If you hang out around the natural health community online chances are you’ve heard the hype about avoiding polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) in food but have you ever considered the importance of avoiding them in your skincare rituals as well?
Firstly, what’s the deal with PUFAs?
Polyunsaturated fatty acids or PUFAs for short, is a fatty acid that contains at least two double bonds. Polyunsaturated fats have more than one unsaturated carbon bond which can cause instability in certain conditions.
The reason that PUFAs can potentially be harmful to our health is because the double bonds in PUFAs are easily broken apart which can allow oxygen to sneak in to cause a “free radical cascade” that damages normal, healthy lipids. The end result of this cascade is oxidization, this can lead to the oils becoming rancid.
PUFAs are particularily bad in skincare products because they are easily oxidized by light, heat and oxygen. This means that wearing PUFA rich products topically when going outside in the sun or working under fluorescent lights can cause the oxidization process to happen directly on your skin, introducing oxidative stress to your body. Oxidative stress is linked to many unwanted problems such as central nervous system diseases, auto immune and inflammatory diseases and wrinkles and fine lines just to name a few.
So what are the alternatives?
There are two different alternatives to PUFAs – monounsaturated fatty acids and saturated fatty acids.
Monounsaturated fatty acids have only one place where oxygen possibly enter, this means that oxidization can still happen but it is billions of times less likely than PUFAs. Monounsaturated fats have actually been shown to help protect cells from oxidative damage which helps maintain skin cell health by increasing collagen production and cell regeneration.
Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) however, are the gold standard when it comes to fats in skincare (and cooking) because of their protective and stabilizing properties. Unlike PUFAs and MUFAs, SFAs have no double bond which means that there is no room for oxygen to sneak in and even things like high heat and light can’t oxidize them.
What are some examples of PUFAs, MUFAs and SFAs?
Some common PUFAs found in skincare products include:
– Almond oil
– Flax seed oil
– Sunflower oil
– Hemp seed oil
Some common MUFAs found in skincare products include:
– Avocado oil
– Olive oil
– Shea butter
– Castor oil
Some common SFAs found in skincare products include:
– Beef tallow
– Coconut oil
– Cocoa butter
What oils do you use in your formulations at Mountain Wisdom?
At Mountain Wisdom we make all of our products with our motto “Nature Knows Best” at the forefront. This means that low PUFA products happen organically, without much extra thought needed. High PUFA oils are often processed in unnatural ways, with high amounts of heat, which often causes them to become rancid before even reaching your conventional skincare products. We formulate with both SFAs and MUFAs at Mountain Wisdom. The main ingredient in the base of all of our products in grass-fed beef tallow, this ensures that the majority of the product is made with SFAs and that you get all of the beneficial fat soluble vitamins and antioxidants. We believe that the health benefits of MUFAs outweigh the potential risk of oxidization and we go to great lengths to ensure that we choose MUFAs with the lowest percentages of PUFAs. Another way that we lower the risk of oxidization is by only using cold pressed MUFAs instead of oils that have been processed with high heat. The main oils and fats that are used in our products are:
– Tallow (56% saturated, 42% monosaturated, 2% polyunsaturated)
– Coconut oil (83% saturated, 6% monounsaturated, 1% polyunsaturated)
– Shea butter (50% saturated, 45% monounsaturated, 5% polyunsaturated)
– Olive oil (14% saturated, 73% monounsaturated, 11% polyunsaturated)
– Avocado oil – (16% saturated, 70% monounsaturated, 14% polyunsaturated)
Saturated fats make up 50% of our cell membranes which makes it easy to see why they are so beneficial to our skin. Hours of research goes into every product that we formulate here at Mountain Wisdom so we can be sure that only the safest, most healthful products are being offered. As always we encourage you to take radical responsibility for your health and the health of your family by researching the product you bring into your home and feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have at inquire@mountainwisdom.ca
Check out our tallow based healing products here.
~Emily