Sea, soy and sun
Will you use one day SoyScreen on the beach? This is an eco-friendly sunscreen developed by chemists working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). SoyScreen is biodegradable, non-toxic and could lead to a new class of cosmetic ingredients. It was developed by using an enzyme-based method to make 'an all-natural sunscreen from soy oil and ferulic acid, a natural antioxidant that filters out UVA and UVB sunlight.' In February 2007, a variation of SoyScreen developed by Illinois-based iSoy Technologies started to be sold as a key active ingredient in a wrinkle-prevention skincare product. This soybean-based ingredient should soon appear in anti-aging and protective soaps, cleansers and haircare products.
On the left is a photo of mature soybeans, sitting within their pod. The oil from soybeans and ferulic acid esters are the only ingredients of SoyScreen, an eco-friendly sunscreen (Credit: Scott Bauer, for ARS). Here is a link to a larger version. And here is a link to a short movie (1 minute and 55 seconds) describing how soybeans are used to make SoyScreen.
SoyScreen has been developed since 1998 by chemists Joe Laszlo and Dave Compton who work for the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s chief scientific research agency.
So how these new cosmetic ingredients named "skincare bio-lipid actives" will come to your local drugstore? "In February 2007, a variation of SoyScreen formulated by iSoy—ferulic soy glycerides (FSG33)—made its commercial debut as a key active ingredient in a wrinkle-prevention skincare product marketed by a major cosmetics company in New York City. FSG33's burgeoning commercial roots began with bio-lipid reaction experiments that Laszlo and Compton conducted in 1998 at ARS' National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Ill. There, they devised an enzyme-based method to make an all-natural sunscreen from soy oil and ferulic acid, a natural antioxidant that filters out UVA and UVB sunlight."
iSoy Technologies Corporation received an exclusive license on soy-based sunscreen from USDA (November 3, 2005). Still, iSoy has no presence online -- except if I've not correctly done my homework.
But let's look at what was writing ARS in 2005. "In SoyScreen, they envision a skin- and hair-care product that could expand the market for U.S. soy oil. Of the 17.6 billion pounds consumed domestically, 628 million pounds of soy oil is used for industrial purposes, according to the American Soybean Association's Soy Stats page. SoyScreen owes its sunburn-preventing properties to ferulic acid, an antioxidant in rice, oats and other plants. To keep the antioxidant from dissolving in water, the Peoria researchers chemically bound it to soy oil using lipase enzymes and heat in an environmentally friendly process called biocatalysis. The resulting lotion won't wash off from swimming or sweat, and is non-polluting, according to Laszlo."
In this short article published on September 4, 2007, Dermatology Times, based in New Jersey, provided other details on how these "skincare bio-lipid actives" work. "When applied to the surface of the skin, the bio-lipid molecules act as a reservoir for essential nutrients from which depleted skin can replenish itself, according to an iSoy statement. The FSG molecules appear to improve the solubility, stability and delivery of other skincare actives, which will help to transport nutrients to the skin. According to an iSoy statement, the company expects to market this particular attribute of FSG in formulations and is exploring the potential of other bio-lipids, with a goal of creating at least 25 new molecules based on the same technology.
Finally, these soybean-based skincare products are protected by several patents. Thanks to FreePatentsOnline, here are two links to the full texts of "Sunscreens from vegetable oil and plant phenols" (U.S. patent 6,346,236, February 12, 2002) and to "Sunscreen reagents from hydroxy-substituted acylglycerides" (U.S. patent 7,163,673, January 16, 2007).
Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, August 17, 2007; and various websites
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