The ‘gluten-free’ movement is more than a diet for people suffering from coeliac diseases: it is imposing itself as an increasingly popular lifestyle. The beauty department is no exception, and the ‘gluten-free’ label is getting widespread on cosmetic products.
The ‘gluten-free’ trend comes from Anglo-Saxon countries and is gaining ground in France. Coeliac sufferers, allergic individuals, or people wishing to follow beneficial diets in order to recover a harmonious digestive function or fight against arthrosis ban gluten from their diets and choose cereal alternatives. This holistic strategy has been relayed by blogs, magazines, practical guides dedicated to the gluten-free lifestyle, and celebrities, and has gradually reached the cosmetics sector.
Skin application = risks?
The experts do not agree on how hazardous it is for sensitized people to apply on their skin cosmetics formulated with ingredients derived from raw materials containing gluten and its derivatives.
Some scientists claim there is no risk in case of a skin application given the high molecular weight of gliadin (a component of gluten), which they say prevents skin absorption. Manufacturers like Dr Michaela Arens-Corell, Director of the Medical-Scientific Department of Sebapharma GmbH & Co KG, a German brand positioned in dermocosmetics, emphasize the fact that ‘
some
allergists confirm there is no known case of inflammatory response of the intestine in coeliac sufferers after an external contact with cosmetics containing gluten’
(1). All of them make a distinction with the products that can be …
