What are Food-Based Ingredients?
With a growing emphasis on opportunity living, purchasers are extra fascinated than ever with utilising food ingredients in skin care. If a factor is suitable enough to consume, it also presents the influence of being pure and nutritious, traits that human beings prefer to apply to their skin.
However, the presence of a few food ingredients in personal care products can also be an advertising gimmick; something being a food component doesn’t sound secure to use in the pores and skin.
Rather than covering the numerous food elements already utilised in personal care products, this blog will investigate some myths regarding the usage of food ingredients in unique care products and the realities of food ingredients in skin care products.
Let’s look into some challenges surrounding the regulations governing cosmetic products that make nutrition and food products that make beauty claims. So, how edible are even the most meticulously designed cosmetics?
Truth, Myth and Everything
The products used to condition or preserve the appearance or odour of the skin is called Cosmetics. The definition of cosmetics indicates that none must violate cosmetic regulations to create ingestible items. On the other hand, foods are regarded as goods consumed as a source of nourishment and are subject to country-specific restrictions.
These rules specify that specific substances and their forms are suitable for use in foods within certain restrictions.
Skin, for example, is composed of protein, collagen, and elastin, but ingesting specific proteins in isolation might induce limitations in absorption or activity of other proteins in the digestive system, which can be harmful. Furthermore, proteins and peptides ingested as concentrates may not be absorbed if not consumed as an entire. Suppose a person consumes enough protein from meal sources (together with meat, egg, or dairy products). Any ‘greater’ proteins/peptides may be transformed into excess energy and stored as fat, with no dietary price.
Proteins are also found in collagen and elastin. Any consumed collagen and elastin (assuming their form is even allowed to be ingested!) Enzymes in the intestine break down collagen and elastin into peptide and amino acid units rather than being transported to the skin as collagen and elastin units, as is often assumed.
When ingested more than what the body can get from complete ‘regular’ food sources, they are turned to fat and stored. Unfortunately, many ‘food’ products claim to support attractiveness, whereas a balanced diet may be more appropriate. Examine the science and determine whether a food source would be a better option.
Preservatives must be appropriate for the cosmetic.
While some preservatives are used in foods, this does not necessarily imply that they are safe for use in cosmetics. For example, it is known to many of us that benzoic acid, sorbic acid, and their salts are typically used in food products and may also be found in some cosmetics; however, their use in cosmetics is limited because they are only effective up to a pH of around 5.0, whereas most cosmetic products are pH regulated to 5.5 or higher, necessitating the use of other preservatives.
Furthermore, many foods may be prepared dry (without water) or at a pH that prevents microbial development and hence does not require preservation. On the other hand, most cosmetics have high water content and a pH favourable to microbes. Over a two- or three-year shelf life, these same cosmetics may be subjected to frequent consumer contamination, necessitating good cosmetic preservation where it is not required for food. As a result, the preservatives in many ostensibly “edible” cosmetics may not be food-grade but have been chosen to fit the product.
They’re also suitable for preserving acidic settings, which won’t work for many cosmetics. Finally, Propylparaben and methylparaben – notwithstanding the controversy around parabens, these preservatives may be found in your foods and drugs. Multiple government websites certify their acceptability for personal care usage within specified limits.
Don’t fall for the trap.
