Why we will not use neem oil as a natural preservative
Neem oil is a natural product derived from the seeds and fruit of the evergreen neem tree. It is used in more than one hundred pesticide products and has important applications in organic agriculture and medicine. It has been used as a pesticide for hundreds of years and is considered safe (1).
These days, neem oil is touted as a natural alternative to synthetic preservatives.
Neem oil is a mixture of components and not a pure essential oil. Azadirachtin is the active component responsible for repelling and killing pests. The remaining components include fatty acids, essential oils, and other substances. Components of neem oil can also be found in other products, including toothpaste, cosmetics, soaps, pet shampoos, supplements, and medications.
Natural condoms
Most cosmetics include water as an ingredient (to emulsify); therefore, condoms are needed to prevent spoilage and bacterial growth.
If you’ve ever bought a condom-free, all-natural beauty product like a face cream and discovered a “strange smell” before it was completely used up, it means the product has gone bad (i.e. contaminated). with yeast, mold, bacteria or fungi). ). Unfortunately, these products produce natural sugars in a moist environment, the perfect breeding ground (complete with food source) for microbe multiplication. A product can look and smell good and still be contaminated. If the product is truly all-natural and preservative-free, it should be treated like a food: freshly made in small batches and refrigerated (and remember, they will expire).
Products made with natural preservatives are slightly better in terms of shelf life if used within 30 days of opening, but you may want to ask the question: how good are natural preservatives vs preservatives? synthetic preservatives to control and kill any invaders to protect your product (and you)? Therefore, while there are effective naturally-derived preservatives, some can be weakened by exposure to air and water and therefore cannot provide the same broad-spectrum protection as synthetic preservatives.
Neem oil as a natural preservative
When neem oil is used as a preservative, it works as an antiseptic, antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, and antiparasitic. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? And it’s used as a pesticide, so it must be effective, right? (Although I doubt that argument will work in favor of synthetic preservatives!) Neem oil is effective at keeping oils from going rancid, but it doesn’t protect the product as well from bacteria and yeasts because it’s not a broad-spectrum preservative . And it seems he doesn’t like water either. Bad news for technical managers and natural health advocates who want neem oil used as a preservative in water-containing cosmetics rather than the much more effective (and therefore safer) synthetic preservatives available for this purpose. such as Neolone 950. Strict regulations require such preservatives. to kill all common pathogens. (Watch http://personalcaretruth.com/2010/06/why-cosmetics-need-preservatives/ for an excellent article on this matter.)
The half-life of neem oil in water is between one hour and four days. “Half life” means that the concentration decreases by 50% in the measured time frame. If we take one day as the half-life of neem oil in water, with a reasonable average of the limits given, we would see the active concentration drop to 50% in one day, 25% in two days, 12.5% in three days, 6% in four days, 3% in five days, and so on. By the time the product reaches the consumer from the day it is manufactured, the neem oil will have essentially completely broken down and will not be useful as a preservative; therefore, a water-based product that contains neem oil as the sole preservative is not protected from contamination (posing a greater risk to your health than synthetic preservatives).
Consumers need to be more aware of the occasional misguidance provided by consumer protection groups, in particular Safe Cosmetics and the Environmental Working Group (and their shallow database). We need to question these groups as critically as we question big industry to open up a dialogue. I’m not sure why these groups are held up as the final authority. Is it because they validate our fears and suspicions of evil corporations? I don’t know, it’s just a guess. While their intentions may be spot on, they often rely heavily on Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), which are generally available to the public, as one of their sources. MSDSs are helpful, of course; however, people forget or are unaware that MSDSs provide safety procedures for workers in an industrial atmosphere to follow in the event of massive spills/exposures – these are “worst case” situations that never apply to consumers of these products.
MSDSs are used to help establish occupational health and safety and product stewardship guidelines for workers and emergency responders who handle or work with the substance in large quantities. They are not intended for the consumer, but only for those in a work setting. When considering the safety issues of the products you’re using, it’s important to remember: “The dose makes the poison,” or in this case, as preservative expert David Steinberg put it, “Remember, preservatives are safer than drugs.” bacteria(TM).”
Let’s go back to neem oil. An organic chemist, like myself, would look at the chemical structure of azadirachtin, the active ingredient in neem oil, and know that it would not be stable in water, as we have discussed above, but that it is easily fragmented by this reaction with water in smaller and useless parts. Although most of us are not organic chemists, this is quite easy to understand.
Neem oil is also hydrophobic, which means that the molecules are repelled by a mass of water. Therefore, to mix water and neem oil (emulsify) for application purposes, certain surfactants must be added. And of course, when you review the pesticide/agriculture literature, you find that the diluted product must be used immediately due to its limited shelf life. But not all neem oil products have this disclaimer. It is important to note that some products containing neem oil remain “stable”. However, the product still loses its neem oil activity; it only continues to provide pesticidal activity by virtue of the other antimicrobials in the formula.
I don’t think anyone (cosmetics manufacturers, natural product providers, organic retailers, etc.) is trying to mislead the consumer. It is more likely to be a conscience issue (lack of it). Unfortunately, this type of misinformation puts the health of many customers at risk.