MARINE INGREDIENTS Barbara Broakway – IMCD, UK
Marine derived ingredients for personal care
The oceans and seas are a great place to find natural actives and functional materials for personal care products. They are the last great untapped resource. Despite covering more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, only a tiny proportion of their full potential is being used in personal care.1 We are familiar with using marine materials. We use everything from seawater to a huge range of extracts made from seaweed, microalgae, plankton, coral and many other marine organisms in personal care, but this is just the tip of the potential ‘commercial iceberg’. Formulations can be readily thickened or gelled with carrageenan, alginates (cold-soluble and cold-setting), agar or agarose, (all extracted from seaweed). Even the sand, mud and silt that settle on the ocean floor can have a place in cosmetics. The most exciting new materials come from the very deep sea and the water below 1,500 metres remains largely unexplored. This is the largest habitat on Earth (covering more than 60% of our planet). The cliché that ‘more people have travelled into space than have travelled to the deep ocean’ may have become a little overused but it does help get into perspective the remoteness of Earth’s ‘flooded basement’, the abyssal zone (see Fig. 1).2
Seawater and sea salt The most obvious marine ingredient is seawater. Thalassotherapy (seawater therapy), has been used since Roman times.3
Unsurprisingly,
as terrestrial life originated in the seas, seawater contains an abundance of minerals essential for healthy skin. Naturally occurring minerals found in the sea include phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, chromium, selenium, iodine and potassium and all have known skin benefits.4
There is a
long safe history of traditional seawater therapies being used to treat common skin complaints. As more than half the world’s population live within 100 km of the coast, many people have
70 Estuarine Continental shelf Coastal
Euphotic Bathyal
firsthand experience of seawater helping their cuts to heal. The high sodium chloride content of seawater makes it difficult to use in formulas, so Soliance in France supply marine water which has suitably adjusted levels of salts, to help formulators get around the difficulties of using untreated salt water in formulas. This spring seawater has been clinically tested and shown to improve dry and damaged skin.5
Sea salt
and salt from the Dead Sea are especially popular for anhydrous salt scrubs. Soaking in Dead Sea salts has been reported to help sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and osteoarthritis. The minerals are absorbed while soaking, stimulating blood circulation.6
The estaurine and euphotic zone
Abrasive sands of all grades and colours can be obtained for personal care use and are wonderful for treating hard skin on feet and elbows. Active Concepts can supply ABS Sea Silt Extract, which is water extracted marine silt (Maris limus).
Micromarine life Skin disorders
such as acne and psoriasis benefit from regular soaking in reconstituted Dead Sea salt. The National Psoriasis Foundation recommends Dead Sea and Dead Sea salts as effective treatments for psoriasis. The high concentration of bromide and magnesium in the Dead Sea salt can relieve allergic reactions. One efficacy study showed bathing in the Dead Sea salt solution significantly improved skin barrier function compared with the tap water- treated control forearms. Another study saw a 40% reduction in the depth of wrinkles when skin was treated with reconstituted Dead Sea salts.7
High tide Low tide
A glass of seawater contains millions of bacterial cells, hundreds of thousands of phytoplankton and tens of thousands of zooplankton. New marine ‘microlife’ is being discovered all the time. Unipex Innovations has worked with French Polynesian experts and collected Kopara from Moorea Island, also called the Magical Island, found among the volcanic islands and atolls located in the eastern South Pacific. Kopara is a unique ecosystem made up of communities of microorganisms that produce exopolysaccharide as protective shields. The polysaccharide enables them to survive being dried out and sun damaged at low tides.8
Scientists at Unipex Sea level Sun Open sea
Innovations have worked with isolates from Kopara and using various biotechnological techniques; and now produce locally three interesting exopolysaccharide actives (Exo H, Exo T and Exo P). Exo H (H for hydrating) has been shown to induce skin to produce hyaluronic acid, filaggrin and skin barrier lipids. It is therefore recommended for dry skin and general skin improvement. Exo T (T for skin texture) triggers desquamation more effectively than retinoic acid. It is a potent inducer of differentiation markers. It protects the collagen network and so improves skin texture. Exo P chelates heavy metals on the skin surface9
Abyssal
and so helps protect skin against urban pollution and improves dull skin for a healthy look.10
Microalgae The major life zones in an ocean. PERSONAL CARE April 2012
One class of marine microlife, the microalgae, are of huge global importance. Along with other phytoplankton they capture vast
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