114 ANTIPERSPIRANTS
the product twice daily for 15 days to the right foot with the left foot acting as untreated control. While this was not a gold-standard clinical trial, the authors suggest these Ayurvedic herbs may have clinical effectiveness against bad foot odour, sweating, and itching. One thing these herbs have in common is the presence of essential oils containing terpenes. Terpenes generally have a pleasing odour and antimicrobial properties. They certainly could account for a perceived benefit against foot odour and perhaps itching of they treated a fungal infection. A paste made from Vetiveria zizanioides is listed in the Ayurvedic herbal Dravyaguna Vijnana4
and Charaka Samhita5
as a topical treatment for excessive sweating and associated body odour. Several other Ayurvedic herbs prescribed for excessive sweating are listed in Table 1. They contain an array of phytochemicals including terpenes, tannins, saponins, and alkaloids.
In TCM, excessive underarm sweating can be a sign of heat accumulation, sometimes attributed to poor diet, overwork, lack of sleep, or organ weakness. As such, prescribed treatments are often taken orally to target systemic problems and to restore harmony within the body. Ephedra Radix (Ephedra sinica root) is an oral TCM treatment for hyperhidrosis. In a mouse sweating model, oral administration of an isolated fraction from Ephedra containing the polyphenol mahuannin B was effective against hyperhidrosis.6
Radix
Astragali, also called Huang Qi, is the dried roots of Astragalus propinquus (syn. Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus). This TCM herb is also used as an oral antiperspirant.7,8
Topical TCM
herbs used to wash and dry the armpits, control bacteria, and to help arrest underarm sweating are listed in Table 2. Many are fragrant herbs and spices such as clove (Fig 4), sweet flag, Japanese catnip, and wormwood. They are sometimes mixed with alum (a hydrated double sulfate salt of aluminum) or other minerals. Leung et al.9
Table 3: European and American herbs, fungi, and marine organisms for sweating.12-20 Latin name
Achillea millefolium Astragalus spp. Cistus ladanifer
Equisetum arvense Salvia fruticosa Salvia officinalis Sambucus nigra
Saponaria officinalis Xanthium strumarium Laricifomes officinalis Paracentrotus lividus
Common name Yarrow
Milkvetch Rockrose Horsetail
Family
Asteraceae Fabaceae Cistaceae
Equisetaceae
East Mediterranean sage Lamiaceae Sage
Elderberry Soapwort Cocklebur Conk fungi
Purple sea urchin
water are applied topically, acting as topical demulcents or film-formers.13
In
Kosovo, people use aerial parts of sage (Salvia officinalis) and flowers of elderberry (Sambucus nigra) as antiperspirants.14
East
Mediterranean sage (Salvia libanotica) essential oil from leaf water extracts has been used as a topical antiperspirant in Lebanon.15
ladanifer) were used as a foot antiperspirant in Portugal.16
Fresh leaves of rockrose (Cistus Aerial parts of
horsetail (Equisetum arvense) were used traditionally for foot hyperhidrosis in Eastern Europe.17
Similar to TCM,
Astragalus spp. have been used in traditional Palestinian medicine as an antiperspirant.18
It has antibacterial and
antioxidant properties, but no clinical trials have been performed to prove its efficacy as an antiperspirant. Flavonoids, phenolic acids, and saponins are considered as the main active components contributing to Astragalus’s therapeutic effects in traditional medicine.
In addition to plants, fungi and marine
found an aqueous extract of mulberry leaves and ash tree bark (Qin Pi) used as a 15-minute foot soak reduced foot sweating by an average of 15% in a pilot study with twenty healthy volunteers. These herbs have cooling properties in TCM and are also antibacterial, which could help reduce foot odour. In Europe and the Americas, a number of herbal remedies have been traditionally used as underarm and foot antiperspirants (Table 3). In North America, the Navajos used rough cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium) liniment as an underarm antiperspirant.12
In Italy, common yarrow
(Achillea millefolium) and soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) flowers mixed with
PERSONAL CARE EUROPE
creatures have been used as traditional antiperspirants. In Eastern Europe, dried fruiting bodies of the fungus Laricifomes officinalis (known as conks of larch and Apothekerschwamm) were taken orally as an antiperspirant and for night sweats related to fever and tuberculosis.19
In
Ancient Greece, eggs from the common sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus were used for a range of skin disorders and as an antiperspirant.20
Mineral ingredients You can find an array of minerals from natural sources in modern antiperspirants such as alum and sea salts containing magnesium. Alum is regularly mentioned as an antiperspirant in traditional medicine including TCM10
and in Iraq.21 In TCM, bone
powder, ground seashells, and halloysite (an aluminosilicate clay mineral) are applied
Lamiaceae Adoxaceae
Part
Flowers Root
Leaves
Stems, leaves Stems, leaves Stems, leaves Flowers
Caryophyllaceae Flowers Asteraceae
Fomitopsidaceae Fruit Parechinidae
Eggs
as sweat absorbers, sometimes in conjunction with herbs.10
Research and development challenges of a natural antiperspirant Formulation technology
The amount of technical support, and the types of safety and efficacy data available for natural formulations can range from solid scientific studies, anecdotal home remedies, and/or support from other industries such as food. For a natural antiperspirant, performance support should be based on actual clinical efficacy testing of the final product formulation for the specific claim of “reduces underarm sweating” or a related claim. This means that the natural extract should not be added at a non-functional level, but rather, should be tested at the level required to demonstrate the intended claim. The performance target can be either to meet or exceed the minimum quantitative FDA standard using their statistical criterion, or to demonstrate a statistically significant sweat reduction benefit versus a placebo. Efficacy will be addressed in more detail later in this article.
In addition to functional performance, other parameters that should be investigated are stability/shelf life, colour, odour, preservation, sensory characteristics, etc.
Some pitfalls that should be recognised and considered up front and factored into the R&D plan are as follows: l Natural extracts may not be as effective as the aluminum-based salts. Our evidence from pilot studies suggests this is the case (data not published).
l The supply of natural extracts could be inconsistent, in that there are variations in the technical specifications based on sources of supply. This could require repeated and extended quality
April 2020 Unknown
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