The 100% natural conference

Published: 14-Aug-2007

Being natural is a lot more complicated than it sounds, as delegates discovered at the SCS conference in May.

Being natural is a lot more complicated than it sounds, as delegates discovered at the SCS conference in May.

This year’s SCS conference took a slightly different approach to previous years. For a start it was a conference rather than a symposium, but it also started on a Sunday afternoon with a more relaxed session of presentations, building to the full event that was absolutely packed with presentations covering all manner of issues related to the 100% natural theme. Natural raw materials, sourcing and sustainability and regulations pertaining to naturals all came under scrutiny and were widely debated during the table-top bazaar breaks during the day.

Karl Lintner (Sederma) had his audience transfixed on the Sunday afternoon of the conference. He accompanied his enlightening thoughts on the subject of language and its misuse with a backdrop of beautiful images, many of them natural and beautiful but some of them manmade and also undeniably beautiful. “The public sees ‘aggressive chemistry’ and ‘beneficial’ nature,” he said, but this is way too simplistic. “At one extreme, natural is only what you find in nature that is without human intervention, and tea is not natural as a cow wouldn’t find it in nature. At the other extreme everything is natural as petrolatum (oil from rocks) is nothing but transformed biomass.” The opposite of natural is non-natural or supernatural, said Lintner.

“So why bother to be 100% natural?” he asked. “The public only wants it because it has been told by a frenzied press that this is what it should want. The public doesn’t have the know-how or education to make a judgement on the benefits or dangers of natural versus chemical. I defy anybody to show significant differences between three types of glycerine (plant, mineral and synthetic, ie petrochemical). As long as the pharmacopoeia specifications are respected, why should we care where the glycerine comes from?

“Rather than fall into the trap of 100% natural, we should think of what language, what message we want to employ for tomorrow’s cosmetics.” If we fall into the trap of opposing chemistry, there will be no way back and the scope of innovation will be drastically reduced, said Lintner, championing rationalism over emotion. Natural chemistry? “Chemistry is natural,” he said.

Rules & regulations

One recurring theme over the three days was the problem of working within a framework where terms were not legally or even properly defined. Jan Janichen (Dr Straetmans) summarised the problems caused by increased consumer awareness resulting in fast growth rates in the market of natural and organic cosmetic products. He said limited knowledge of formulators and unethical behaviour leads to products claiming to be natural but made with conventional ingredients. Because there is no official definition for natural or organic cosmetics, the limited knowledge of consumers makes it easy to play with natural claims as a marketing tool without corresponding formulating efforts.

Jan Janichen, Dr Straetmans, summarised the problems caused by increased consumer awareness resulting in fast growth rates in the market of natural and organic cosmetic products. He said that limited knowledge of formulators and unethical behaviour by marketing departments results in products claiming to be natural but made with conventional ingredients. Because there is no official definition for natural or organic cosmetics, the limited knowledge of consumers makes it easy to play with natural claims as a marketing tool without corresponding formulating efforts.

While there is increasing consumer awareness and interest in naturals and organics, the same cannot be said of definitions for these terms and a lot of the problem relates to definition and perception of what is actually natural. But there are also questions relating to motivation for certification and the labelling efforts themselves.

A number of bodies are looking to establish rules, “and it is in the interests of the natural and organic cosmetics industry to define rules before government steps in,”

said Janichen. “We don’t want to end up with a REACH type situation.” Of the schemes currently available, he sees BDIH, Ecocert and the Soil Association as the most important, though he said with Ecocert there seems to be a lack of understanding of chemical conversions. “It can be expected that with European regulations, natural and organic cosmetics as we know them will no longer exist,” he added.

“We’re going to go down a rather painful dark alley, led by marketing, and this sector could lose all credibility if we’re not careful,” commented conference organiser Tony Dweck. “We need to persuade marketing or it could all go belly-up. Why don’t we spend our time explaining what our products do rather than what they haven’t got in them? We have to put our feet down or we won’t have an industry in 20 years.”

