ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT CHOLESTEROL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

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1 ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT CHOLESTEROL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. Some properties and highlights of Cholesterol are discussed via a clear Questionand-Answer approach. Q1: Is Cholesterol naturally occurring component of the skin lipids? A1: Yes, Cholesterol is present in the skin lipids in 1-4%, and is an essential ingredient for various hormones that are used in the body. Q2: Is Cholesterol from animal origin? A2: Yes, Cholesterol is from animal origin. Nature differentiates animals and plants via two different groups of sterols. Q3: Should Cholesterol be compared to other animal derived products such as Gelatine, Collagen or Tallow? A3: No, sheep are not slaughtered to obtain wool grease. Q4: Which are the sources for Cholesterol? A4: Cholesterol is obtained from wool grease, but it can also be obtained from eggs. It is separated from the feedstock using highly advanced separation techniques. Q5: Which role does Cholesterol play in the functioning of the skin? A5: Cholesterol is an essential ingredient for the proper performance of subcutaneous membranes. Q6: If the body needs more Cholesterol to manufacture hormones, will the body adjust the rate of production? A6: Yes, especially when the body has to accomplish greatly increased efforts. Q7: For what functionality can Cholesterol be used in personal care and cosmetic products? A7: Cholesterol is used as an emulsifier, emollient, suspending agent, moisturiser, and plays also an important role in controlled release. Q8: For which types of emulsions can Cholesterol be used? A8: Cholesterol is predominantly used in Water-in-Oil emulsions. Q9: Is Cholesterol a stand-alone emulsifier? A9: No, Cholesterol is a co-emulsifier.

2 Q10: How does Cholesterol function as emulsifier? A10: Cholesterol is built in the liquid crystalline maze that is formed in the continuous phase of the emulsion. It gives mechanical strength to the liquid crystalline maze and acts as a spacer. Q11: Can Cholesterol function as a rheological additive in W/O-emulsions? A11: Yes, Cholesterol, as being part of the liquid crystalline structure, has a lot of influence on the rheology of W/O-emulsions. Q12: How does Cholesterol differentiate itself from other W/O-emulsifiers? A12: Cholesterol is a non-ethoxylated emulsifier, contrary to most other W/Oemulsifiers, and is a body-own product. Q13: Is Cholesterol a good suspending agent? A13: Cholesterol itself is not a good suspending agent. It only functions if products are present that form a liquid crystalline network. By stabilising the network with Cholesterol solid materials are effectively suspended. Q14: As a suspending agent: Does Cholesterol performs in water-born systems or in lipophilic systems? A14: Cholesterol performs only in lipophilic systems. Q15: Does the use of Cholesterol results in an increased viscosity of pigmented systems? A15: Not necessarily. While using Cholesterol it is still possible to cover a wide range of rheological properties, including viscosity and thixotropy. Q16: What is the most significant value of Cholesterol as emollient? A16: Cholesterol is a skin own emollient, contrary to most other emollients used in the personal care and cosmetic industry. Q17: Will topically applied Cholesterol end up in the blood stream? A17: Yes. In principal all ingredients of a personal care or cosmetic product will end up in the blood stream, unless the molecular size or solubility is a limitation. Q18: Will Cholesterol give rise to increased Cholesterol levels in the blood? A18: No. Animal tests have not indicated that topically applied Cholesterol does not result in an increased Cholesterol level in the blood. Furthermore, the amount Cholesterol applied via personal care and cosmetic products is small anyway. Q19: Will Cholesterol act as a skin conditioner? A19: Because the penetration of Cholesterol in the sub-cutaneous layers is slow, it acts as a very effective, long term skin conditioner. Q20: Does Cholesterol influence skin ageing? A20: Yes, Cholesterol is probably the most important moisture balance influencing substance known. A reduced moisture level is probably the most important reason for premature skin ageing. 2

