As an information hungry scientist and cosmetic science blogger, I see lots of stories about health and beauty.  There is a lot of nonsense out there and it’s difficult for a cosmetic chemist to find out what is really true.  Take this story for example.  Can eating too much sugar really cause wrinkles?

I had never heard of that and the fact that there was no reference to any study or anything made me a bit skeptical.  People are always looking for some reason to say ‘sugar is bad for you.’  Some want to demonize everything that brings happiness to people.

But I’m all about science and if the evidence indicates people should avoid excess sugar to prevent wrinkles, I’d happily change my ways.  Well, probably not because I personally don’t care much about wrinkles as I see them as inevitable, but I would start to advise people not to eat too much sugar.  Anyway…

Is this sugar / wrinkle connection real?

There are plenty of popular media types saying it is.  Dr. Oz says it’s true and so does Dr. Brandt.   Of course, just because these guys say it doesn’t make me any more inclined to believe it.

I need a better source than just Google and popular TV and book doctors.  How about some science?

The best place to search for science is PubMed but it is so technical that I’d have a tough time learning anything.  Next best option is to look at the press releases from Universities.  Do a Google search of the website Sciencedaily.com.

There’s a 1998 article that suggests Fructose may accelerate skin aging.  But the evidence is pretty weak and it was a rat study.  Nothing about humans.

I did a little more searching and found the FutureDerm blog and her analysis of whether sugar causes wrinkles.  I don’t look to her for the definitive word as she is just reporting on science that other people are doing but she raising some interesting ideas.  According to the research, glucose reacts with collagen to make it more stiff which can ultimately lead to more wrinkles.

While this is supported by lab data (it’s just a chemical reaction) there is also some data which suggests that cutting sugar out of your diet completely can cause even more damage to collagen.

Sweet wrinkles

So, I don’t really know what to think.  Certainly, I haven’t done enough research to come to a definitive conclusion.  But it seems like having no sugar in your diet is probably bad (from a wrinkle standpoint).  Although it would be nice to see a study of the skin of people on a long term Atkins diet.  Excessive sugar can cause changes in collagen structure which can lead to more wrinkles.  But there isn’t a study that compares the skin of people with high sugar diets to people with lower sugar diets.

I guess the answer is that it is complicated and I’m not going to feel too bad about occasionally eating a candy bar.  Nothing is better than a Hershey’s Symphony chocolate bar after a 20 mile run.

Cosmetic science

One of the main reasons for posting this entry is that I wanted to show how complicated subjects can be and how just looking something up on the Internet almost never gives you a definitive answer.  And just because Dr. Oz says something or an article is published on big website like MSNBC doesn’t mean that it is true.

What do you think?  Is sugar consumption causing people to have wrinkles?  Leave a comment below.

On another post about wrinkle treatment breakthrus, Louise asked this excellent question which I thought would make a good post because people just starting out in the cosmetic industry might wonder the same thing.

Why aren’t cosmetic chemists doing research?

The basic premise of this question is that cosmetic products haven’t really changed much over the years. Cosmetic marketers seem to just take the same old formulas, change them a little and call them a new product.

This is a fair observation (although incomplete). But there are two main reasons cosmetic chemists spend more time on developing products than they do on researching new technologies.

1. Success

Cosmetic companies are in the business of selling products. When you try to research a technology you are not actually creating a new product. Certainly, you might find something that could some day be turned into a market changing product, but the reality is most technologies that you investigate will not turn into products. This is true in the cosmetic business as well as almost every other market. Research has a low level of success.

Product development, on the other hand, has a high degree of success. At least when it comes to whether or not you have a product to sell. When your company has to go to Walmart or Target and tell them the latest product they are launching, they have to have some tangible, new product that can go on store shelves. Product development will almost certainly create that. Basic research will not. Thus if a company has to decide where to focus it’s efforts, they will invariably choose the short term product development strategy over the long-term research one.

2. Money

While success is not guaranteed in research, the fact that it costs money is guaranteed. It’s a relatively small amount of money in the cosmetic industry but it is money nonetheless. When a company pays for something they want to see results. Unfortunately, research does not work that way. Finding technological breakthrus is not something that can be easily planned, budgeted, or guaranteed. Most times it can’t even be explained to marketing and sales people. Therefore, people who are in research have a tough time justifying their work because they can’t show an obvious result.

While basic research is the most promising area to create truly breakthru technologies, most companies do not have the risk tolerance, time, or money to invest significantly in it. And that is why most of the jobs in the cosmetic industry focus on “new” product development rather than new technology discovery.

In my talk about using the Internet to do cosmetic chemistry, I frequently say people should use Twitter. But I think people are having a hard time seeing the benefits. In this video, I will show you exactly how Twitter can be useful to a cosmetic formulator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNOLWyJzOPA

Here are the basic points.

