March 2012 Embargoed until Wednesday 28 March

Thyme for a more natural cure to acne

Herbal remedies could be the most naturally effective way to treat acne, suggests new research from Leeds Metropolitan University.

Student Kimberley Sanderson and supervisor, Dr Margarita Gomez Escalada, a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology and Genetics at Leeds Metropolitan, found that a solution using the common herb thyme (known as a tincture) was more effective in killing the acne bacterium than traditional chemical-based creams. The research has been presented at the Society for General Microbiologys Spring Conference in Dublin this week.

Acne is caused by a bacterium called Propionibacterium acnes which infects the skin pore and then forms a pimple. Currently, the most common

treatments for acne are antibiotics or a topical cream or wash containing the chemical benzoyl peroxide. These treatments are often associated with sideeffects, for example benzoyl peroxide often causes a burning sensation on the skin and irritation.

A solution, known as a tincture, can be made using plants and herbs, where the plant is steeped in alcohol for days or weeks. This extracts the different compounds from the plant. The research team tested the effectiveness of thyme, myrrh and marigold tinctures in killing the acne bacterium using a test commonly used to test disinfectants. The activity of the tinctures was also compared to that of the benzoyl peroxide used in acne creams.

Dr Gomez Escalada commented: What makes the project so amazing is that all the practical work was done by one of our undergraduate students as part of her final year project. We found that all the preparations tested were able to kill a number of bacteria. The preparation that was found the most effective was thyme tincture, even better than benzoyl peroxide. This shows the

potential of thyme tincture for treating acne. We now need to carry out further tests in conditions that mimic the skin to confirm the effectiveness in practical use. If thyme tincture is proven to be effective for the treatment of acne, it will provide a natural alternative to current treatments.

Thyme, marigold and myrrh tinctures are commonly used by herbalists as well as other alternative medicine practitioners to treat acne and other skin conditions. However, little research has been done into their effectiveness and they have never before been tested against the bacterium that causes acne to see if they have any effect on its growth.

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For further details please contact Carrie Braithwaite in the Communications team at Leeds Met on 0113 812 3022 or email c.braithwaite@leedsmet.ac.uk

Notes for editors: Leeds Metropolitan University has over 25,000 students and around 3,000 staff. The Vice Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University is Professor Susan Price and the Chair of the Board is Lord Woolmer of Leeds. The state-of-the-art Biomedical Sciences laboratory at Leeds

Metropolitan University and Dietetics Kitchen was opened in 2010 by Bill McCarthy, Chief Executive of the NHS Yorkshire and the Humber.

Leeds Metropolitans four faculties are: Arts, Environment and Technology, Business & Law, Health and Social Sciences, and Carnegie.

Leeds Metropolitans heritage can be traced back to the founding of the Mechanics Institute in Leeds in 1824. International students rated the University top in the UK for language support, accommodation quality and learning spaces in the 2010 Autumn Wave of the International Student Barometer and sixth in the world for the quality of its lectures. We have over 1,500 international students from 122 countries around the globe.

The

Universitys

award-winning

learning

environments

include

Broadcasting Place, which was voted the best tall building in the world in 2010 by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) and also winner of the 2010 Leeds Architecture Awards New Building category.