Children’s Sunscreens Outperform Effectiveness of Adult Sunscreens In EWG Review For 2012

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) just came out with its 2012 Sunscreen Guide and the results are surprising.

Stock photo.

After researching and rating about 1,800 products within 257 brands, the guide found that “many brands formulate children’s sunscreens with safer, more effective ingredients than those in other (adult) products.”

“About 63 percent of kids’ sunscreens contain effective mineral ingredients that provide good UVA protection, compared to 40 percent of other (adult) sunscreens,” according to the EWG.

The sunscreen guide found that compared to adult sunscreens, most of those with the words ‘baby,’ ‘children,’ or ‘kids’ on the label were less likely to contain allergy causing fragrances or hormone-disrupting chemicals.

The guide found that that about 72 percent of the kids’ sunscreens were fragrances-free, compared to 54 percent of adult sunscreens. Also encouraging was that the potentially hormone-disrupting chemical ‘oxybenzone’ was only found in 37 percent of kids sunscreens, compared to 56 percent of adult sunscreens.

On the less encouraging side, the EWG also said, “We uncovered 16 brands that list the same exact ingredients in their children’s products as in their other products – down to the exact percentage of active ingredients.”

For these brands, “the word ‘children’ on the label may be just a marketing gimmick,” added the EWG, also advising that mineral sunscreens are “the right choice for children, people with sensitive skin and others who want the best UVA protection without potentially hormone-disrupting chemicals like oxybenzone.”

Mineral sunscreens contain sun barriers that aren’t absorbed into the skin, but lay on top, such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.

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Shea Butter Benefits Dependent On Grade Quality Of Products, Research Shows

Shea butter is a great moisturizer, but what most people don’t know is that depending on the quality of the product, it also has some great medicinal properties for the skin.

Raw unrefined shea butter from Ghana. Photo from eCrater.com.

What’s considered Grade A shea butter contains a high level of healing nutrients including Vitamins A (maintains healthy bones, skin, and other tissues), Vitamin E (protects against cell damage), and cinnamates (absorb UVB).

The American Shea Butter Institute, which specializes on the research, education, and quality testing, highlights that “Vitamin A in (high grade) shea butter is important for improving a number of skin conditions, including blemishes, wrinkles, eczema, and dermatitis.”

Premium shea butter cream also has properties that treat skin allergies, insect bites, sunburns, frostbites, and a number of other conditions, and the moisturizers in shea butter are the same moisturizers produced by the sebaceous glands in the skin.

In nature, shea butter comes from the fat extracted from the nut of the shea tree. The healing properties depend on the grade quality of the shea butter after processing.

“In recent decades, shea butter has become a valued ingredient in the finest natural cosmetics, and even small amounts in a formulation can earn a prominent display on the label.

“The cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries consume an estimated 2,000 to 8,000 tons of shea butter each year, and this figure is expected to rise with growing demand in new markets,” according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

A big issue in the value of a shea butter product is its grade quality, which depends largely on how it’s processed and stored for consumer use.

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