Much of the marketing in the cosmetic industry is focused on anti-aging, the use of parabens, and the desire for a more natural approach to daily care. The most tantalizing promise is that of anti-aging, which accounts for a market currently estimated at $9.8 billion and growing at an average rate of 109% per annum.

Many researchers have asserted that aging results in the reduction of collagen levels and exposure to free-radical damage caused by environmental factors. Science shows that increasing collagen, combined with the intake of antioxidants, can assist us in our endeavour to reduce the signs of aging, wrinkles, and skin damage. The degree to which a product works depends on its active ingredient and its ability to penetrate the skin. Most effective active ingredients are vitamins and minerals such as amino acids (peptides), kojic acid, retinol, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, and, CoQ10, among others. This all sounds quite simple; however, these products need to be housed in a preservative to prevent the growth of bacteria, and that preservative is often a paraben. (Look for names like methyl paraben, butyl, propyl, and ethyl paraben.) 

Parabens are in almost every skin care cream on the market, including those labelled organic. Butmounting evidence by the Environmental Working Group suggests that consumers should avoid them. Studies in the British Journal of Toxicology assert that we should read the label and be wary of petrochemicals and parabens in skin creams, lead in lipsticks, and mercury in mascara and eyedrops.

The advice for the wise consumer is to seek products that have minimal preservatives and are encapsulated to prevent contamination and uncompromised potency of the natural vitamins and minerals shown to enhance our innate tissue-building processes.

My advice? Start reading your cosmetic labels as carefully as you read your food labels. Like food, cosmetics also end up in your bloodstream and affect your health.

Christine Pemberton is managing director of Nutra LuxeMD Canada and can be reached at christine@nutraluxemd.ca.