Are there parabens lurking in your personal care products?
You might not even be familiar with parabens in the first place so let me shed some light on the subject.
Parabens are a class of widely used preservatives in many cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. The most common parabens used in cosmetics (and even food) are methyl paraben, propyl paraben and butyl paraben. Often multiple parabens are mixed to increase the preservative abilities of a product.
Products that you might find parabens in include, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, shave gel, toothpaste, lotions, sunscreen, makeup and food additives! Some foods that contain propyl paraben in particular include Sara Lee cinnamon rolls, Weight Watchers cakes and more. Gross! (source: ewg.org)
As you can see from the list of these products, probably all of us are exposed to parabens on a daily basis.
Each day, the average adult uses nine personal care products that contain 126 different chemical ingredients. Some of us, especially ladies, probably use even more products and are exposed to even more chemicals.
What we put on our skin is absorbed into our blood stream in as little as 26 seconds so it’s important that we choose natural products. One alarming piece of data I came across was that 99% of breast cancer tissue sampled, detected the presence of parabens in them. (Journal of Applied Toxicology March 2012; 32(3): 219-232) Could parabens contribute to breast cancer? Possibly.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has linked methyl parabens in particular to metabolic, developmental, hormonal, and neurological disorders, as well as various cancers. NO thanks!
Becoming an avid label reader is imperative. We can no longer rely on just looking at the front of a label and seeing the words “all natural” and believing this to mean “safe.” It’s not, it doesn’t mean a thing and companies can even place the words “pure” and “organic” on a label to mislead the public.
Just like with our food, we must turn the label over and read the ingredients to actually know whether a product is truly safe or not. There are unfortunately many harmful ingredients we must look out for (more to come on these soon) but for now start becoming aware of parabens, where they are hiding and make an effort to switch out those products.
To greater health inside and out!
~Hannah
