Jon Williams – Aquapharm, UK MARINE INGREDIENTS
Next generation marine ingredients analysed
Cosmetic product developers have long been keen to capitalise on the instant appeal and strong consumer resonance inherent in sea-sourced ingredients and products. The continual search for innovative ingredients and fresh marketing angles has led to a multitude of cosmetic product launches based on traditional marine sources such as sea salt, seawater, seaweed and mineral-rich muds and clays; a trend intensified by the rapid growth of sectors such as spa products and organics that lend themselves to oceanic influences. High profile marine products include La Prairie’s Advanced Marine Biology range, Estée Lauder’s Resilience Lift and its Crème de la Mer range. While products drawing on these sources have often achieved dramatic market success, cosmetic formulators have been slower to capitalise on the vast and largely untapped potential of the marine microbiome, i.e. the ecosystem of marine micro-organisms, including micro-algae, bacteria and fungi. Cosmetic ingredients drawing on this source, particularly those derived from bacteria and fungi, promise to not only deliver demonstrably novel and innovative cosmetic benefits to consumers but also to satisfy their increasing demands for affordable, natural and sustainable personal care products.
This article considers the potential opportunities for such ingredients and will highlight some of the first cosmetic ingredients that have emerged from marine microbes as well as showcasing some of those that have the potential to breakthrough in the near future.
The limitations of ‘first generation’ marine ingredients
There has been a long-standing interest in marine inspired cosmetic products and a variety of marine derived ingredients from many different types of marine organisms have been investigated for cosmetic application, including terpenoids, polysaccharides, carotenes, phenolic compounds, chitin, and chitosan. However, marine derived cosmetic ingredients currently constitute just a
small component of the total ~£2.45 bn cosmetic active ingredients market (of the overall global personal care ingredient market of ~£8.4 bn)1
and remain only
a small component of the wider global market for marine biotechnology products currently estimated at €2.8 bn (2010).2 It could be that, although often innovative in their own right, these traditional marine ingredients that largely draw on macerated seaweed extracts, muds and sea-water do not always appear to have the credentials to satisfy more recent consumer demands for consistent performance and/or sustainability. Product lifecycles for those containing these marine ingredients are no different to those containing less ‘exotic’ ingredients forcing developers to constantly seek new sources and formulations to entice customers to continue to buy their products. A sizeable opportunity therefore exists for ingredients that can meet consumers’ twin demands for products that can deliver proven cosmetic effects and sustainable natural sourcing; one that marine microbe- derived ingredients are now looking to fill.
The potential of marine microbe derived cosmetic ingredients Fundamentally, marine microbes use similar protective mechanisms to humans in their efforts to protect themselves from the physical stresses of living in a crowded and dynamic environment. The key difference is that they have had a lot longer than we have had to hone their abilities; marine microorganisms have been exposed to complex ecological pressures, including extremes of temperature, pressure, pH, UV exposure and intense biological competition for over 3.5 billion years. This has given them the time to evolve a huge range of novel physiological and chemical responses that can be harnessed for cosmetic application.3,4 Marine micro-organisms seek to maximise their reproductive potential by successfully competing for scarce resources with other life-forms sharing the same ecological niche – mainly other microbes. Defensive strategies include the production of anti-oxidants and anti- inflammatories to fend off and negate the attacks of their microbial neighbours whose
April 2012 PERSONAL CARE 63
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