Paul Wilkes (Body Shop) examined the current legal aspects of natural ingredients. Henna and tea tree oil were used as examples of the regulatory treatment of naturals, which are basically looked at in the same way as synthetics. “We currently sell henna but probably won’t be in a year; if it’s not on a positive list, no safety assessor will touch it,” said Wilkes. And following the SCCP’s involvement with tea tree oil, probably the best we can hope for is a 1% limit in wash-off products, and in the worst case scenario it will go.

Wilkes also gave details of REACH, the objective of which is to unify chemical legislation, consolidating more than 40 individual pieces of EU legislation and shifting responsibility to industry for safety evaluation (see p48-49 of this issue for a guide to REACH).

On the subject of plant naming conventions, materials derived from plants are known as botanicals, said Wilkes. In general, these ingredients have not undergone chemical modifications and include plant-derived ingredients such as extracts, juices, waters, distillates, powders, oils, unsaponifiables etc. With EU INCI names, chemical derivatives of botanicals follow the nomenclature rules for chemicals (eg cocoglycerides, hydrogenated castor oil, hydrogenated palm acid, olive acid, palm alcohol, soyamide DEA, sulfated olive oil). The INCI names for extracts represent the ‘material extracted’ and do not include reference to the extracting solvents and/or other diluents that may be present in these materials.

According to the EU Convention:

• Plant species Linné name + extract = whole plant

• Plant species name + leaf extract = extract of named part of the plant

However, Wilkes said there is a general move to more precise naming of plant-derived ingredients.

Another piece of legislation, which was fairly new to most delegates, is the Herbal Directive, as explained by Cuross Bakhtiar (Harley Street Cosmetics). A herbal medicinal product is defined as “any medicinal product, exclusively containing as active ingredients one or more herbal substances or one or more herbal preparations, or one or more such herbal substances in combination with one or more such herbal preparations”. But classification of products is a national competence. Herbal substances are defined as “mainly whole, fragmented or cut, plants or plant parts, algae, fungi, lichen, in an unprocessed state, usually dried form but sometimes fresh. Certain exudates that have not been subjected to a specific treatment are also considered to be herbal substances. Herbal substances are precisely defined by the plant part used and the botanical name according to the binomial system [genus, species, variety, and author]”. And herbal preparations are defined as “preparations obtained by subjecting herbal substances to treatment such as extraction, distillation, expression, fractionation, purification, concentration or fermentation. These include comminute or powdered herbal substances, tinctures, extracts, essential oils, expressed juices and processed exudates”.

Herbal substances or preparations, and particularly combinations, have inherent complexities, including possible adulteration, contamination and variability. The Directive provides a common framework for safety, quality, efficacy (traditional use) and patent information. The guidelines are fairly complex, but “if you’re using herbals, you have to start thinking about registration,” said Bakhtiar.

Martin Adams (Adams, Wilson & Associates), was concerned about safety issues and suggested that before using any natural material three fundamental questions should be asked:

1. Is this one safe at that concentration?

2. Is this one fully compliant with cosmetic safety regulations?

3. Does mixing it in a formulation make the product, or the natural, harmful?

Adams considered the benefits and side effects of various natural ingredients and in summary said that although companies need exciting sales, for most cosmetic products repeat purchases really build brand success. The most important thing to remember when considering naturals is first to do no harm, he said.

Ingredient focus

A difficulty when formulating natural products is how to colour them naturally and two possibilities were suggested at the conference. Fabienne Boukobza described the Overseal range of natural food colours that are also suitable for cosmetic application. A useful table (29) was presented showing natural colours, their source and the pH range at which they should remain stable, but delegates were warned that interactions with other ingredients could affect colour stability.

