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Ingredient intelligence

Bakuchiol

Botanical · Bakuchiol · C18H24O

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Bakuchiol is a meroterpene phenol studied as a retinoid-functional alternative. It is not structurally a retinoid but gene-expression overlap with retinoids has been reported.

Single human studyOne curated human study — the finding has not been independently repeated in this dataset.

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Molecular identity

Two-dimensional chemical structure of Bakuchiol
Formula
C18H24O
Molecular weight
256.4 g/mol
PubChem CID
5468522
ChEBI
Data unavailable
Open PubChem record →

Biological targets

  • Retinoic acid receptor gamma (RARG)

    low confidence

    associated with · receptor

    Transcriptional overlap reported; direct binding is not established.

    UniProt P13631

  • Matrix metallopeptidase 1 (MMP1)

    low confidence

    inhibits · enzyme

    UniProt P03956

Molecules & genes

Molecules

  • BakuchiolC18H24O · 256.4 g/mol

Genes / proteins

How could this ingredient interact with biology?

Biological network

Ingredient → molecule → target → gene/protein → pathway → process → studied outcome. Relationship strength is drawn from the curated confidence tier; nothing is added to make the chain look complete.

100%
BakuchiolBakuchiol

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IngredientMoleculeTargetGenePathwayProcessOutcome

7 lower-confidence relationships are hidden at this filter level. Use “Show more biology” to include them.

Text alternative for this network
  • Bakuchiol is molecule Bakuchiol — high confidence

Biological pathways

Extracellular matrix organisation

low confidence

/ expression changes reported in cell models.

Reactome R-HSA-1474244

Evidence engine

Moderate

Some human evidence exists, but replication or sample sizes are limited.

Skinceptor Evidence Index

48

experimental · of 100

This index is a research-navigation aid describing how much evidence exists and how it was produced. It is not a medical safety score, an efficacy guarantee, or a clinical recommendation.

Study composition

  • Randomised controlled trial1
  • In-vitro1
Total studies
2
Human studies
1
Largest sample
44
Range
2014–2019

Index breakdown

  • Study design quality57% × 28%

    Mean design weight across curated studies (meta-analysis 1.0, RCT 0.9, other human 0.7, review 0.45, animal 0.35, in-vitro 0.25).

  • Human evidence share33% × 22%

    Proportion of curated evidence measured in people rather than cells or animals.

  • Evidence volume50% × 14%

    Log-scaled count of curated studies, so volume alone cannot dominate the score.

  • Largest sample size55% × 12%

    Log-scaled largest reported sample size across curated human studies.

  • Replication33% × 12%

    Independent human studies, capped at three; one study is never treated as replicated.

  • Recency65% × 7%

    Linear decay over a twenty-year window from the most recent curated publication.

  • Source traceability50% × 5%

    Share of curated studies with a verified PMID or DOI in this dataset.

How is this determined? →

Insufficient comparable evidence for quantitative synthesis.

Research timeline

How the evidence accumulated

  1. 2014

    Bakuchiol as a functional retinoid analogue: gene expression in skin models

    In-vitrosample size unavailable · International Journal of Cosmetic Science

  2. 2019

    Prospective randomized double-blind assessment of topical bakuchiol and retinol for facial photoaging

    Randomised controlled trialn = 44 · British Journal of Dermatology

Ingredient fingerprint

9 nodes · 9 relationships · seed "bakuchiol"

The fingerprint is a deterministic visual signature: ridge amplitude comes from the number of entities in each tier, node placement from identifier hashes, and opacity from confidence. Two ingredients can never produce the same figure unless their networks are identical.

Open in Biology as Art →

Research

2 curated studies

Randomised controlled trialBritish Journal of Dermatology · 2019n = 44

Prospective randomized double-blind assessment of topical bakuchiol and retinol for facial photoaging

Reported comparable improvement in wrinkle and pigmentation scores between bakuchiol and retinol, with less scaling and stinging reported for bakuchiol.

Limitations — Single centre, 12 weeks, no vehicle arm, so both may reflect regression to the mean.

PMID 29752709Bakuchiol · Retinol
In-vitroInternational Journal of Cosmetic Science · 2014

Bakuchiol as a functional retinoid analogue: gene expression in skin models

Reported retinoid-like changes in collagen and matrix gene expression without direct retinoic acid receptor binding.

Limitations — Cell and ex-vivo models, industry-affiliated; identifier not verified during curation.

Identifier not curated — search Europe PMCBakuchiol

Community evidence

Submitted by readers

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Reader submissions appear here only after review. They are not part of the curated dataset and do not affect the Skinceptor Evidence Index.

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Sources

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