Beta-Glucan

Beta-Glucan Description

Beta-glucan is a polysaccharide (complex sugar) that can be derived from various natural sources such as yeast, fungi, seaweed, or oats. It is commonly included in skin care products as a soothing agent and is considered an excellent ingredient for minimizing redness and other signs of sensitive skin.

Beta-glucan also offers antioxidant properties and has been shown to help visibly minimize signs of aging/sun damage (including reducing the look of wrinkle depth and rough, uneven tone). Certain sources of beta-glucan also offer film-forming moisturizing properties.

In early research, it was hypothesized that beta-glucan’s high molecular weight would inhibit it from penetrating skin, thereby limiting its benefits to just the surface, but in more recent studies, beta-glucan has been proven to permeate skin by passing between cells.

In 2012, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel deemed beta-glucan as safe in cosmetic formulations in the present practices of use at a 1% max concentration.