Another approach to natural colouring is to use natural clays, as described by John Lofthouse (Lake Life Sciences). These clays are of different colours depending on origin and metal composition. The metal ions not only impart colour to the clay but are also claimed to impart therapeutic properties if used in face masks and other beauty treatments.

Bob Hefford (Independent Cosmetic Advice Ltd) was also interested in natural colouring but for hair rather than products. He claimed to be nervous as a hair colouring chemist surrounded by natural fanatics. Hefford named five materials frequently found in natural hair colouring compositions, they were:

• Lawsonia inermis - Henna, reddish orange but SCCP Opinion is that it is not suitable for use as a hair dye in a non-oxidising system or for any other cosmetic use

• Indigofera tinctoria - Indigo, blue/violet; under review by SCCP

• Acacia catechu -Tannins, brown

• Rubia cardifolia - Madder, red

• Emblica officinalis - Amla, cool brown

Hefford said that one approach, which may be called natural, is the use of metal ions, and he believed that these played a part in early hair dye formulation but because of the difficulties they cause when hair is permed they are now carefully eliminated from modern hair treatments. In summary, he stated that plant-based dyes are less effective than synthetic dyes and their lack of ability to lighten hair colour is a key factor. However, if regulatory action is taken against the aromatic diamines then plant-based dyes may have a big future. They need to be better understood and their toxicology is important.

There are numerous natural oils, fats and waxes available, but in order to use them in a cosmetic product they generally need to be emulsified. Dr Straetmans’s Janichen described the necessary attributes of an emulsifier claiming to be natural and how such materials could be created from natural building blocks. Emulsifiers are amphiphilic molecules containing a polar, hydrophilic part and a non-polar lipophilic part. The non-polar part can be obtained from natural oils and the polar part from water-soluble natural sources such as citric and lactic acid, glutamate and phosphoric acid, which are used for anionic molecules; and from sucrose, glucose and glycerin to form non-ionic surfactants. Examples of non-ionic emulsifiers were given as polyglyceryl-10 laurate, polyglyceryl-3 stearate and polyglyceryl-3 polyricinoleate. Anionic emulsifiers were represented by acyl lactylates, acyl glutamates and alkyl phosphates. According to Janichen, natural cosmetic guidelines permit certain physical and chemical treatments in order to disassemble natural raw materials, modify or purify the obtained building blocks and reassemble them to create functional molecules.

Agnés le Fur (Lucas Meyer) introduced phospholipids, a series of natural emulsifiers including hydrogenated and non-hydrogenated versions based on lecithin extracted from soy. They are generally used as co-emulsifiers and have additional properties such as film-forming, moisturising and the ability to form liposome delivery systems. They form lamellar gel networks so provide extra stability to emulsion systems and are said to be very skin-friendly. Described as a green alternative for personal cleansing products Iris Hütter (Cognis) introduced Plantapon SF. This is a mixture of sodium cocoamphoacetate with glycerin, lauryl glucoside, sodium cocoyl glutamate and sodium lauryl glucose carboxylate and it is claimed to be suitable for those who require surfactant systems to be free from ethoxylates, betaines and alkyl sulphates and it is said to be exceptionally mild.

Multfunctional surfactants of natural origin were the subject of a presentation by Dil Sarker (Chemlink-Sinerga), who described derivatives of abietic acid and undecylenic acid. Undecylenic is an 11-carbon monounsaturated fatty acid, found naturally in the body in sweat but commercially produced from castor bean oil. It is used to produce aromatic chemicals and a variety of compounds useful as bactericides, fungicides and insect sprays. PEG mono undecylenates and undecyl sulphates exhibit excellent surfactant properties. Ethoxylated undecylenic acid shows promise as an emulsifier that can also replace some biocides in cosmetics.

