Ingredient intelligence
Bakuchiol
Botanical · Bakuchiol · C18H24O
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.
Molecular identity
- Formula
- C18H24O
- Molecular weight
- 256.4 g/mol
- PubChem CID
- 5468522
- ChEBI
- Data unavailable
Biological targets
Retinoic acid receptor gamma (RARG)
low confidenceassociated with · receptor
Transcriptional overlap reported; direct receptor binding is not established.
UniProt P13631Matrix metallopeptidase 1 (MMP1)
low confidenceinhibits · enzyme
UniProt P03956
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.
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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 confidenceCollagen/MMP 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
57
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
- Total studies
- 1
- Human studies
- 1
- Largest sample
- 44
- Range
- 2019–2019
Index breakdown
- Study design quality90% × 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 volume32% × 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 traceability100% × 5%
Share of curated studies with a verified PMID or DOI in this dataset.
Insufficient comparable evidence for quantitative synthesis.
Research timeline
How the evidence accumulated
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
1 curated study
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.
Community evidence
Submitted by readers
Reader submissions appear here only after review. They are not part of the curated dataset and do not affect the Skinceptor Evidence Index.
No approved community submissions yet.
Sources
- PubChem 5468522retrieved 2026-09-14
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