Giving Soybean Oil A New Role Health And Beauty
Scientists have reported development of a new method for converting soybean oil into a highly effective bio-based sunscreen active ingredient that does not carry the potential health concerns of ingredients in some existing sunscreens. The new, natural sunscreen agent could replace petroleum-derived ingredients in a variety of personal-care products, they reported at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) being held here this week.
It was among more than 12,000 scientific reports scheduled for presentation at the meeting, one of the largest scientific gatherings of 2010.
Joseph Laszlo, Ph.D., who headed the research, pointed out that sales of sunscreens and other skin-care products that protect against the damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) light have been booming. Driving the multi-billion-dollar-per-year market are consumers who are better informed about the link between overexposure to the sun and skin cancer and sunlight’s effects in giving skin an aged appearance. At the same time, however, concerns have arisen over certain ingredients in today’s mainstay sunscreens. “One, for instance, is a substance known as oxybenzone that is a suspected hormone disruptor that could contribute to the disruption of aquatic species reproduction.”
“We’re trying to provide nature-inspired skin-care materials that avoid such health concerns and at the same time have fewer adverse environmental impacts,” Laszlo said. He is with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service in Peoria, Ill. Sunscreens are among the substances, termed “pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs),” that constitute a relatively new family of water contaminants with potential adverse health effects on wildlife and people. Read more
Baldness Gene Identified
US researchers have found a gene mutation that causes a progressive type of hair loss known as hereditary hypotrichosis simplex and say their discovery is likely to affect research and improve treatments for different types of hair loss, including male pattern baldness.
A paper on the discovery, by investigators from Columbia, Rockefeller and Stanford Universities in the US, and research centers in Italy and Switzerland, was published online in the 15 April issue of Nature.
The progressive hair loss of hereditary hypotrichosis simplex begins in childhood through a process called hair follicle miniaturization, which also occurs in male pattern baldness or androgenetic alopecia. The process causes hair follicles to shrink so the hair they produce gradually becomes thinner and thinner, until a thick head of hair eventually becomes what is known as “peach fuzz”.
In this study, the researchers found that the gene APCDD1 causes hereditary hypotrichosis simplex and thus gives some insights into hair follicle miniaturization. But, they pointed out that this does not mean the same gene causes male pattern baldness, even though it also involves hair follicle miniaturization.
Lead author Dr Angela M. Christiano, professor of dermatology and genetics and development at Columbia University Medical Center, said in a statement:
“It is important to note that while these two conditions share the same physiologic process, the gene we discovered for hereditary hypotrichosis does not explain the complex process of male pattern baldness.” Read more