1. Keeping up with industry news
2. Getting questions answered
3. Finding experts
4. Keeping track of competitors
5. Establishing yourself as an expert.
6. Finding out what consumers care about
7. Finding a job

Click on this link if you would like to find other cosmetic chemists on twitter.

If you want to stay up on the latest research in cosmetic science, you’ll have to learn to quickly filter and read scientific papers. With page turning titles like “Dermatological aspects of a successful introduction and continuation of alcohol-based hand rubs for hygienic hand disinfection” or “Deposition of 18-MEA onto alkaline-color-treated weathered hair to form a persistent hydrophobicity” keeping up can be challenging.

Fret not! We here at Chemists Corner have put together the following tips that will make it much easier for you to figure out what you don’t need to read and how to get the most out of everything you do read.

Don’t do this

The worst possible thing you can do is to read an article from the title to the conclusion straight through. It will take a lot of time & brainpower to understand and you may not learn anything useful. As a formulation chemist, your time is valuable. Don’t waste it on unproductive reading.

Take notes

To help you remember new ideas or other insights you get while reading, be sure to have a paper and pen ready to take notes while reading. If you’re able, just write right on the article. You can write questions to yourself and see if they are answered while you’re reading. The combination of reading and note-taking will make the study of the article much more effective.

Why are you reading it?

The first thing you want to figure out is why you would read a particular article anyway. Scan the title to get a rough idea of what the article is about. Then ask yourself “Why would I read this?” If you are a cosmetic chemist who specializes in hair products do you really need to read an in-depth article about antiperspirant efficacy? There may be a good reason (finding inspiration for new ways to test your hair product) but it is probably of academic interest only. You should focus on articles that will teach you things applicable to your job. Before reading any article always ask yourself

What do I hope to learn by reading this article?

Review the Authors

You’ll notice that some authors are quoted time and again in literature. For example, in the Journal of Cosmetic Science, Clarence Robbins and Yash Kamath are some of the most respected and often cited researchers in the subject of hair. Articles written by them are worth your time. However, supplier sponsored articles may not be scientifically robust enough for you to get much out of them. They might be excessively biased which should cause you to question the results.

Figure out what the title means

Once you know what kind of bias the authors might bring, it’s time to start dissecting the headline. This is often challenging, but given enough thought you can do it.

Take this example…

“Dermatological aspects of a successful introduction and continuation of alcohol-based hand rubs for hygienic hand disinfection”

If you pick out a few keywords you can get the gist of what they are talking about.

• ‘Dermatological aspects’ – It’s about how they affect the skin.
• ‘alcohol based hand rubs’ – It’s about hand sanitizers.
• ‘introduction and continuation’ – It’s about frequent use

So, from these keywords the article is roughly about how using alcohol based hand sanitizers will affect skin over time. If this is an area of formulating relevant to you, continue reading the article. Otherwise, don’t bother.

Understand the abstract or synopsis

After figuring out the headline, next try to tackle the abstract. If it’s written well, it will succinctly describe the hypothesis, what was done to test it and the results. You’ll get a great sense about whether you need to read further.

Review the diagrams & procedures

Instead of moving right to the background / introduction, use your knowledge from the abstract and look at the diagrams. At this point it should be evident what the graphs are trying to depict. Check to see if the control makes sense, if you understand the differences shown, and if the information matters to you. To help understand the figures, look at the method/procedure section. If it is relevant to your work, try to visualize doing the experiment yourself. This could help you repeat the work if you wanted to.

Read the Intro

At this point, you should know well enough if you want to read any more. Start with the introduction to determine whether the authors know about what has already been studied in the area. You will eventually become an expert in your area of study and you’ll be able to tell how knowledgeable these authors are. If they don’t seem like they’ve got a grasp on the subject, be suspicious of the results. They may have made an obvious mistake.

Read the results sections

You should next read the results section to see what the authors think is the implication of their work. Here is where you can get some ideas on how you might apply the knowledge gained from reading the article. You can also decide whether you agree with their conclusions. Often what’s written by the author is not the only way to interpret the data.

Read the discussion last

Finally, take a look at the discussion section. Since you’ve already understood the title, abstract and diagrams, this section should only be skimmed to see if it answers (or raises) any questions that remain. If the first few sections were well-written, this section should require the least amount of reading by you.

Articles and the Cosmetic Chemist

Reading scientific articles can make you a smarter cosmetic chemist and can provide a great source of new, formulation and innovation ideas. Make a habit to read at least one scientific article in your specific field each day. They will become easier to read and you’ll become an area expert. Who knows? Once you know enough, you will be writing an article yourself.

Do you have any suggestions on how you might read a scientific article? Leave a comment below and let the other chemists on Chemist’s Corner know.