Hair volume
Scalp sebum in women with oily hair

The skin findings have been reproduced across controlled human studies, while the hair findings come from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot clinical trial. (MDPI⁠)

Why we chose CERAMOSIDES™ in 2022

Ingredient sourcing has always been one of the most important—and most personal—parts of how I formulate Agent Nateur.

I don’t want to formulate around what is trending on social media today.

I want to know what scientists are studying before everyone is talking about it.

That’s why we were working with Seppic and formulating with CERAMOSIDES™ in 2022.

We saw the potential of ingestible phytoceramides and the skin barrier early. We believed beauty supplements could become far more sophisticated than the traditional multivitamin-style approach to hair, skin and nails.

Today, as additional clinical research continues to build around CERAMOSIDES™, including research into hair shedding and growth, that original philosophy feels more relevant than ever.

For Agent Nateur, being at the forefront doesn’t mean chasing every new ingredient.

It means finding exceptional science early, understanding it deeply, and creating formulas around ingredients we believe deserve to become the next generation of beauty from within.

holi (beauty) begins within.