Natural antioxidants in cosmetics
Faculty of
Pharmacy, Airlangga University, Dharmawangsa Dalam, Surabaya, Indonesia
Abstract
Many
cosmetics that are marketed nowadays often contain antioxidants as the active
ingredients. It is known that oxidation reactions could produce free radicals,
which can start chain reactions that will damage skin cells. Increasing the
amount of free radicals could initiate the wrinkling, photoaging, elastosis,
drying, and pigmentation of the skin. Topical antioxidants could terminate the
chain reactions by removing the free radical intermediates and inhibit other
oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves; this could defend the skin
against the environmental stress caused by free radicals. It is well known that
plants can produce natural antioxidant compounds that could control the
oxidative stress caused by sunlight and oxygen. Many patents and commercial
cosmetic products have various combinations of plant extracts. The cosmetic
formulations usually contain various combinations of many plant extracts, for
example, green tea, rosemary, grape seed, basil grape, blueberry, tomato,
acerola seed, pine bark, and milk thistle. These plants extracts contain
natural antioxidants, that is, polyphenols, flavonoids, flavanols, stilbens,
and terpenes (including carotenoids and essential oils). Some commercial
products contain pure natural compounds such as quercetin, kojic acid, and
resveratrol in their formulation. The choice of the right active plant extracts
or compounds, the confirmation of their activity, and their stability and
synergistic effects in cosmetic products are the important factors for the
formulation of an effective product. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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