Sugar body scrub?!

#1

face palm I was given an amazing set of lotions and body scrub and what not and without thinking opened and used the scrub which is made up of sugar and salt …smells amazing kinda like a margarita lol! But then the dread set in as I began to question if in fact the skin can absorb sugar?? Oh man :unamused: … anyone else use a sugar scrub or know the answer?

(eat more) #2

companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make transdermally delivered products…
if you absorbed significant amounts (if any) past the dermis and into your blood stream from standard cosmetics you’d be painfully sick every time you washed your hair or moisturized your face :blush:

#3

I was laughing at a post the other day on a FB page who was worried they were going to get fat from absorbing coconut oil and other people chiming in saying they had gained weight because of it so no longer used it!

No. The skin is our barrier from the environment. You will be fine.

(eat more) #4

or wearing gloves while handling raw meat with fat… :flushed:
:joy:

(Jan) #5

I just used a facial scrub the other night. Sugar & charcoal. Happened to Inadvertently lick my lips. Soooooo sweet! Nearly gagged me! And it took me a minute to realize what had happened, where the taste came from. Blech!

(Meeping up the Science!) #6

Skin is highly impermeable and is designed to keep things out of the body. Daisy is correct: you cannot absorb macronutrients through your skin. You need amylase to begin the breakdown of raw sugar. Digestion of carbs actually begins in your mouth when you first eat something. This is because the body doesn’t use sugar - it does, however, use glucose, so it breaks the sugar down into smaller and smaller building blocks to be processed.

#7

Although I agree with the replies in this thread, this is a good question. There is a comment, by Richard, in podcast 48, to the effect that epsom salts in a foot bath can help get extra magnesium into your body. I hear this often about epsom salts with respect to sodium. Perhaps salts are different than sugar on account of the mechanics of osmosis with salt and water balancing being of prime importance.

(Eve) #8

I wondered the same because of Epsom salts. Thank you for bringing this up.

#9

Yes that is a very good point. @Donna is there a difference with micro-nutrient absorption? I was wondering the same re essential oils too and also topical meds.

(Eve) #10

Someone brought this up in another group yesterday and they said that things you leave on your skin should be a concern, but not something you rinse off. So lotions, sprays, oil and things should be a concern, but not scrubs or shampoos.

If we didn’t absorb micronutrients through our skin then things like Epsom salts and magnesium sprays wouldn’t work.

#11

Yes, true. But that is micro not macro. So saying that you would gain weight with sugar or coconut oil (seen both said) would not be the case and not be possible.

(Eve) #12

I didn’t think of it like that. I just figured if salt could be absorbed that sugar could too. I didn’t think it would be significant enough to make you gain weight though.

#13

Yes but I think there is a difference because of the make-up of the nutrients in question. @Donna science?

(Karen OBrien) #14

A really invigorating body scrub that I use are coffee grounds in the shower. I use them straight out of the coffee maker filter (after making coffee) with a bit of Epsom salts mixed in. It’s exfoliating and I do find I get a bit of a caffeine boost from it.

#15

It is also the best deodoriser. If you have garlic hands or have been handling fish, etc. cleaning your hands with coffee grounds totally gets rid of the smells. Magic! Never thought of using as a body scrub. Great idea and less harsh than salt/sugar.

(Ashley Haddock) #16

Savings all my coffee grounds now. :joy:

Does this mean if you were to “taste” something and then spit it out you would still absorb some of the carbs/sugars? :thinking:

(Meeping up the Science!) #17

Yup. Some will still get digested if swallowed. Carbohydrate is actually absorbed through the entire small intestine. If you taste something, some residue will still always get swallowed even if you spit it out.

(Meeping up the Science!) #18

@Daisy Sorry I’m late! I know this has been forever, but here’s a study that answers your questions, Daisy.

Woops, forgot to post this. Here is one for magnesium!

#19

I couldn’t see anything that answered whether sugar could cross the barrier though. The article talks about micronutrients that are beneficial for skin health and some about skin barrier function. I might be missing something but there is nothing really about what can cross that barrier and what can’t.

(Meeping up the Science!) #20

It is not, unless a compound or other factor increases skin permeability. The skin glucose monitors use ultrasound, for instance.