Preservatives: NataPres (Ecocert)

NataPres is an Ecocert preservative I found at Lotioncrafter. I purchased it, but haven't used it, and that's primarily because of the need for a secondary preservative.

NataPres
INCI: Glycerin (and) Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate (and) Lonicera Japonica (Honeysuckle) Flower Extract (and) Lonicera Caprifolium (Honeysuckle) Extract (and) Populus Tremuloides Bark Extract (and) Gluconolactone.

NataPres is a water soluble preservative that should be added in the cool down phase at 50˚C or lower. It is good against gram positive and gram negative bacteria, but the company suggests you add a little something more if you want to boost its efficacy against fungi and yeast, so it's not considered a broad spectrum preservative. (Click here for information on what beasties might live in our products!) Its suggested usage is 0.5% to 3% in the cool down phase of your product. Keep the sealed container of preservative away from sunlight, and I'd suggest keeping the finished product in an opaque container just to be safe.

We know about the leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate because we've been talking about Leucidal for the past two days, and it's the main preservative in that product (click here and here). Honeysuckle extract is interesting because it contains natural parabens, but it may not be as effective a preservative as once thought (click here and scroll down a bit for those links). The gluconolactone is added to be a chelating and sequestering ingredient (like EDTA), a free radical scavenger, and a moisturizer that is on par with about 2% glycerin. (This isn't to say that the gluconolactone will behave this way in your product.)

The Populus Tremuloides Bark Extract comes from the quaking or trembling aspen, and it can be found on its own as Natricide (click for data sheet from Lotioncrafter). In this product, you'd find it at 54% to 60%, whereas in this product you'l find it at a maximum of 20%.

I find the ratios of ingredients in this preservative interesting. The glycerin is listed at 60% to 70%, the radish ferment filtrate at 20% to 25%, with the next three extracts listed at 1% to 20%, with the gluconolactone listed last 0.01% to 10%. If we do the math, if we have glycerin at the least at 60% and the radish ferment filtrate at 20%, we only have 20% left for the honeysuckle and aspen extracts. So what is the main preservative here? It appears to be the radish root filtrate, but this product doesn't promise to be as broad spectrum as the Leucidal products - and it's from the same manufacturer - so I'm feeling a bit confused. Is it the glycerin that makes it less effective? I really don't know.

A big down side of this preservative is the need to keep it in an opaque container away from the sun. It reminds me a bit of working with Tinosan. The other big down side is the need for another preservative that is better with fungi and yeast. You might consider using an organic acid like potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate as a secondary preservative, or something like Optiphen. But I don't think those things are Ecocert, so you might have a problem there.

If you want to know more about this preservative, click here for a really extensive PDF from Lotioncrafter.