Citrus: Making Balms the Bomb(proof)

Antioxidants are all the rage. There are good reasons for this. In our excitement, let’s remember that marketing teams often apply concepts wrongly or in places that do not deserve our focus. Marketing teams apply ideas for their profit, not your wellbeing.

To break free from marketing hogwash, let’s identify what antioxidants are, where they are, how they help us, and where they do the most good.

Oxidation is a chemical reaction where a substance loses electrons. Think of a cut apple turning brown or a vegetable oil spoiling. Both the apple and the vegetable oil are reacting with oxygen.  Oxidation is slow chemical damage.  Antioxidants slow it.

If antioxidants are repairing damage, what is doing it? Free radicals, the Voldemort, Thanos, or Ahab of this tale. Free radicals are missing one or more electrons and, boy, are they miffed about it. Missing electrons makes free radicals prone to chemical reactions where they gain electrons. In your cells free radicals can steal electrons from proteins or DNA. When proteins, fats, or DNA lose electrons they can stop working as intended. When DNA oxidizes, mutations increase. The code of life is impaired. Over time this leads to aging and all manner of bad outcomes.

Antioxidants have extra, unpaired electrons. They donate their extra electrons to free radicals. Thus made whole, free radicals do not steal electrons from your cells. This keeps you healthier.

Plants are full of antioxidants because they are biochemical warzones. Unlike animals, plants can’t move and hide to nurse a wound. They remain where they are with their wounds exposed to the elements and sun’s radiation. Animals rely on behavior and immune systems. Plants rely on chemistry. Plants evolved all manner of antioxidants because they must.

Now, the truth: I own a consumer goods company. I am interested in selling you things. It is good for you to be skeptical of me. We’ll both have better outcomes. In my heart, values, and labors I’m a beekeeper. I’m pretty simple. Sales is uncomfortable for me. So let’s provide the broader context, the truth.

Antioxidants in your diet work systemically–throughout your body–and far more effectively, including for your skin. If you want to be healthy, your diet and a good sunscreen deserve your focus. Consider voting for politicians who will propose, advocate and vote for meaningful steps to limit pollution. Some companies sell balms to protect your skin from pollution. This is like buying new lacquer for a wood floor when you spill milk. It’s much more effective to clean up the milk.

But, if you are applying balms, it doesn’t hurt your skin to apply a balm with good antioxidant juju. What’s more: a proven antioxidant mix is good for the balm.

Hear me out. Good balms are mixes of plant oils and extracts combined with beeswax. Plant oils and extracts oxidize, the same process that happens in our bodies. This means the balm breaks down into less pleasant byproducts. An oxidized balm is not dangerous, but it won’t smell good. It may feel gritty. And antioxidants applied to the skin in a balm can protect from environmental damage and support skin repair.

To slow this process Drew’s Honeybees uses three antioxidant compounds to ward off oxidation in our balms–rosemary extract, citric acid, and ascorbyl palmitate–fat soluble vitamin C. The takeaway? Your balm is better, longer. And yes, the antioxidants will have some benefit for your skin. Though far less than dietary antioxidants. Eat your veggies!

The DHB trinity slows the three major pathways by which balms oxidize, losing their pleasantness.

1. Rosemary extract with a potent amount of carnosic acids donates electrons to free radicals to neutralize them.
2. Citric acid is a chelating agent, which binds to metal ions. Unbonded metal ions can cause oxidation.
3. Ascorbyl palmitate acts as an oxygen scavenger–it bonds with oxygen, taking it out of the game. Less oxygen means less oxidation–chemical breakdown. This is important because beeswax is breathable.  It allows oxygen in.  In our tests, ascorbyl palmitate makes beeswax balms last 2x as long as the next best antioxidant mix. Peer-reviewed studies have similar findings.^[1][2] Some approximate the conditions of our balms closely.^[3]

Now, I am no chemist. I don’t understand this. Acknowledging that, I have run scientific trials testing whether our antioxidant trinity beats other common antioxidants like vitamin E. It ain’t close. While we must thank Nature for all of our antioxidants, we thank citrus specifically for two of our trinity.

DHB balms last longer than competitor balms even when they contain similar ingredients. The takeaway? However you use your balm–if you lose it for a time–it’s more likely to be good when you find it. That’s just science.

¹ Lee, J. H., Shin, J. A., Lee, J. H., & Lee, K. T. (2004). Production of lipase-catalyzed structured lipids from safflower oil with conjugated linoleic acid and oxidation studies with rosemary extracts. Food Research International, 37(10), 967–974. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2004.06.005

² Lee, J. H., Lee, K. T., Akoh, C. C., Chung, S. K., & Kim, M. R. (2006). Antioxidant evaluation and oxidative stability of structured lipids from extra-virgin olive oil and conjugated linoleic acid. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 54(14), 5416-5421.

³ Rižner Hraš, A., Hadolin, M., Knez, Ž., & Bauman, D. (2000). Comparison of antioxidative and synergistic effects of rosemary extract with α-tocopherol, ascorbyl palmitate and citric acid in sunflower oil. Food Chemistry, 71(2), 229-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0308-8146(00)00161-8