BETA-GLUCAN
Beta-Glucan is the name for polysaccharides made from glucose units joined in different arrangements. It is not one single raw material: beta-glucans occur in the cell walls of yeasts, fungi and bacteria, and also in cereals such as oats and barley.
BETA-GLUCAN: what it is
Beta-Glucan is the name for polysaccharides made from glucose units joined in different arrangements. It is not one single raw material: beta-glucans occur in the cell walls of yeasts, fungi and bacteria, and also in cereals such as oats and barley.
Its source changes the architecture of the polymer and can change how it behaves in a product. Seeing BETA-GLUCAN on an ingredient list therefore does not reveal whether it came from oats, yeast or another source; that depends on the raw material selected by the brand. Oat beta-glucan, for example, is not automatically interchangeable with yeast-derived beta-glucan.
BETA-GLUCAN: what it does in cosmetics
In cosmetics, Beta-Glucan may be used to add body to a preparation and to condition the skin. For the person using the product, skin conditioning means aiming for skin that feels softer and more comfortable to the touch; it does not make the ingredient, on its own, a treatment for a skin condition.
Topical research with oat beta-glucan has explored a damaged skin-barrier model, but that finding concerns one particular source and an experimental setting. A trial of a cream containing beta-glucan, a plant extract, an oil and hyaluronate also cannot separate the contribution of each component. These findings do not show that every beta-glucan, used alone in any cosmetic, treats irritation, wounds or stretch marks.
Products containing this ingredient
See which products include it and the name used in each composition.
