Program launched to study ingredient efficacy in cosmetics products

The 1000 Metabolomes Program will analyse the biochemical composition of 1000 different ingredients from cosmetics, food and beverages, to contribute to a deeper understanding and aid the improvement in quality of the products.

“In cosmetics we particularly want to study aspects like effectiveness, nutrients, shelf life and stability in cosmetic products and their interaction with the skin,”​ a company spokesperson told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com.

“We are able to measure nearly all active ingredients and can also detect new potential bioactive ingredients and their mode of action. For example the effect of antioxidants in anti-aging crèmes: we can measure components of the cellular redox system.”​

Detect and analyse side effects​

Furthermore, MD hopes it can detect and analyse the side effects of products, like by-products or toxic products and support the development of products without these unwanted side effects.

For the program the company will cooperate with a variety of partners and will set up an extensive compound database, which will become a source of information for further research.

“We ​[MD] hope to contribute to product improvement and to help the industry to speed up the identification of novel bioactives and understand the biological mechanisms underlying new and old bioactive compounds,”​ CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com learned.

Techniques available to carry out thorough research​

Metabolomic Discoveries says that the research is being done now, because the techniques to do so are available to unravel the metabolic composition of any sample.

“This means we can bring a full picture of the product, not just one or several compounds, which are known in advance,”​ the spokesperson said.

According to MD, extensive research in the last decades was not able to shed light on the total metabolic composition of biological samples, the so called metabolome, due to lack of technology and interest.

Every day new compounds enter the market and MD hopes it can contribute to a comprehensive knowledge about their mode of action and metabolic influence.

The hope for this program, particularly concerning the cosmetics industry, is that it helps to speed up product development with a minimised amount of material needed and thus, reduce developmental costs.