Health Benefits of Strawberry Fruit Soaps
Everyone loves to eat strawberries, but have you ever washed yourself with them? One of the great benefits of natural soap is that during the soap making process, there is an opportunity to get all the health benefits of your favorite fruits and herbs in the soap, not to mention the beautiful colors and scents.
Strawberry soap is a form of cold process natural soap in which strawberry extract and sometimes strawberry seeds are added to the soap as it hardens. Unlike manufactured soap, which is often a hot process, meaning the soap-making process involves constant high temperatures that can denature the beneficial natural chemicals in strawberries, cold-processed natural soap keeps the benefits intact. natural for the health of the strawberry fruit, but suspended in the solid soap. That means most of the fruit’s vitamins and minerals remain in the soap for months.
Strawberries are extremely rich in vitamins C and K, as well as pantothenic acid, vitamin B1, folic acid and iodine. They also contain high levels of antioxidants, which are known to fight cancer (in fact, strawberries contain compounds that have been shown to inhibit COX enzymes in vitro) and fight chronic disease, in addition to providing many other health benefits. Strawberries have also been linked to affecting blood vessels, lipoproteins, and platelets in ways that can improve your health. Numerous studies have shown that daily intake of strawberries can reduce the chance of cancer and even the growth of cancerous tissue. Free radicals, which have been shown to contribute to joint problems and arthritis, have also been reduced thanks to the antioxidants found in strawberries.
Not to mention, strawberries give natural soap a beautiful red color that ranges from pink to dark brown depending on the amount of extract used to make strawberry soap. Strawberries contain phytonutrients, or natural chemicals, called anthocyanins that combine with sugar to give strawberries a deep red color. This explains why strawberries are red when ripe, because the anthocyanins are colorless at first until the plant begins to produce sugar. The sugar then binds to the chemical within the fruit and is responsible for the chemical reaction that turns strawberries red. Compounds from the same family make blueberries blue and grapes purple.
When choosing a strawberry soap, be sure to look closely at the label. Most strawberry soaps of the drugstore variety don’t actually contain strawberries, but just strawberry fragrance (which often isn’t even a natural strawberry fragrance, because of a synthetic chemical that can actually have health risks ). Most manufactured soaps containing natural strawberries are hot processes, which removes many of the beneficial properties of strawberries by heating the soap to high temperatures. Others contain high levels of synthetic condoms. The benefit for the big manufacturers is that their strawberry soap lasts much longer on the shelf. Unfortunately, that means the consumer—you!—doesn’t get all the natural benefits of washing with strawberries in your soap.
One of the best qualities of cold processed natural soap is that the compounds in the natural extracts are retained in the soap, so even when strawberries are out of season, you can still reap all of the great health benefits throughout the day. year choosing a strawberry soap.