Clinical Trial Proves Ritual's HyaCera Reduces Fine Lines and Wrinkles in 90 Days

The brand is committed to clinical trials on the finished formulas for all products by 2030, providing validated scientific evidence in a murky category  

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ritual, the traceable health and wellness brand working to raise the standard in the supplement industry, today announced the completion of its clinical trial on HyaCera™, the brand's daily skin support supplement. The clinical study conducted in partnership with a leading research organization shows that Ritual's HyaCera™ is proven to reduce wrinkles and fine lines and improve skin smoothness in 90 days.

"Selecting evidence-based ingredients has always been a priority for Ritual, and conducting a gold-standard clinical trial on the finished formula for HyaCera takes that commitment one step further. It provides robust scientific evidence on the efficacy of a skin supplement, a category that previously has had limited clinical support," said Dr. Mastaneh Sharafi PhD RD, Vice President of Scientific and Clinical Affairs at Ritual. "This clinical study not only reaffirms our dedication to producing high-quality products but also ensures that our customers can trust in the validated benefits of HyaCera™."

The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design, widely acknowledged as the gold standard in human research, spanned a duration of 12 weeks. Participants were 63 healthy women and men ranging in age from 26 to 64. Multiple skin-related assessments were made at baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks after the commencement of the supplementation protocol. At 12 weeks, results include:

• A 356% reduction in crow's feet wrinkles within 90 days when compared to placebo.*
• A 290% increase in facial skin smoothness within 90 days when compared to placebo.*
• More HyaCera™ participants reported an improvement in skin elasticity, glow/radiance, fine lines and wrinkles and general signs of aging.*

"We were highly skeptical of creating a product for this category. We reviewed numerous ingredients, but either found ingredients with clinical studies that were poorly conducted or ingredients with no clinical support at all," said Adeline Grier-Welch MS, MPH, RDN, Senior Scientist at Ritual. "We selected Ceratiq® and Hyabest® because they had human clinical evidence to support their efficacy, met our standards for traceability, and were ingredients we felt confident putting to the test in our own clinical trial."

Ingestible beauty is one of the fastest growing segments in the supplement category, predicted to reach 9.2 billion by the year 2031. Despite its rapid growth, very few products have human clinical trials to showcase proof and efficacy. 

"It's important to me that we continue setting a new standard in the supplement industry. We've put a stake in the ground to conduct gold-standard human clinical trials in partnership with leading universities and research organizations from around the world on all our products by 2030," said Katerina Schneider, Founder and CEO of Ritual. "This is not a requirement in the category, but it's something we believe is important to ensure our customers can feel confident in the efficacy of the products they are using everyday."

To date, Ritual has completed a university-led clinical trial on its Essential for Women 18+ formula, published in Frontiers In Nutrition — a leading, internationally recognized, peer- reviewed journal — and uses clinically studied key ingredients with strategic doses and forms across the rest of its line. The brand has also completed two in-vitro studies on Synbiotic+ and one in-vitro study on Essential for Women 18+.

This announcement follows Ritual's request to Congress to define terms like "clinically studied" to reduce misuse in the marketplace. Ritual is advocating for stricter oversight and encouraging best practices, including using the clinically studied ingredients in the same doses included in the studies, formats that maximize absorption in the body, or human clinical trials for finished good claims.

About Ritual

Ritual is a health and wellness brand aiming to bring a new level of transparency to the health and wellness industry. A Certified B Corporation, they have pioneered a new standard of high-quality multivitamins and supplements that are backed by science and Made Traceable^® with the first visible supply chain of its kind. Together with leading scientists, researchers and advisors, Ritual has developed products based on thousands of independent research studies, and now has one of the leading prenatal multivitamins in the U.S. Ritual is available on Ritual.com, on Amazon.com, and nationwide at Whole Foods Market and Target. Learn more at Ritual.com and follow the brand @Ritual on Instagram.

Ritual HyaCera™ includes sodium hyaluronate (Hyabest(s) LF-P). Manufactured by Kewpie Corporation (Tokyo, Japan).

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

^†‡Compared to placebo, based on a 12-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study on 63 women and men ages 26 to 64 years old

SOURCE Ritual