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Antibacterial hands soap with lactic acid
Hi everyone,I try to see if it’s possible to formulate an effective antibacterial hand soap which contain lactic acid instead of Triclosan? Is there some known products who contain lactic acid? Is there formulas which are available in the Internet for this kind of product?Thanks! -
11 Replies
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Hello,
Yes, it is possible to formulate such a hand soap, but it will require so much lactic acid that it will smell bad. On the regulatory side of things “antibacterial hand soap” is a drug. Lactic acid is not (as I recall) a listed active ingredient on FDA’s tentative final monograph for antiseptic drug products, so technically a new drug application would be required. That would cost a lot of money and take a lot of time.
Good luck!
Ben
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I should think that there are much better alternatives such as tea tree oil, neem oil, and extract of thyme.
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It you want to make a claim that your soap is “antibacterial” at least in the US, it has to contain one of the ingredients listed in the monograph. (see page 34) Lactic acid is not on the list. Neither is tea tree oil, neem oil or extract of thyme.
That’s not to say these things don’t work, you just can’t claim that you are selling an antibacterial soap. -
“Employed largely for its antimicrobial properties, TTO is incorporated as the active ingredient in many topical formulations used to treat cutaneous infections. It is widely available over the counter in Australia, Europe, and North America and is marketed as a remedy for various ailments.” But presumably not in the USA?
and: “Penfold published the first reports of its antimicrobial activity in a series of papers in the 1920s and 1930s. In evaluating the antimicrobial activity of M. alternifolia oil and other oils, he made comparisons with the disinfectant carbolic acid or phenol, the gold standard of the day, in a test known as the Rideal-Walker (RW) coefficient. The activity of TTO was compared directly with that of phenol and rated as 11 times more active.“How extraordinary that after all this time, USA authorities still haven’t accepted that it is a bactericide. ref: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1360273/ -
Can’t find much “officially published” data for Neem. For thyme, yes - I use it as an anti-acne ingredient since it has been proven to kill acne propionis - eg
Strong antiseptic activity of essential oils has been known for a long time. The antibacterial activity of oils was tested against clinical bacterial strains of Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, Escherichia and Pseudomonas genera. The agar diffusion method was used for microbial growth inhibition at various concentrations of the oils from T. vulgaris and L. angustifolia. Susceptibility testing to antibiotics and chemotherapeutics was carried out using disc-diffusion method. 120 strains of bacteria isolated from patients with infections of oral cavity, respiratory, genitourinary tracts and from hospital environment were investigated. The results of experiments showed that the oil from T. vulgaris exhibited extremely strong activity against all of the clinical strains. Thyme oil demonstrated a good efficacy against antibiotics resistant strains of the tested bacteria. ref: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22313307I suggest those of us who don’t have to worry about US regulations might make use of this. I certainly do; there is no way I am going to damage the environment by using something like triclosan. -
Thanks everyone. I think it’s unanimous that’s using lactic acid in a hand soap isn’t a good idea. I was already aware of biological activity of essential oil of thymus. Maybe I will consider using this extract instead lactic acid….
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Hey Belassi: thanks for all this background information. In this age of rampant MERS, perhaps TTO (melaleuca alternifolia) can make a comeback in the homeopathic realm as a topical germ killer. xenon126, for the record, thymol, the active extract from thyme (oil), is a substituted phenol used for many decades (see Listerine.) Furthermore, perhaps your discussion may have originated when you may have seen lactic acid listed in an ingredient dec. Be advised it was only there as an acidulant, not an antibacti device.
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You’re most welcome. BTW I have another good reason not to use lactic acid: it is one of the glycolic acids (exfoliating) and even though it is the least active of these, glycolic acids are known to cause unpleasant brown staining of the skin when exposed to sunlight.
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Lactic Acid is used a lot in Europe as an effective antibacterial agent in hand washes. You need to use a good amount 2 - 3% and pH of the final product is absolutely key. If formulated correctly it is possible to achieve a 5 log reduction versus the en1276 standard. I wouldn’t recommend essential oils they would need to be used in huge amounts to get any kind of proven antibacterial activity in your final product. That is the product itself showing some real antibacterial activity at realistic contact times and not just being based on historical data produced on pure oils at contact times of 5 minutes plus. It would almost certainly require you to list allergens on pack too.
My advise would be to stick with the Lactic Acid and complement it with another FDA approved biocide. I only know about the EU so not sure if it is included in the FDA but Salicylic Acid complements it well. You will need to use a solvent to get Salicylic into solution something like Propylene Glycol.
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As far as we can tell from the FDA proposed rule, EVERY anti-bacterial agent allowed for use in OTC drug consumer hand and/or body wash will be declared Category III - not proven safe or effective.
At the end of 2015, if the FDA continues on this path, it will be misbranding to sell any product intended for use on human skin as “anti-bacterial”. (Hospital/medical use is exempted)At this point, we have been unable to find any company that supplies monograph anti-bacterial agents willing to perform the extensive (and expensive) testing the FDA is requiring.Not labelling your product as “anti-bacterial” and still using monograph active ingredients will also get you into hot water with the FDA. -
And I thought the EU was a minefield with the new BPR!!!!
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