What are Parabens: Everything You Need to Know

Oh Parabens! They are everywhere, not just in your makeups, they are in your creams, your face wash, body wash even in certain foods. But what are Parabens? Parabens are preservatives! Preservatives are added to food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products to prevent decomposition due to bacterial action. Among preservatives, the Parabens are the most commonly used because of their low toxicity to humans and their effective antimicrobial activity, especially against molds and yeasts. 

Chemically speaking, paraben is the collective name for a group of closely related compounds – the parahydroxybenzoates. The “para” refers to the positions of certain parts of the molecule (it’s also where the “para” in “paracetamol” comes from).
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There are several different types of paraben, so you might see Propylparaben, Methylparaben, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben and Heptylparaben in a product’s ingredient list. They may also be listed as a more formal chemical name. Methylparaben can be listed as 4-hydroxy methyl ester benzoic acid or methyl 4-hydroxybenzoate for example.

Propylparaben is in the paraben family of preservatives used by pharmaceutical and personal care industries. It is the ester of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, occurs as a natural substance found in many plants and some insects. It is a member of the class of parabens founderd in water-based cosmetics, such as creams, lotions, shampoos and bath products. There are four types of parabens-
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Methylparaben, Methylparaben is a 4-hydroxybenzoate ester resulting from the formal condensation of the carboxy group of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid with methanol. It is the most frequently used antimicrobial preservative in cosmetics. It occurs naturally in several fruits, particularly in blueberries. It is commonly used as a preservative in skincare and cosmetics. The shorter version is that parabens are a group of related molecules added in small amounts (less than 1%, usually lower) to food, drugs and cosmetics as preservatives. They work by preventing the growth of harmful bacteria and fungi to improve product shelf life and safety. More than one paraben may be used, and they may be combined with other preservatives to protect against a broad range of microorganisms. 
The antimicrobial and antifungal properties of methylparaben make it an excellent choice as a preservative. Since it is used in small concentrations, it is safe on all skin types except sensitive, eczema-prone, and acne-prone skin.

Butylparaben
It is a white solid that is soluble in organic solvents. Often found in fruit and vegetable products, such as barley, flax seed, and grapes. Butylparaben has also been found to be produced in some microorganisms including Microbulbifer. It is also used in medication suspensions, and as a flavoring additive in food. Butylparaben prevents the growth of bacteria, yeasts, and molds in your skincare and cosmetic formulations. It helps to increase the shelf life and stabilize the product. It has proven to be a highly successful antimicrobial preservative in cosmetics. It is also used in medication suspensions, and as a flavoring additive in food. It is a white solid that is soluble in organic solvents. It has proven to be a highly successful antimicrobial preservative in cosmetics. N-butyl-p-hydroxybenzoate appears as odorless white crystals or crystalline powder. Tasteless, but numbs the tongue. Aqueous solutions slightly acidic to litmus. 
Butylparaben is prepared by the esterification of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid with 1-butanol in the presence of an acid catalyst such as sulfuric acid. It is produced industrially.


Ethylparaben
Ethylparaben is an ethyl ester resulting from the formal condensation of the carboxy group of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid with ethanol, It has a role as an antimicrobial food preservative, an antifungal agent, a plant metabolite and a phytoestrogen. Ethylparaben is present in red wine, white wine and sake. 

Heptylparaben
Heptylparaben is a paraben which is the heptyl ester of p-hydroxy-benzoic acid.
Benzoic acid is produced commercially by partial oxidation of toluene with oxygen. 
Toluene is a clear, colourless liquid with a distinctive smell. Toluene occurs naturally in crude oil and in the tolu tree. It is also produced in the process of making gasoline and other fuels from crude oil and making coke from coal. Toluene is a common solvent used in making paints, paint thinners, fingernail polish, lacquers, adhesives, and rubber and in some printing and leather tanning processes. It evaporates quickly. Toluene is found naturally in crude oil, and is used in oil refining and the manufacturing of paints, lacquers, explosives (TNT) and glues. In homes, toluene may be found in paint thinners, paintbrush cleaners, nail polish, glues, inks and stain removers. It is a colorless liquid with a sweet, pungent odor. Exposure to toluene can cause eye and nose irritation, tiredness, confusion, euphoria, dizziness, headache, dilated pupils, tears, anxiety, muscle fatigue, insomnia, nerve damage, inflammation of the skin. It can be found produced in some microorganisms including Microbulbifer. It can also be used as a food preservative.

Rich natural sources of benzoic acid are strawberries (up to 29 mg/kg), cayenne pepper and mustard seeds (up to 10 mg/kg), cloves, salvia, thyme and nutmeg (up to 50 mg/kg) and cinnamon (up to 335 mg/kg). But benzoic acid and its salts (benzoates) also crop up naturally in a number of fruits, such as strawberries, and has a high concentration in many berries such as cranberries, bilberries and blueberries. It is also found in some herbs and spices, such as cloves, thyme, nutmeg, star anise and cinnamon.

Parabens can be absorbed through the skin or ingested but are generally excreted quickly, usually via urine. They have been in use for decades and no parabens have been banned in Australia. Some studies on cell cultures or animals have suggested parabens can affect the endocrine system (which controls our hormones) but it’s not clear how or even if this is relevant to humans.
The amounts used in some of those animal studies are much, much higher than you would find in make-up, for example. A lot of these studies also involved feeding the chemicals to the animals or injecting them, rather than putting them on the skin (which results in much lower absorption into the body).

You might also have heard parabens are “oestrogenic” (meaning they can mimic or affect oestrogen in the body). In fact, parabens are far less oestrogenic than natural oestrogen (that both males and females produce). They are also less oestrogenic than phytoestrogens, compounds produced naturally by many plants.

So, even though there have been studies raising concern, the overall risk in humans using parabens in normal doses is low. As the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme puts it:
The available data do not indicate any risks associated with exposure to the chemicals in this group. The chemicals have been shown to have weak oestrogenic activity, but there are no established adverse outcome pathways for this effect.

The US Food and Drug Administration reached a similar conclusion, noting
Studies have shown, however, that parabens have significantly less oestrogenic activity than the body’s naturally occurring oestrogen. Parabens have not been shown to be harmful as used in cosmetics, where they are present only in very small amounts.Powders and aerosolized products may be major sources of butylparaben in indoor dust from homes where high concentrations were fou