DracoBelle Nu: Skin Support Ingredient from Moldavian Dragonhead

The DracoBell Nu skin results – we’ve requested the source here. Image courtesy Nutricosmetics.^[1]

The Moldavian Dragonhead plant is more formally known as Dracocephalum moldavica, and is a member of the mint family that has cardioprotective and anti-aging properties due to its antioxidant profile. However, it’s a difficult plant to properly isolate due to the plant genus’ wild diversity and limited supply.^[2]

DracoBelle Nu is a branded ingredient designed to standardize the plant’s extract, which targets at least 150 micrograms per gram of flavonoid glucuronides.^[1] According to its manufacturer, it’s able to increase a AMPK activity 4x and FOXO activity 3x.^[3,4] We originally wrote about it in our article on the now-discontinued Glaxon Wonder Collagen, which has been replaced by Glaxon Collagen.

Protecting Skin through AMPK Upgregulation

AMPK stands for ATP-Activated Protein Kinase, and in layman’s terms, we consider AMPK the “we need energy now” enzyme that gets so many metabolic functions moving.^[5] FOXO, on the other hand, stands for Forkhead box protein O, which signals improved collagen and DNA repair, amongst other cellular benefits – many related to skin health.^[6]

Looking at the Moldavian Dragonhead study,^[4] we can now see why it’s so beneficial — there are some incredible constituents inside like luteolin and apigenin!

In a recent research study published in 2021, 200 milligrams of the ingredient was tested in a clinical trial performed on 32 white female volunteers with sun-damaged skin (average age 50.8 years, phototype I-III) for eight weeks. They reported the following effects:^[3,4]

• Skin moisture increased by 14.4%
• Skin elasticity increased by 6.7%
• Skin density increased by 2.5%

Additionally, 94% of the volunteers “felt better in their skin” and 75% were satisfied with the product’s performance, while 72% felt that their skin was more hydrated.^[3,4]

Several anti-aging constituents

Looking at the constituents found in Moldavian Dragonhead per the manufacturer’s study,^[4] it’s unsurprising that the ingredient is so beneficial. Inside, they’ve found luteolin, apigenin, talianin, diosmetin, and acacetin.^[4] We’ve covered the first two — luteolin and apigenin — in other articles, and have found potent health and anti-aging benefits from them.

One last note is that Moldavian Dragonhead has a sweet (but weak) lemon balm-like taste and odor, which may improve the flavor profile too!

While we await the data, we remain focused on the high quality collagen content, but are very hopeful that Glaxon further boosted it with this unique plant extract.