Friday, March 29, 2024

Barley shows promise in cosmetics

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Locally grown barley could be a game changer, forming the base of the next generation of cosmetics.
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When cereals are mentioned it is usually food that comes to mind. But cereals can be used for a number of non-food purposes.

At a Women in Arable meeting in Ashburton, Dr Nick Tucker, of Plant and Food Research, revealed more opportunities for cereal growers looking to maximise returns, including using barley for cosmetics.

Common plastics are made of polymers, large molecules consisting of many small building blocks. Cereals also contain polymers, polysaccharides and proteins.

But they differ in shape and physical and chemical properties from those of fossil fuel plastics.

At Plant and Food Research, scientists were extracting and using the polymers in barley, Tucker said.

“Why barley? Because it is a short season, easy care, abundant and an inexpensive cereal,” he said.

It also contained a higher percentage of polysaccharides, with many benefits.

“A simple, inexpensive, food-safe extraction method is developed to collect the polymers and the extract properties. The end use can be altered by modifying the extraction conditions.”

The extract has been used in food and non-food applications, including cosmetics and packaging material, he said.

“It’s most definitely a challenge but an interesting and rewarding one.”

The long term was about reducing the use of imported fossil materials that were rising in price continually and developing instead biomaterials, making appropriate use of natural domestic resources, he said.

“Why import a material with a potential for many years of use for an application where for some products it only needs to last a fortnight?”

A simple and inexpensive food-safe extraction method had been developed to collect the polymers, Tucker said. The extract properties and end use could be altered by modifying the extraction conditions, with extract used in food and non-food applications.

Packaging material film, with good tensile strength, ultra-violet resistance and a long shelf life had been developed from the extract.

“Yes, it is a bit odorous and I am telling you that before you tell me when I pass it around. But it does have good spreadability, smoothness and tackiness.”

Dr Nick Tucker

Plant and Food Research

“Cheese wrapped in film and stored at room temperature since 2009 is still looking good.”

Work to develop a film suitable as a matrix for stem cell growth was ongoing.

Agriculture applications for the extract included combating the spores of apple leaf curl disease, a delivery system for bio-control agents, and vitamin delivery material in lame cows.

The game changer was in cosmetics, Tucker said.

The extract was proving successful in cosmetic creams, with the polymers in the barley extract providing the emulsifying capacity.

“This natural emulsifier could substitute chemically synthesised emulsifiers.”

The extract was used to formulate body cream and lotion according to a recipe provided by a leading NZ cosmetics company.

The use of the extract made up to 70% of the recipe’s ingredients redundant without compromising the quality, Tucker said. About 90% of the remaining ingredients were natural.

He agreed with the unanimous consensus of the meeting that work was needed on the smell of the cream.

“Yes, it is a bit odorous and I am telling you that before you tell me when I pass it around. But it does have good spreadability, smoothness, and tackiness.”

The lower-yield stress, primary skin feeling made dispersion on the skin easier, with the barley extract cream rated similar or better than the commercially manufactured comparison.

Work was ongoing to make a moisturising mist from the liquid extract, with the primary aim to produce a product with mostly natural ingredients, he said.

The advantages of the natural barley extract include a mist that forms a thin layer on the skin, retaining moisture, giving the skin a smooth feel, with a layer that washes off easily with water, carrying any pollutants with it.

Tucker demonstrated how soot washed off skin where barley extract was applied, whereas it was difficult to remove from skin with no application.

The barley extract was also being researched as a nutritive-binder ingredient in sports bars.

Three types of snack bars had been formulated to suit the different stages of an exercise event, with the main target endurance athletes.

“The bars have already reached China. It’s very exciting,” he said.

“We are producing high-added-value products from a co-product. It’s an opportunity for producers to get higher up the value chain, rather than just producing the raw product.

“There is no point in doing the science if we are not working with the people and the companies who are going to make the money from get-go.”

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