Companies don’t always have our health in mind when they are developing cosmetics. The goal is to create a product that makes people more attractive, whether by making their skin look younger, adding luster to their hair, or by covering up natural body odor. Too often these goals are achieved by incorporating harmful ingredients to make products more shelf stable or the right consistency or to smell better. Deodorants and antiperspirants are no exception.......

Deodorant vs. Antiperspirant: What’s the difference?

Deodorant is intended to inhibit bacterial growth with the use of an antiseptic (the bacteria is what causes the odor). Deodorants do not reduce perspiration, though, so they are simply considered a cosmetic, rather than a drug.

Most antiseptics require some kind of preservative to retain their effectiveness over time, so most deodorants contain parabens for this purpose. Parabens are absorbed through the skin, mimic estrogen, and the connection between parabens and breast cancer is hard to deny.

Antiperspirants rely on aluminum chlorhydrate to block the pores from producing sweat. This does two things: 1) prevents unsightly sweat rings in the armpits, and 2) discourages odor by eliminating the moisture that odor-causing bacteria feed on. Most antiperspirants include a deodorant of some kind, too, to mask any odors that might slip through after it begins to lose its effectiveness. Antiperspirants are considered a drug, because they interfere with an essential function of the body (perspiration).

While it is commonly believed that the aluminum used in antiperspirant increases the risk of breast cancer, any studies performed seem to have only found a “potential connection,” not hard evidence; but that “potential risk,” combined with the danger of parabens, is one that many people don’t want to take. Aluminum has other faults, too, though; it’s responsible for the yellow armpit stains you find on your white shirts and many people are sensitive to aluminum, breaking into a rash with use.

Oh, but that’s not all. Let’s not forget about added fragrance. If a company does not list out every single ingredient that goes into the fragrance of their deodorant or antiperspirant, don’t buy it. The word “fragrance” on the label may as well say “toxic substances.”

Reduce sweating and odor through diet...Some foods and beverages encourage the body to sweat more

• Spicy foods
• Garlic and onion – these also make body odor worse, as do strong spices like curry.
• Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Processed foods – they just put more toxins into your body, which will come back out via perspiration.

Foods that help reduce sweating and odor:

• Drinking lots of water keeps your internal body temperature lower.
• Eating foods with a high water content, like fruits and vegetables, will have the same effect as drinking water.
• Tea – tannic acid is a natural astringent (i.e., odor reducer).
• Cook with olive oil to encourage digestion – you sweat less when your body doesn’t have to work as hard to move food through the digestive system.
• Sage – cook with it or make tea out of it to reduce the activity of your sweat glands over time.

Dietary supplements that reduce sweating:

• B vitamins and vitamin C – these encourage the elimination of toxins through the urine instead of through the skin
• Magnesium – low magnesium levels contribute to both sweating and body odor. If you don’t get much calcium in your diet, you’ll have to take your magnesium with a calcium supplement or you won’t absorb it very well. Magnesium can also be absorbed through the skin, so another use for the magnesium oil I mentioned earlier is magnesium supplementation. See the example at right.

 

Kasia Pure-Oderant – Organic Protection