Cosmeceutical Activities of Essential Oils from the Rhizomes of Plants in the Zingiberaceae Family

The plants in the Zingiberaceae family are often rhizomatous annual or perennial herbs with considerable economic value. This study aimed to investigate the cosmeceutical activities of essential oils from the rhizomes of Hedychium coronarium J. Koenig, Curcuma caesia Roxb., and Curcuma longa L. The essential oils were obtained from hydrodistillation and subjected to investigations of antioxidant activities by 2,2-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power, and ferric thiocyanate assay. Furthermore, the whitening properties were investigated in terms of anti-tyrosinase inhibition, whereas the anti-skin aging activities were investigated through collagenase, elastase, and hyaluronidase inhibition. The results showed that all essential oils exhibited low antioxidant, anti-elastase, and anti-collagenase activities. On the other hand, H. coronarium oil was the only essential oil in the present study, which was found to possess anti-tyrosinase activity, with the inhibition of 98.4 ± 5.5% and 30.2 ± 1.7% at the final concentration of 0.1 mg/ml, when the substrate were L-tyrosine and L-DOPA, respectively. Interestingly, it was highlighted that the anti-tyrosinase activity of H. coronarium oil was stronger than that of kojic acid, a well-known whitening agent, when the substrate was L-tyrosine. Besides, H. coronarium oil and C. longa oil exhibited promising anti-hyluronidase activities with inhibition of 83.6 ± 1.0% and 82.9 ± 2.2%, respectively, which were comparable to that of epigallocatechin gallate (100.0 ± 0.0%). All essential oil induced irritations in the HET-CAM test at the tested concentration of 5 mg/ml in 10% dimethyl sulfoxide in olive oil. Therefore, H. coronarium oil was suggested as an attractive ingredient in cosmeceutical products for whitening and anti-aging.