By Andy Ho

THERE is a made-in-Japan face mask sold here that claims to be impregnated with a 'Nobel Prize winning ingredient'. It is touted to keep wrinkles at bay but sceptical readers may well wonder how true this might be.

The ingredient in question is called Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF). First isolated in 1962 by Vanderbilt University's Stanley Cohen, co-winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology, this protein keeps skin and hair healthy.

This it does by facilitating the growth and regeneration of cells in the outermost layer of the skin called the epidermis. EGF also regulates hair growth.

However, it is its role in wound healing, not skin ageing, if any, that has been studied most extensively. In fact, EGF is now used in gel form to treat chronic wounds, although its efficacy in this department still leaves a lot to be desired.

Currently, only three firms - in India, South Korea and Cuba - make this gel. Since little human EGF can be extracted from natural sources, it is manufactured using recombinant DNA technology, which is actually of 1980s vintage.