Oral intake of milk ceramides improves skin hydration, elasticity, and wrinkles around the eyes: A 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

[Display omitted] •Milk ceramide containing sphingomyelin effectively protected against photoaging in hairless mice irradiated with ultraviolet B in a previous study.•Milk ceramide intake for 12 weeks attenuates crow's feet and skin roughness in healthy adult women.•Milk ceramide intake for 12 weeks improved skin hydration and elasticity and inhibited transepidermal water loss. Previous studies have shown that milk ceramide (MC) protects against photoaging in ultraviolet B-irradiated mice. Thus, we conducted a 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study to evaluate the skin improvement efficacy of MC. The participants were women aged 30–65 years with crow’s feet who were randomly assigned to receive either MC (600 mg/day) or a placebo for 12 weeks. The participants' degree of wrinkles around eyes was analyzed by expert graders. Additionally, changes in parameters related to skin wrinkling, moisture, and elasticity were measured. In the MC group, the wrinkles and roughness index around the eyes were significantly improved. After 12 weeks, the MC group showed significantly lower transepidermal water loss, and higher skin moisture and elasticity index than the placebo group. No serious adverse events were observed during the study period. Therefore, MC intake is expected to prevent skin aging by improving skin moisture and elasticity and weakening wrinkles.