A: Free radicals are unstable molecules that can cause damage to the proteins and other molecules in skin and interfere with skin’s natural inner defenses. Exposure to sun’s damaging rays, car exhaust, ozone, pollution and other environmental hazards are known to amplify free radical production. Antioxidants are super-nutrients that literally wipe out free radicals before they do their damage. And in every field of health, from internal medicine to dermatology to dentistry and nutrition, research is proving that antioxidants do help slow the aging process.

A: White Tea, known as Yinzhen (silver needles), is produced exclusively in China, mainly in the high mountains of the Fujian Province. It is picked for a few short days each spring from the Camellia sinensis plant, when the white buds are just growing. Only the youngest leaves are selected. Up to 80,000 hand-plucked shoots are needed to produce just one pound of this rare, aromatic tea. The leaves are then gently fermented for only a short duration in natural sunlight. The absence of additional processing is what distinguishes White Tea from other teas and infuses it with its myriad of health-promoting benefits. Researchers speculate that this minimal processing maintains White Tea’s high level of antioxidants.

A: Several years ago, scientists at University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University demonstrated that the antioxidants in White Tea are effective in boosting the immune function of skin cells and protecting them against the damaging effects of the sun and aging. Scientists applied a White Tea extract cream to skin that is not ordinarily exposed to sunlight, while another area was left unprotected. Both areas were then exposed to artificial sunlight. Researchers then reapplied the White Tea extract to the area previously coated. Three days later the scientists compared the patches of skin on a cellular level. They found that the White Tea cream protected the sun-exposed against the destruction that was observed in the skin that was not treated.