xDisclaimer: The information contained on this site is general in nature and for informational purposes. It is not meant to substitute for the advice... read moreDisclaimer: The information contained on this site is general in nature and for informational purposes. It is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional. None of the statements on this site are a recommendation as to how to treat any particular disease or health-related condition. If you suspect you have a disease or health-related condition of any kind, you should contact your health care professional immediately. Please read all product packaging carefully and consult with a healthcare professional before starting any diet, exercise, supplementation or medication program. Cosmetic products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. read lessIf you have read up on your vitamin E, you may recognize the word “tocopheryl” in this ingredient.
Wouldn’t that be something good for you?Take anything and mix it with something else, and you can come up with something potentially harmful. That can be the case with tocopheryl acetate. The tocopheryl part is vitamin E, but the acetate comes about when the vitamin E is mixed with acetic acid.The resulting ingredient can actually irritate your skin more than help.It contains vitamin E, but it’s been messed with in the lab. This ingredient is basically a form of vitamin E created in the laboratory. Manufacturers take natural vitamin E and add acetic acid to it.Acetic acid is the main component of vinegar. The word “acid” means just what you’d think—it’s corrosive, and attacks the skin. A simple carboxylic acid, it’s used in the production of chemicals for photographic film, wood glue, and synthetic fibers and fabrics. Why would manufacturers mix perfectly good vitamin E with this irritating ingredient.Two words: cheaper, and longer lasting. Adding the acid to vitamin E makes it last longer on the shelves.
That makes it easier for manufacturers to process, ship, store, and sell their products.The concerns with this ingredient are first, that it can be potentially irritating to skin, causing redness, rashes, and potential allergic reactions. According to the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) of the ingredient, tocopheryl acetate helped protect against oxidative damage, but produced skin sensitizing or skin irritating effects in one animal study. A 1991 study detailed four cases of contact dermatitis caused by cosmetic creams that contained tocopheryl acetate.The CIR, though it concluded that tocopheryl was safe for cosmetics, also noted that studies with the ingredient demonstrated some “enhancement of photocarcinogenesis,” which means it may actually encourage the carcinogenic effects of UV rays.High doses of this ingredient have also been found in animal studies to cause tumor formation. Though that’s not likely to be a concern if you’re using only a little of the ingredient, as in most personal care products, the concern is the potential buildup over time.
We simply don’t have the necessary safety studies on this ingredient when used for several times a day over many years.Another issue comes from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which notes concerns regarding contamination with hydroquinone, a whitening compound. During the manufacturing process, tocopheryl acetate may be contaminated with hydroquinone, which can also cause dermatitis, increase sensitivity to UV rays, and may have potentially carcinogenic properties.Of all the potentially harmful ingredients, this is probably one of the milder ones. It is vitamin E, which can have some benefits. The thing is, why not just stick with natural vitamin E? Why take the risks with tocopheryl acetate when you don’t have to?Have you had a reaction to tocopheryl acetate? Posted in: Ingredient Watch ListSimply put, shingles is an acute outbreak of the Herpes zoster virus. For most individuals with shingles, the appearance of the typical painful, blistering skin rash results from a reactivation of the virus from storage sites in nerve cells after an earlier chickenpox infection, often as a child.
While it is unclear precisely what precipitates the reappearance of this virus so many years later, it still responds to properly-dosed vitamin C – like any other acute viral syndrome. That is to say, it is completely and rapidly resolved. And, the virus usually ends up completely eradicated from the body. Vitamin C is a unique anti-viral agent Vitamin C is a nutrient that augments the immune system of the body in many different ways. There are really no infections of any type that do not respond favorably to the administration of multigram doses of vitamin C. Most acute infections, regardless of the pathogens involved, resolve rapidly and completely, even those for which traditional medicine has nothing significant to offer. Specifically, acute viral syndromes, such as shingles, always resolve quickly when enough vitamin C is properly administered. It should also be noted that large enough doses of any antioxidant can inactivate a virus, but the ready access that vitamin C has to all tissues in the body makes it especially effective.
Why doesn’t vitamin C work for every viral condition?A few units of penicillin will not cure an infection when millions of units are needed, and 500 mg of vitamin C will not cure an infection that requires 100,000 mg. However, since symptoms of anything are pro-oxidant in nature, any dose of vitamin C will still help an individual feel better, and the infection will resolve more quickly than it would have otherwise. So, you may be wondering – what has vitamin C actually been documented to do for shingles? Anyone who has had shingles, myself included, knows how incredibly painful it is, and how difficult it is to get significant pain control for at least the first week, or two, of the condition. Frederick Klenner, MD, published his results on eight shingles patients treated with vitamin C. Using fairly low doses of vitamin C compared to the many other conditions he treated, Klenner noted complete pain relief in seven of eight patients within only two hours after the first 3,000 mg injection of vitamin C.
Two hours versus two weeks – is a very big difference! Other investigators reported similarly remarkable responses of shingles pain to vitamin C. Treating shingles with vitamin C today is simple While Dr. Klenner treated many conditions with injected vitamin C, which works just as well today, shingles is actually an especially easy viral condition to treat with vitamin C, and most persons with this condition need not worry that they are out of luck if they cannot find a doctor who will give them a vitamin C IV. Regular vitamin C, as sodium ascorbate taken to bowel tolerance, will make most shingles patients pain-free in a few hours. A similarly positive result can be anticipated with a few grams of liposome-encapsulated vitamin C taken orally. Remember, however, to continue aggressive dosing of vitamin C for at least 48 hours after all evidence of the infection and the lesions have disappeared – in order to assure complete eradication of the virus from the body.