Mineral Oil - sounds good right? Minerals are good, right? It is downright natural sounding. Well, almost. It is a petrochemical, and while crude oil is a natural product, found in the earth, few of us want to slather it on our skin. Furthermore, mineral oil is not usually found natural but is a by-product of the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline, and related to petroleum jelly. It is used as a moisturiser in lotions and ointments, as a makeup remover and is the primary constituent in baby oil. It is a known comedogen, that is, it plugs up pores and can cause a worsening of acne. But, one of the main reasons for not liking mineral oil is that during the refining process, unintended byproducts, such as poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other potentially dangerous and damaging chemicals can be produced, creating unwanted exposure.
Besides all this, it also can interfere with vitamin uptake in the intestines if taken topically and especially orally and has been linked to lipoid pneumonia. There are alternatives - mineral oil is cheap and so found in a myriad of products - but natural is better and there are so many wonderful natural moisturising agents out there such as cocoa butter, shea butter, almond oil, the list is almost endless...
28 September 2009
31 August 2009
Parabens - Hype or a concern?
Parabens are used in cosmetics because they exhibit broad spectrum anti-fungal and antibacterial activity, that is, they kill fungi and bacteria that may contaminate and spoil cosmetics. You are most likely to encounter them in moisturisers, skin care lotions and creams, shampoo, sunscreen, gels and shaving creams. Parabens occur in nature (more about that later), but are mostly synthetically produced by the esterification of para-hydroxy benzoic acid (pHBA); hence, the name: paraben. pHBA is an organic acid found in most plants and used in many metabolic pathways by plants. Parabens are easy and cheap to synthesize, and therefore attractive to the cost-conscious cosmetic's industry. The most common are:
So, where does this leave us? Well, at the very least if you want to avoid parabens, you are going to have to read labels and ask questions. Companies may claim that parabens occur in nature. pHBA certainly does, but it's estrogenicity is thousands of times less than paraben esters. Methylparaben can be found in strawberries and blueberries - but in minute concentrations, far less than you will find in typical synthetic paraben ester laden lotions, potions, sprays and shampoos. If you are concerned about estrogenicity, you might want to avoid parabens, synthetic and natural alike, though synthetic paraben esters will be many times the concentration than those paraben precursors that are found in nature.
What we can look for is further research on the subject, with particular interest in whether there is a causal relationship between certain cancers and paraben (and/or other environmental estrogen mimics) exposure. Until then, there are many proven alternatives out there, so if you want to avoid synthetic parabens, it's not only possible, but relatively easy with a little homework and label reading.
- methylparaben
- ethylparaben
- propylparaben
- butylparaben
- isobutylparaben
So, where does this leave us? Well, at the very least if you want to avoid parabens, you are going to have to read labels and ask questions. Companies may claim that parabens occur in nature. pHBA certainly does, but it's estrogenicity is thousands of times less than paraben esters. Methylparaben can be found in strawberries and blueberries - but in minute concentrations, far less than you will find in typical synthetic paraben ester laden lotions, potions, sprays and shampoos. If you are concerned about estrogenicity, you might want to avoid parabens, synthetic and natural alike, though synthetic paraben esters will be many times the concentration than those paraben precursors that are found in nature.
What we can look for is further research on the subject, with particular interest in whether there is a causal relationship between certain cancers and paraben (and/or other environmental estrogen mimics) exposure. Until then, there are many proven alternatives out there, so if you want to avoid synthetic parabens, it's not only possible, but relatively easy with a little homework and label reading.
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