Ceramosides™: the plant ceramide in Beauty Complete, and why we chose it

Ingredient spotlight · Ceramosides™ phytoceramides in Health Royals’ Beauty Complete, marine collagen and hyaluronic acid · 5 min read

Ceramides are the lipids that seal the skin barrier and slow water loss, and they decline with age. Ceramosides™ is a defined phytoceramide complex from wheat, made by Seppic in France. In randomised placebo-controlled trials at 30 mg a day over up to two months, skin moisture, elasticity and water loss through the skin were measured. Beauty Complete provides 30 mg per daily dose, the amount those studies used.

Dry skin is not always a question of adding more moisture. The more useful question is often how well the skin holds on to the water it already has, and that depends on the lipids of the outermost skin, where ceramides do much of the work.

This is our guide to Ceramosides™, the phytoceramide in Beauty Complete: what ceramides do, what sets a named phytoceramide apart from the category, who makes Ceramosides™, what its studies measured, and why we settled on 30 mg a day. Why skin becomes drier with the years has its own article: Dry skin: why it changes with age.

Ceramides at Health Royals

Beauty Complete provides 30 mg Ceramosides™ phytoceramides per daily dose, the amount at which the powder form was studied, together with 500 mg Cartidyss® fish cartilage collagen, 120 mg Hyabest® hyaluronic acid, 60 mg vitamin C as PureWay-C, 1.4 mg vitamin B2 and 50 µg biotin. Riboflavin and biotin contribute to the maintenance of normal skin.

See Beauty Complete, marine collagen and hyaluronic acid

What are ceramides, and what do they do in the skin?

Ceramides are lipids that, together with cholesterol and free fatty acids, fill the space between the cells of the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of the skin. The skin cells are the bricks, the lipids the mortar, and ceramides the largest share of it.

Water constantly moves from the deeper skin out through the stratum corneum and evaporates, a flow called transepidermal water loss, or TEWL. When the lipid layers are well organised, that loss is small. When they are depleted or disordered, water escapes faster and the skin feels dry, tight or less supple.

Ceramides are the part of the barrier that helps the skin retain its own water.

Why does the skin barrier change with age and menopause?

Because the barrier is a living structure whose lipid composition changes through life. Research has shown that the ceramide content of the outer skin can decline with age, and ultraviolet light influences how well the lipid layers are organised. Around menopause, hormonal change also affects the skin's lipid metabolism, hydration and barrier function, which is part of why many women notice drier skin in those years.

The change is not only about less water in the skin but about how well the outer layer can hold on to it. The whole picture is in Dry skin: why it changes with age, and the menopausal years in The biology of menopause.

What are phytoceramides, and why did we choose a named raw material?

Phytoceramides are ceramide-related lipids from plants, taken by mouth rather than applied to the skin, and the question researchers have asked is whether a defined plant lipid complex, swallowed daily, changes measurable skin outcomes.

The word on an ingredient list gives the category. What decides quality is the plant the material comes from, how the lipids are composed, the daily amount used and whether that specific material has been studied in people.

That is where a selection begins. When Health Royals chose the ceramide for Beauty Complete, we started from a named raw material with a manufacturer we could name, human studies on that material, and the daily dose those studies had used. That material is Ceramosides™.

What is Ceramosides™, and who makes it?

Ceramosides™ is a patented polar lipid complex from wheat, developed by Seppic, a French specialist manufacturer of ingredients. It contains a defined combination of wheat lipids, among them sphingolipids such as glucosylceramides, with other polar lipids, and it exists as an oil and as a powder. Beauty Complete uses the powder form.

Defined matters in practice: 30 mg is a small amount inside a capsule of other ingredients, and it has to be the same material at the same amount in every daily dose. A named complex from an experienced manufacturer is how we make sure of that. Health Royals works with specialist manufacturers, researchers and supplier networks when raw materials are selected, and we explain what a branded name guarantees in Branded ingredients: what the name actually guarantees.

What did the studies on Ceramosides™ measure?

Two human studies, both randomised and placebo-controlled, at 30 mg a day over up to two months.

The first, by Bizot and colleagues in Cosmetics in 2017, reported on skin hydration and age-related signs after oral intake of wheat glucosylceramides and digalactosyl diglycerides.

The larger study, by Kern, Dudonné and Garcia in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology in 2024, was randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled. It followed 72 women with dry skin and mild to moderate signs of skin ageing for 56 days. They received the lipid complex as an oil, as the powder used in Beauty Complete at 30 mg a day, or placebo. The researchers measured moisturisation, transepidermal water loss, elasticity, smoothness, roughness and wrinkle depth.

