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earthly matters

by Martine Carlina

Parabens are widely used in all personal care products as a preservative which helps to inhibit bacteria growth in the product. This enables your lotions and potions to stay on the shelf for a number of years. Recent studies of the use of parabens in anti-aging formulations however, have proven to have the opposite effect on skin causing premature aging and sagging. So how many anti aging formulations contain these parabens?

According to the Environmental Working Group, 11,335 personal care products contain parabens.

Parabens can react to UV rays...

These parabens have also been found to react with the sun's UV rays in a way that can actually accelerate the aging process. According to research conducted at the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, skin treated with parabens, particularly methylparaben specifically demonstrated a 16 percent increase in skin cell death when exposed to monitored UV rays as opposed to untreated skin.

Further to these findings, lipid peroxide, which has been identified as speeding up the aging process, was found at a rate three times greater than untreated skin cells.