NutraNews - DSM Nutritional Products newsletter 3/2012

Ultimate UV Protection for day care
and sun care
Health organizations around the world are
relentless in reminding the consumer of the
detrimental effects of excessive sunbathing
and the importance of using minimum SPF
15 sunscreen products. The avoidance of
sunburn is widely accepted and is, of
course, also strongly personally motivated
as it prevents discomfort. Preventing skin
redness (erythema) is seen by most
consumers as a proof that their protection
strategy has worked. Moreover there is
even a belief that an absence of visible
damage means there is no further damage
to the skin.
Unfortunately this is wrong. UV rays are quietly
causing DNA mutations, oxidative stress and
immunosuppression from the moment we
expose ourselves to sunlight and up to the
point when our skin shows the first discernible
warning signals. The smallest UV light dosage
necessary to cause sunburn is called 1 Minimal
Erythemal Dosage (MED). As long as the
radiation intensity stays below sunburn, it is
called “sub-erythemal”, and energies can be
measured in parts of an MED.
Evaluation of human skin biopsies after UV
exposure is a helpful tool to identify suberythemal
UV damage. By this experimental
set-up we have shown that even at 0.6 MED UV
light substantial DNA damage occurs, in
particular when the sub-erythemal dosage is
4
Focus: Personal Care
NutraNews | No. 3: 2012
accumulated over several days – quite a
common situation during the summer months.
In fact, a 20-minute summer lunch break in
Paris could drive some areas in an exposed
facial site of a skin type 2 person to 0.7 MED,
and 30 min to slight sunburn, even.
There is a definite need to counteract this daily
exposure with at least a moderate SPF of 15 to a
level below 0.1 to 0.2 MED.
Taking the typically applied amount of a SPF 15
facial cream into account, a dosage of 0.1–0.2
MED would be reached in about two hours. At
that time sub-erythemal UVA damage also
plays a role in adding significant aging stress to
the dermal tissue. Therefore a daily care formula
needs adequate UVA protection as well.
Particularly for facial care it makes sense to go
beyond the EU recommended UVA-PF of 3:1.
What about beach holidays? Consumers seek to
spend time in the sun, and they require a
significantly higher level of protection. Easily
repeated sub-erythemal dosages would be
reached when using only the recommended
minimum of a SPF 15 sunscreen – often
consumers experience even sunburn. A
minimum of SPF 30 is therefore required.
To address all customer needs more than this
has to be considered, however. The sunscreen
formula must offer appealing features in order
Breakthrough
product plus
other exciting
innovations
that the consumer enjoys applying it. Only this
will ensure a sufficient application amount on
the skin. The consumer has only a sensory
endpoint to stop applying the product!
Therefore as much effort as goes into the
selection of the right UV filter combination
should also go into optimizing the texture.
This makes for ultimate UV protection.
Dr. Jürgen Vollhardt
Competence Manager R&D Personal Care
juergen.vollhardt@dsm.com
Personal Care
Events
IFSCC
October 15 – 18, Johannesburg,
South Africa
www.ifscc2012.co.za/coschem/index.cfm
Sepawa Congress
October 23 – 25, Fulda, Germany
www.sepawa.de/index/sepawa_2012/
sepawa_business.html
Suppliers Day at SEQC
October TBC, Madrid, Spain
In-Cosmetics Asia
November 6 – 8, Bangkok, Thailand
www.in-cosmeticsasia.com
Formulate SCS
November TBC, UK