Undecylenic acid and its zinc soaps are used as fungicides in medicine and agriculture and its ethanolamides and their sulphosuccinates are used as anti-dandruff additives, and bactericides in shampoos and other cosmetics. Abietic acid is a major component of Canada balsam and it constitutes most of the solid portion of the oleoresin of coniferous trees. Tall oil is a by-product of the wood pulp industry and consists of almost equal parts of fatty acids, mainly oleic and linoleic, and a series of cyclic isoprenoid acids like abietic acid along with some triterpenes. It can be used to create potassium abietoyl hydrolysed soy protein and the properties of this and of potassium undecylenoyl hydrolysed soy protein make them useful in shampoos for greasy hair and hair with dandruff.

Moving on to active ingredients of natural origin, Barbara Brockway (CRN International) presented olive oil as probably the first cosmetic ingredient and said that records show the Spartans used olive oil to anoint themselves while taking exercise in the gymnasia, a practice intended to eroticise and highlight the beauty of the male body. The oil has anti-inflammatory properties, probably because of its oleocanthal content, and olive leaves contain luteolin, an antioxidant and vaso-dilator with anti-inflammatory properties. The olive fruit contains approximately 15-20% olive oil,

30-60% water, with fibre, sugars and proteins providing the balance. The pulp contains 96-98% of the oil, while the seed contains only 2-4% of the oil. The oil is mainly triglycerides and small quantities of free fatty acids, glycerol, pigments, aroma compounds, sterols, tocopherols, phenols and unidentified resinous components. Many active ingredients have been isolated from the fruit, most of which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and two actives are found in the oil - apigenin and catechol - plus a significant content of squalene as part of the unsaponifiable fraction.

Ruth Boner (Paroxite-Greentech) also presented an oil with proven skin benefits, which although known to have been used in Peru for many centuries has only recently been introduced to the western world. Called Inca inchi [INCI: Plukenetia volubilis seed oil] it has an unsaturated fatty acid content of 90%, made up from oleic acid (C18:1), 8 - 10 %; linoleic acid (C18:2),

30 - 40 % and alpha linolenic acid (C18:3), 45 - 55 %. The oil is said to trap free radicals and protect cellular structures against oxidation; to have soothing and anti-inflammatory properties and to improve microcirculation and moisture content of the skin. Test results for an emulsion containing 5% Inca inchi oil show significant improvement in skin moisture content and skin suppleness.

Anne-Francoise Clay (ISP Vincience), described a number of anti-ageing ingredients derived from botanical sources including: Signaline obtained by a stereo-specific bioconversion process from jojoba and olive oil; Thymophytane, a rice extract; and Phytoquintescine, an einkorn extract. Anti-ageing ingredients were also the focus of a presentation by Caroline Recardo (Gattefosse UK) who described: Gatuline Expression based on Acmella oleracea extract for an instant skin smoothing effect; Gatuline RC based on Fagus sylvatica bud extract with moisturising and anti-wrinkle activity; and Hema’Tîte, a solution of ferric oxide extracted from iron ore and claimed to boost collagen synthesis.

Frank Gafner (Alpaflor-Pentapharm) described the cultivation and properties of Edelweiss or Leontopodium alpinum, the national flower of Switzerland. Among the many actives isolated from the plant and flower is leontopodic acid, which shows strong antioxidant and radical-scavenging activity. Leontopodic acid occurs only in the aerial parts of the plant, which are exposed to UV. It is thought that leontopodic acid is a UV filter for the Edelweiss. Rahn is another ingredient supplier based in Switzerland and Andrew Goodwin described its latest actives, which are based on a bio-fermentation product derived from Chlorella vulgaris micro algae and proteins extracted from white lupin flowers. In combination these are claimed to boost skin cell activity and further actives are added to provide products with moisturising, anti-cellulite and cell protection properties, and the addition of Garcina mangostana peel extract and a Pyrus cydonia seed hydrogel gave a product recommended for bust enhancement.