3 Q21: It is possible to use Cholesterol for controlled release purposes? A21: Yes, Cholesterol is a very powerful ingredient for controlled release preparations. Q22: Is Cholesterol difficult to process? A22: Yes, because of the high melting point and particular interactions with other ingredients in the preparation processing may sometimes be tedious. Q23: Is it possible to tune the skin feel of Cholesterol containing products? A23: Yes, but it asks a certain level of formulation skills and experience. Q24: Is there a relation between the disease of Kreutzfeld-Jacobs and the use of Cholesterol in food and personal care & cosmetic products? A24: No, there is no relation. Q25: Is there a relation between the well-being of the organism and the condition of the skin? A25: Yes, there is a positive relation. If the skin visibly does not perform well, the organism will suffer from shortage of certain essential products. Also, if the organism is not performing well, the skin is the primary indicator. Therefore, a healthy body and a healthy skin go hand-in-hand. Q26: What is the justification for the use of Cholesterol in facial skin care products? A26: Cholesterol enables to tune the speed of degradation of topically applied W/Oemulsions. Cholesterol is one of the very little products that have this property. Q27: Is Cholesterol compatible to other W/O-emulsifiers? A27: Yes, although interactions may occur that shall be taken into account when designing a new formulation. Q28: Are there particular new emulsifiers available that are favoured to use together with Cholesterol? A28: Yes, especially Polyglyceryl esters of particular fatty acids are extremely suitable. These products enable also to tune perception parameters such as the skin feel and the rheological properties of the consumer product. This is particularly important for facial skin care products as well as body care products. Q29: Is there a differentiation possible for the use of Cholesterol in facial and body care products? A29: In principle there is no differentiation possible although the buying audience is willingly to pay more for facial care products than for body care products. Q30: Is there a justification for the use of Cholesterol in shaving products? A30: Yes. During shaving the skin lipids are completely removed. Skin conditioning during wet shaving is therefore important to protect the skin. Dry shaving is even more detrimental, and a pre-shave product shall be used to protect the skin. 3

4 Q31: Is there a commercial justification for using Cholesterol in shaving products? A31: The use of Cholesterol will have impact on the product costing. However, the difference in performance and comfort will be sufficiently persuasive for the user. Q32: Is there a justification for using Cholesterol in after-shave products? A32: Yes. Cholesterol will reduce the potential irritation caused by Ethanol and fragrance ingredients and act as a very effective skin conditioner. Q33: Is there a commercial justification for using Cholesterol in after-shave products? A33: As after-shave products are mostly luxury products, the use of Cholesterol will have hardly impact on the product costing. Q34: Is there a justification for using Cholesterol in sun care products based on chemical UV-filters? A34: Yes, as due to delayed emulsion breaking of W/O-emulsions containing Cholesterol an increased SPF will be observed as well as increased action time. Transport of the UV-filters to subcutaneous layer will be reduced. Q35: Is there a justification for using Cholesterol in sun care products based on physical UV-filters? A35: Yes, due to stabilisation of pigmented W/O-emulsions sun care products based on Titanium Dioxide or Zinc Oxide will show an improved performance. Q36: Is there a commercial justification for using Cholesterol in sun care products? A36: Yes, as there is an increased performance of sun care products containing Cholesterol. Q37: Is there a technical and commercial justification for using Cholesterol in baby care products? A37: Yes. Cholesterol containing emulsions can be used for impregnation on diapers to avoid nappy rash. Baby skin contains significantly more Cholesterol, which is de-activated by long term exposure to urine. A Cholesterol supplement is therefore advisable. Q38: Can Cholesterol be used to improve the quality of lipsticks? A38: Yes. Cholesterol is an excellent stabiliser for dispersions in lipophilic matrices, especially suitable for lipstick preparations. Q39: Is it possible using Cholesterol to produce kiss-proof lipsticks? A39: No. That is only possible with permanent lipstick products. Nevertheless, the kiss-proof properties can greatly be improved. Q40: Is it possible to use Cholesterol to produce waterproof make-up products? A40: No. That is only possible with permanent make-up products. Nevertheless, the waterproof properties can greatly be improved. 4

5 Q41: There is an important trend of personal care products growing in the direction of pharmaceutical products. Which role Cholesterol will play here A41: Cholesterol is an important product for controlled release, in conjunction with traditional emulsifiers such as Lecithin, but even more with modern surface active agents such as Polyglyceryl esters of fatty acids. Q42: Should Cholesterol be positioned as a cosmeceutical product? A42: Yes. There is certainly a justification to do so, but Cholesterol shall not be positioned exclusively as a cosmeceutical product. 5