Each group included postmenopausal women, reported separately. In those who took the 30 mg powder, the reported changes from baseline after 56 days were approximately:

17.8% higher skin moisturisation

17.0% lower transepidermal water loss

11.0% higher skin elasticity

9.9% lower wrinkle depth

The whole study group showed the same pattern.

The studies were carried out on Ceramosides™, the same raw material at the same dose as in Beauty Complete: a defined wheat lipid complex, 30 mg a day for two months, measured on the very things the barrier is there for.

Why does Beauty Complete contain 30 mg of Ceramosides™?

Because that is the daily amount at which the powder form was studied, and where a branded raw material has a human study, the product carries the dose the study used.

Ceramosides™ was studied at 30 mg per day. Beauty Complete contains 30 mg per daily dose. A larger number would not be a better documented dose, only a different one. For us, the ingredient cannot be separated from its source, manufacturer and studied dose.

The studied dose means that the ingredient in the jar is the one the studies concern, at the amount they concern. Two months in the studies also means two months of daily use, which is why the Beauty Complete jar is made to stand out on a shelf rather than be forgotten in a cupboard.

How does Ceramosides™ fit with the other five ingredients in Beauty Complete?

Each of the six ingredients in Beauty Complete has a reason to be there:

• Cartidyss® fish cartilage collagen type II, 500 mg, from Abyss Ingredients in Brittany, studied at 500 mg a day in a double-blind placebo-controlled study of 46 women aged 45 to 59 over 90 days (our article on Cartidyss®).
• Hyabest® hyaluronic acid, 120 mg, bio-fermented by Kewpie in Japan to a defined molecular weight, at the daily dose used in its human studies (our article on Hyabest®).
• Ceramosides™ phytoceramides, 30 mg, the barrier part of the formula, at the studied dose.
• Vitamin C, 60 mg, as PureWay-C.
• Vitamin B2, 1.4 mg. Riboflavin contributes to the maintenance of normal skin.
• Biotin, 50 µg. Biotin contributes to the maintenance of normal skin.

The three vitamins sit at a nutritional level. Vitamin C contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal function of skin. More in our article on vitamin C and on our skin page.

We have done the selection so that you do not have to. Beauty Complete contains Ceramosides™ at 30 mg per daily dose, the amount its studies used, with Cartidyss® 500 mg, Hyabest® 120 mg, vitamin C 60 mg, vitamin B2 1.4 mg and biotin 50 µg. You can stop looking.

See Beauty Complete, marine collagen and hyaluronic acid

Go deeper

• Guide: skin from within
• Dry skin: why it changes with age
• The biology of radiant skin
• Hyabest® hyaluronic acid in Beauty Complete
• Cartidyss® fish cartilage collagen in Beauty Complete
• Vitamin C for collagen formation and skin
• Branded ingredients: what the name actually guarantees
• The biology of menopause
• Beauty Complete, marine collagen and hyaluronic acid

Frequently asked questions

What are ceramides and what do they do in the skin?
Ceramides are lipids that, with cholesterol and fatty acids, make up the lipid matrix of the stratum corneum, the mortar between the skin cells. They are the part of the barrier that helps the skin retain its own water.

What does the word phytoceramides mean?
A broad term for plant derived ceramide related lipids taken by mouth. The name of the raw material, such as Ceramosides™, tells you the plant, the composition and the daily amount.

How much Ceramosides™ does Beauty Complete provide?
30 mg per daily dose, the amount at which the powder form was studied. Ceramosides™ is a patented polar lipid complex from wheat, developed by Seppic in France.

What did the study in 72 women measure?
Over 56 days, in women with dry skin and mild to moderate signs of skin ageing, it measured moisturisation, transepidermal water loss, elasticity, smoothness, roughness and wrinkle depth against placebo.

How long was Ceramosides™ used in the studies?
For up to two months, at 30 mg every day. That is why Beauty Complete is meant to be taken daily, and why the jar is made to stand out on the shelf.

References

Bizot, V.; Cestone, E.; Michelotti, A.; Nobile, V. Improving skin hydration and age-related symptoms by oral administration of wheat glucosylceramides and digalactosyl diglycerides: a human clinical study. Cosmetics. 2017;4(4):37.

Kern, C.; Dudonné, S.; Garcia, C. Dietary supplementation with a wheat polar lipid complex improves skin conditions in women with dry skin and mild-to-moderate skin ageing. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. 2024;23:1320 to 1330. DOI: 10.1111/jocd.16130.

Seppic. Ceramosides™ ingredient composition and clinical research information.

Disclaimer: This article is intended for general information and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. It summarises ingredient characteristics, published research and manufacturer-provided information. Individual needs and experiences may vary. Consult a qualified healthcare professional with questions about supplementation, allergies, medication or personal health.