Lifestyle Choices

If you were to ask the person behind the cosmetic counter, ‘What is the toxicity and cellular response to this cream?’ they would look at you as if you were speaking a different language. In fact, you would be speaking another language to them, but maybe it is a language they should know. We feel that in order to make informed decisions about skincare, we need to know how the ingredients work on our skin. We have to look beyond all the e marketing material and examine each individual ingredient and its properties. Then we need to look at the combined effect of these ingredients together. The exciting news is that now some companies are doing just that and educating their users along the way.

Toxicity

When a scientific toxicity report is done on an ingredient its aim is to find out whether an ingredient breaks open and damages the cell wall or not. ‘Toxic‘ means that the cell wall breaks so that the cell cannot replicate and dies, causing irritation on the surface of your skin. ‘Non-toxic‘ means that the cell wall is left intact. The problem is tle testing is that lit done to find out what happens on the inside of the cell with an ingredient is classed as nontoxic. As long as the ingredient is classed as non-toxic it is assumed to be safe in personal care products.

Flow Cytometry

Some of the latest research into the safety of cosmetics is called ‘Flow Cytometry‘. This is leading technology that allows scientists to study the effects an ingredient has on the human cell. It can measure the inflammatory response, the oxidative stress occurring inside the cell and whether any DNA damage or repair occurs. Reports show this testing to be accurate and reliable.

We were fortunate to see results of certain ingredients using Flow Cytometry testing. A variety of skincare ingredients were tested by a New Zealand government laboratory. The testing was carried out on the common preservatives you would find in cosmetics: Methyl Paraben, Ethyl Paraben and Propyl Paraben, as well as other ingredients. All ingredients were tested at low concentrations of 0.1 per cent, much less than often used in skincare.

Results from this research showed that all parabens do not cause surface inflammation and are not toxic, which means they do not cause the cell membrane to break. However, they do create oxidative stress and can cause DNA damage.

This means that parabens can cause unsuspected long-term damage. They do not irritate or create a toxic effect on the skin, but DNA can be damaged and can still replicate, and this combined with oxidative stress (which creates intense damage in the cell) could cause abnormalities in cell reproduction. This is where cancerous cells may form.

The next example was a typical antiperspirant or deodorant containing Aluminum ingredients. It proved to have even more detrimental effects on the cells than parabens. Active Manuka honey on the other hand showed a slight antioxidant effect on the cell and it was DNA protecting. Echinacea was great on all counts, and even repaired DNA.

So how do companies get away with including harmful ingredients in their products? Most studies that cosmetic companies carry out are designed to see the toxic and inflammatory effects of the ingredients. They do not test how the DNA is affected. DNA is one of the main controlling factors as to whether the cell replicates healthily. What happens when DNA is damaged is relatively unknown, but it is known that cancers form when the DNA does not replicate correctly.

Lip tip: Delve into a company’s philosophy if you are interested in finding out more about their products. Don’t be shy to ring them and ask about ingredients, the safety of their products and effects on long-term health.

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