What Are Parabens and How Do They Affect Your Health?

People have grown increasingly concerned about the chemicals in their cosmetic products, and for good reason. Many common ingredients come with a host of potential health issues. One of the types of chemicals bubbling to the top of people’s concerns is parabens.

To give you a better understanding of what parabens are, Lovett Sundries, a purveyor of natural cosmetics, answers a variety of frequently asked questions about these pervasive chemicals.

What Are Parabens?

Parabens are a group of chemical preservatives that prevent the growth of bacteria, mold, and other microorganisms and increase product shelf life. The most common parabens that traditional cosmetics companies use are:

• Butylparaben
• Ethylparaben
• Isobutylparaben
• Isopropylparaben
• Methylparaben
• Propylparaben

What Products Commonly Have Parabens In Them?

You can find parabens in a wide variety of products, including, but not limited to, cosmetics, drugs, and even food. When it comes to cosmetics specifically, the most common culprits are:

When you apply a cosmetic product, your skin absorbs parabens, metabolizes them, and then excretes them through your urine and bile. While short-term exposure to these preservatives is unlikely to cause harm, repeated daily exposure may result in a different story.

These preservatives are so pervasive in consumer products that researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detected parabens in over 90 percent of urine samples from Americans over six years old.

As the list above shows, personal care products are often the biggest contributors to paraben exposure. Therefore, people who use more of those products will have significantly higher concentrations of parabens in their bodies.

When comparing paraben levels in the bodies of adolescent girls who wear makeup every day and those who don’t, the results were shocking. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley found that girls who reported using makeup every day versus rarely/never had nine times the urinary concentration of methylparaben over 20 times the concentration of propylparaben.

In conjunction with parabens, those girls also showed staggeringly higher concentrations of phthalates, a petro-derived chemical associated with fertility issues, early puberty, obesity, diabetes, cancers, and a host of neurological and behavioral problems.

Among urine samples of 177 pregnant women in a fertility clinic, those who frequently used lotions, cosmetics, and cologne/perfume were shown to have increased urinary concentrations of parabens up to three times as much as non-users.

Ultimately, these preservatives can be found in infants, young children, and adults. What’s also problematic is that research suggests that not all of these chemicals leave our body through urine and bile, but actually build up in our body fat over time.

But it doesn’t end with humans. Parabens are entering aquatic environments and causing the “rapid and complete bleaching of hard corals, even at extremely low concentrations.”

How Can You Tell If Products Have Parabens in Them?

Cosmetic products must have a list of their ingredients on the packaging. It’s essential to read this ingredient list to ensure your products don’t contain ingredients you want to avoid. There are also some exceptional online resources, such as the Environmental Working Group (EWG), that will allow you to examine a broader range of products containing a particular ingredient.

How Does the FDA Regulate Preservatives?

Interestingly, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t have specific rules for cosmetic preservatives. Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), cosmetic products and ingredients (other than color additives) do not need the federal agency’s approval before they go on the market.

The FDA can take action against cosmetics on the market that do not list their product ingredients properly. However, to take action against a cosmetic for safety reasons, the FDA notes that there must be “reliable scientific information” showing that the product is harmful when consumers use it according to the label's directions.

So Then, Are Parabens Safe or Dangerous?

Well, it’s a complicated answer. The FDA notes, "At this time, we do not have information showing that parabens, as they are used in cosmetics, affect human health.” The problem is, there are a variety of studies suggesting parabens can:

• Cause skin irritation
• Disrupt endocrine system & harm reproductive organs
• Affect birth outcomes
• Increase the risk of cancer

Cause Skin Irritation

Most people use cosmetics to help their skin. Unfortunately, the parabens in their skincare products can do more harm than good. A 2016 Institute of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology study found that Phenylparaben is a skin irritant.

Endocrine Disruption & Reproductive Harm

Parabens can mimic estrogen in the body, interfering with the production of hormones and disrupting the normal function of the endocrine system (also known as your hormone system). This disruption can occur in males and females, affecting reproductive system function, reproductive development, fertility, and birth outcomes.

While more research is still needed, the UN Environment Programme has identified parabens as–at the very least–potential endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The Danish Centre on Endocrine Disruptors has also identified parabens as suspected endocrine-disruptors.

However, the Danish Centre identified Butylparaben as an endocrine disruptor with certainty.Butylparaben is a go-to for many household cosmetic brands, from TopCare, Banana Boat, and Equate to Revlon, Rimmel London, and CoverGirl.

In animal studies, research suggests parabens (especially isobutylparaben) increase estrogenic activity, and as a whole, long-term exposure to parabens can produce suppressive effects on hormonal responsiveness and disrupt the formation of reproductive organs. In male animal studies specifically, butylparaben exposure in utero and during lactation showed adverse effects on the reproductive system in male offspring, including:

• Decreased serum testosterone (T)
• Delayed preputial separation (PPS)
• Reduced anogenital distance (AGD)
• Reduced weights of seminal vesicles
• Reduced weights of the epididymides
• Reduced weights of the testes

Another study out of Denmark showed that exposure to butylparaben, even in small doses, can cause endocrine disruption in both males and females.

Affect Birth Outcomes

While deemed “weak” by some researchers, parabens, most notably Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, and Propylparaben, do have an estrogenic effect on humans as well. However, other researchers noted that Butylparaben exposure, even at low levels, is associated with menstrual cycle length and variability among female subjects, suggesting that paraben exposure is one of the environmental causes of human reproductive problems.

A 2016 study from The State University of New York showed that Butylparaben exposure increased the odds of preterm birth (PTB), decreased gestational age, birth weight, and reduced body length.

Increase the Risk of Cancer

Unfortunately, big-box manufacturers use a litany of chemicals in their cosmetics, many of which are linked directly and indirectly to breast cancer. For instance, aluminum in antiperspirants continues to come under intense scrutiny as research discovers more side effects.

Like aluminum, many medical professionals and researchers are concerned about the estrogen-dependent breast cancer cell proliferation that parabens can induce. Butylparaben and propylparaben seemed to have the most significant impact on the speed of breast cancer cell development. Recent studies suggest that, even at low doses not previously considered toxic, Butylparaben exposure stimulates cell mutation and proliferates breast cancer cells.

Finding Natural Alternatives

While more epidemiological studies are needed to determine all the repercussions of using parabens in cosmetics, there is enough research to warrant caution when selecting cosmetic products.

To give a little insight into Lovett Sundries, Marit, our co-founder, had breast cancer in 2012. While we have always been interested in starting a clean personal care business, her diagnosis inspired us to take action in a big way. If you’re interested in natural alternatives, Lovett Sundries’ products are free of parabens, artificial fragrances, colorants, EDTA, glutens, phthalates, and sulfates. Moreover, our products are cruelty-free, all-natural, and zero-waste.

We hand make all of our products in the heart of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. If you would like to learn more about our products, please visit our online store. You can also read more about the natural preservatives we use in our products by visiting our ingredient glossary.