Adipocytes are cells used by the body to store fat and can swell to sixty times their original size. They give plumpness to the skin and this is lost with age. It was thought that if a way to stimulate these cells could be found then the method would be useful for enhancing the shape of breasts and buttocks and to improve the contours of facial skin and hands. Karl Lintner (Sederma) called this non-surgical plant-based lipofilling and proposed the use of a phytosterol sapogenin triterpenoid called sarsasapogenin extracted from Anemarrhena asphodeloides. It is known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-eczema properties and is free of hormonal oestrogenic activity.

Adipocytes are also responsible for cellulite and various materials were suggested for its reduction, including Scopariane (Codif), described by Francois Blanchard. This is claimed to inhibit adipocytes differentiation and to encourage collagen synthesis so that cellulite is reduced and the skin regains firmness and elasticity. The basis of Scopariane are two seaweed extracts - Corallina officinalis and Crithmum maritimum, said to stimulate the release of beta-endorphins by human keratinocytes.

Staying with the sea as a great source of natural materials, Alexandre Batardiere (Biotech Marine) described the hostile environment for seaweeds on the Breton coast, with its 12m rise and fall of tide and changes in temperature, light penetration and a high salt content. Green seaweeds inhabit the inter-tidal range, brown seaweeds the areas exposed at the low tide edge and red seaweeds are to be found at greater depths. Green seaweed has a valuable trace element content, rich in magnesium and potassium, and extracts from it are used for moisturising. Red seaweed is rich in metals, such as iron, and stimulates blood microcirculation, and brown seaweed is said to be detoxifying and cleansing.

Sustainable development

Another key recurring theme over the three days was sustainability, with people sharing their own experiences of moving towards more sustainable development.

In France, Alban Muller International is closely involved with the Cosmetic Valley (Alban Muller is president) and its ‘all natural’ programme. “We’re trying to think of how to move forward with natural ingredients,” said Muller. “Biodiversity is the expression of the diversity of life on our planet. It’s a vital resource, our life insurance. We’re trying to preserve it by avoiding causing irreversible damage to the environment both upstream (materials) and downstream (processes).” What is called for is a change in perception and attitudes. “It’s not a case of resisting progress. It’s a case of managing our inheritance, preserving but also innovating using ‘green intelligence’,” said Muller.

The modern definition of sustainable development was given as an axis of three pillars: economic development, social progress (respecting man) and respecting the environment. Muller outlined three levels involved in the philosophy of sustainable development: management (better resource and waste management); conception (eco-conception - optimising the global approach of projects); and stakes for the future (a social approach of sustainable development, including education and training).

As an example Muller presented the orchid Angraecum eburneum (var longicalcar). This was harvested by Marcel Lecouffle in 1964 and has been multiplied in France. In Madagascar it is an endangereed species but it could be re-introduced in its country if multiplied by modern techniques.

And staying further afield, David Mitchell (S&D Aroma) discussed fulfilling dreams at both ends of the supply chain, more specifically in providing raw materials of benefit to growers/producers and consumers. S&D works with natural products around the world, looking particularly at organic and fair trade opportunities. These are long-term projects that take two or three years to set in place and they require a commitment from companies. The company is working with communities, looking at new raw materials that might be of interest and building up a package of data. Projects included one in Nepal where S&D is working with the FSE on non-timber products and has sourced several essential oils from plants. The project includes carbon credits for reforestation. Another example is South Africa where the company has worked with a scheme for more than ten years that is now producing organic rose geranium, lemon balm and spearmint oil from a small farm. Other projects include Bulgaria, Somalia and Papua New Guinea.

Greentech’s Inca inchi project was also presented as a good example of sustainable development, this time in Peru, working towards social, environmental, economic and quality goals.

“Through small steps we are addressing some of the major problems of the world today,” said Mitchell. “Please give fair consideration to products from this type of project when considering new materials. It takes a bit more work but when you see the developments and improvements coming through it is very satisfying.”

There is so much more to being natural than most people think. And 100% natural is a tough one.

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