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Helix Aspersa Muller is a creature that has survived adverse environmental conditions for more than 600 million years. This little gastropod or mollusk has an unusual defensive mechanism in the form of an intricate glycol-conjugate secretion which helps the creature rapidly repair any damage to its skin.

The research of the possible uses of this secretion goes back some 15 years. A Chilean enterprise has performed research and developed a biotechnology to gather the secretion. They do this by submitting the snails to regulated stress comparable to what they have to endure to when a predator attacks them, or when they come into an atmosphere full of oxygen radicals after hibernating. This enterprise has also developed a biotechnology to secure the bio-availability of the secretion deep inside the skin where it interacts with target cells to recover skin damage.

Natural Skin Treatment with Biological Ingredients

For many years, numerous scientists have studied snails and their secretions. The snails were treated as simple creatures, allowing study and the modeling of natural functions thought to be more intricate in vertebrates. The scientists have discovered molecules in the snail secretion now being thought worthwhile candidates for the development of drugs, and natural skin care treatments.

Their findings have resulted in a new frontier in science named the "sweet science of glycobiology", a blossoming branch that attempts to understand how sugars in the body -called glycans- influence human health and contain information necessary to define the complexity of life as that of DNA and proteins. It also sheds light onto the potential explanation of a more humble observation by layman people. The observation that manipulating snails while breeding them for their value as a gourmet delicacy, yielded soft hands and scarless healing of minor injuries, cuts and scrapes.

The Natural Way to Healthy Skin

Also, it could explain the further realization that snails injured by birds are able to recover some of their parts -eyes and mouth- by bubbling onto themselves what appears to be the same secretion mentioned above. The snails also use it to crawl more easily, stick onto something when on a vertical position defying gravity, to isolate themselves into their shell by the dry secretion on the opercula, or to persuade bugs to stay away from them. This biological secretion is the one that has this fascinating, healing effect on human skin.

Two patents of invention for a process designed to gather the secretion and its use in cosmetic or skin care solutions have been authorized. One to a Chilean doctor, in Chile in 1995, for a process to gather the secretions by submerging snails in warm water and then filtering the mucin, for the use of the secretion in a skin care product made with petrochemical and other chemical components. The second to a Spanish oncologist, in the USA in 1996, for a process whereby snails are stressed mechanically to promote the production of their mucin, and the use of it for the therapeutic and cosmetic treatment of skin, specially for radiodermatitis. There is also a patent granted in the US in 2000 for the use of an intricate glyco-molecule, taken from the body and also present in the mucins of an African snail, as a drug to impede angiogenesis.

A safe and natural alternative to chemical skin care treatments is now available in the shape of a skin care product to treat a wide range of skin conditions. The Bio Beauty Balm is a natural skin care balm that heals and moisturizes your skin.