Nature has given humans many good things, and of course, it has also given the cosmetics industry quite a few useful ingredients. For example, ferulic acid, a natural plant active ingredient, is a good example. Ferulic acid has gradually begun to be used in the field of beauty cosmetics, especially its whitening, freckle removal, sun protection and other effects, which have injected new vitality into the rapidly developing modern cosmetics industry.
What Is Ferulic Acid?
Ferulic acid is widely present in plants in nature. Its chemical name is 4-hydroxy-methoxycinnamic acid, which is a phenolic acid commonly found in plants. Since ferulic acid is mostly extracted from angelica, and it is contained in many traditional Chinese medicines such as Chuanxiong, Equisetum, and Cimicifuga, they are all derivatives of cinnamic acid. Of course, ferulic acid rarely exists in a free state in plants. It mainly exists in plants in combination with oligosaccharides, polyamines, lipids and polysaccharides. That is, sodium ferulate and ferulic acid esters, these two derivatives basically reflect and maintain the biological characteristics of ferulic acid.
Effects of Ferulic Acid on the Skin:
Ferulic acid is more commonly used as a drug, and it is also widely used in the food industry for antioxidants. In recent years, ferulic acid has also begun to be used in the cosmetics industry. The use of ferulic acid in the skin care industry is mainly based on the whitening and antioxidant effects of ferulic acid:
It has been reported that ferulic acid can inhibit or reduce the proliferation activity of melanocytes. Using 0.1-0.5% ferulic acid solution can reduce the number of melanocytes from 117±23/mm2 to 39±7/ mm2; at the same time, ferulic acid can also inhibit the activity of tyrosinase. The inhibition rate of tyrosinase activity of a ferulic acid solution with a concentration of 5mmol/L is as high as 86%. Even if the concentration of ferulic acid solution is only 0.5mmol/L, its inhibition rate of tyrosinase activity can reach about 35%.
In addition, ferulic acid also has the function of scavenging oxygen free radicals and good antioxidant effects. It is also reported that ferulic acid has sun protection ability. Ferulic acid can effectively absorb ultraviolet rays in the wavelength range of 290-330nm, preventing or reducing the damage of ultraviolet rays of this wavelength to the skin.
Safety of Ferulic Acid:
Ferulic acid exists in the natural plant Angelica sinensis, which is an edible Chinese medicine. Therefore, its safety is relatively high. Modern research shows that ferulic acid can be absorbed by the human body and can be excreted from urine in time. It will not accumulate in the human body and cause cumulative toxicity. In particular, ferulic acid is easy for the human body to metabolize, has extremely low toxicity, and is relatively safe to use. It is precisely because of this that ferulic acid is widely used in medicine and food industry.