I recently read an interesting article on the different meanings the same words have for science and marketing.\u00a0It was very illuminating in the context of skin care products and their marketing.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the ubiquitous term \u201cnatural\u201d.\u00a0To a scientist it means a group of molecules that are part of living nature, typically plants.\u00a0These substances can be either isolated from \u00a0plants or synthesized.<\/p>\n
\u201cNaturally sourced\u201d implies direct extraction from a plant or animal.<\/p>\n
Biased marketing has conditioned a positive response to \u201cnaturally sourced\u201d ingredients. Marketing people conveniently forget, however, that these sources may not be so appealing.<\/p>\n
A good example is hyaluronic acid, used for anti-wrinkle purposes. The \u201cnatural source\u201d for this molecule is roosters\u2019 comb. The hyaluronic acid molecule synthesized in the lab is identical and does not imply using animals for its source.<\/p>\n
Another problem with sourcing from nature is that in order to obtain a reasonable amount of any given ingredient, one needs to harvest massive amounts of plants. Not a very wise solution environmentally nor very economical from a business perspective.<\/p>\n
Additionally, sourcing from plants runs the risk of inclusion of unwanted traces of toxins, pesticides and pollutants.<\/p>\n
Synthetic molecules have exactly the identical qualities as their \u201cnatural\u201d counterparts, without any of the above drawbacks.<\/p>\n
Synthetic molecules are consistent in all their aspects, while \u201cnatural\u201d derived molecules are subject to wild variations, depending on climate and harvest conditions, Their qualities are fluctuating and the quality of the end product is fluctuating as well.<\/p>\n
Misinformation due to biased marketing is not new. Before deciding for or against an ingredient based just\u00a0on its being \u201cnatural\u201d or synthetic, please remember that some of the best,safe, efficient, consistent and advanced ingredients in today\u2019s skin care are synthetic.<\/p>\n
Les Nouvelles Esthetiques March 2013<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I recently read an interesting article on the different meanings the same words have for science and marketing.\u00a0It was very illuminating in the context of skin care products and their marketing. Let\u2019s start with the ubiquitous term \u201cnatural\u201d.\u00a0To a scientist … Continue reading