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Aspen Tree Bark Extract as a Preservative?
Hello again! I was looking through possible preservatives and came across aspen tree bark extract. I researched that this ingredient wasn’t broad spectrum and am wondering what I should add to it in order for it to have broad spectrum activity. Would something like tea tree oil do the trick? Any help is valuable to me thanks so much!
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6 Replies
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I can tell you for a fact, because I’ve done this, that unpreserved tree bark extract (in my case, pine bark extract) is not even able to preserve itself. And no, essential oils are narrow spectrum and not classed as preservatives.
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@Belassi thanks for the info! What preservative would you recommend according to what you have used?
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According to Active Micro Technologies (a manufacturer of aspen tree bark extract powder), their product PhytoCide contains mostly salicylates. Salicylic acid which does occur in aspen bark is a nice preservative weren’t it for the fact that it requires a quite low pH. In other plants such as willow and meadowsweet, different salicylates are predominant and include salicin which degrades to salicyl alcohol upon metabolism or hydrolysis but both compounds aren’t antimicrobials. Methyl salicylate, another natural derivative, shows antimicrobial activity but does not occur in aspen but in wintergreen essential oil. Salicortin, tremulacin, tremuloidin and similar derivatives found in aspen and willow might show certain antimicrobial activities but are poorly investigated and may only become active upon metabolisation (leading to salicylic acid with all it’s pros and cons).I really don’t know why PhytoCide should show any useful preservative efficacy over the claimed pH range of 3 to 9. -
I’ve been using Spectrastat but the MOQ is very high, so I’d recommend KEM NAT if you want a more ‘natural’ system.
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@belassi thanks for the info I appreciate it!
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You’re welcome. It is COSMOS approved.
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