Rice starch is increasingly used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry, thanks to its innumerable properties but also to the fact that it is a completely natural and therefore highly sustainable ingredient.
Environmental sustainability is a topic dear to more and more people. At a global level, the greater sensitivity towards issues relating to environmental health has led companies to increasingly question themselves deeply about the quality, naturalness and sustainability of their products. In many industrial sectors, the race for sustainability has become a challenge that no modern company can afford to miss.
This is why the role of natural ingredients in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry is undergoing a total re-evaluation in this historical period: today research and technology is going to the direction of trying to make the most of these substances, enhancing their effects and maximizing results that can be obtained from their use, also in combination with other products of natural origin.
Clean Label: not only a trend but also a consumer need
The birth of “clean labels” is an expression of this trend, which actually hides a real need from the consumer who is increasingly attentive to his purchases, interested in protecting the environment and predisposed to make choices oriented towards sustainability.
The clean label does not yet have a legally recognized meaning: however, even these labels must comply with the relevant EU regulations, respecting the criterion of total transparency.
This means that “clean” label tells us that a product is free of a certain substance – such as a chemical additive – by law that substance must not be present in the product itself.
Even if the legislation is still being defined, clean labels help the consumers to orient themself at this moment in the vast sea of products available, choosing the products that best meet their expectations on the basis of the labels.
Rice Starch role in the Cosmetic and Pharma industries
The role of rice starch in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry should also be seen in this context. Today it is a very used and much requested product, an ingredient present in many preparations of different nature thanks to its numerous properties: versatility, naturalness and sustainability.
What is Rice Starch?
Rice starch is a polysaccharide, a complex carbohydrate of vegetable origin, composed of two glucose polymers: amylose and amylopectin.
It comes in the form of a whitish powder (flour), with low viscosity, insoluble in cold water, odorless and tasteless.
Even if starches are all different from each other, rice is not the only cereal in which starch is present: wheat, for example, is also rich in it.
This is why starch plays a crucial role in human nutrition, an aspect that makes it widely usable and consequently used in the food industry.
What is it for?
The salient feature of rice starch is its polyhedral granules, meaning angular and very small particles. This aspect gives rice starch a series of properties that make it extremely suitable for use in cosmetics:
- · adsorbent properties
- · hygroscopic properties
- · viscosity properties
- · humectant properties
- · thickening properties
- · refreshing properties
For example, starch is a substitute for talcum powder because it absorbs moisture. Combined with creams and oils, it helps to reduce oiliness and give a filming effect. In deodorants it helps the absorption of sweat and bad smells.
In powders and bath salts it is very useful to enhance the soothing and anti-itch effect. Applied directly to the skin, the starch absorbs excess sebum and moisture, reducing irritation and leaving the skin soft and velvety. According to recent studies it would also have repairing properties, because reducing transdermal water loss helps the skin to repair itself, reinforcing the skin barrier.
How is it used?
Starch is then used in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries as:
- · excipient, especially in pharmaceutical and food preparations, for the production of tablets and the preparation of bakery products, because it improves the dough characteristics, enhancing the flavors and lengthening the shelf life of the finished products
- · thickener and stabilizer in the food industry for the preparation of creams, puddings and sauces
- · soothing, absorbing and softening in the cosmetics industry also for children, in the production of detergents for children’s skin and powders and creams for the treatment of dry skin prone to dermatitis or redness
Sacchetto rice starch: a quality choice
Sacchetto produces Native Rice Starch STD and Native Rice Starch Waxy, the latter characterized by a higher amylopectin content which gives greater resistance to retrogradation and a lower gelation temperature.
The STD is made from rice selected between EU producers, mainly of Italian origin, extracted in our factory and in compliance with all hygiene and production standards, in order to keep the characteristics of the product intact and meet the current requirements set by food and pharmaceuticals.
Waxy rice starch, on the other hand, is extracted from rice of Extra-EU origin only, due to its exclusively Asian origin.
Sacchetto SpA offers its entire range in the double option Conventional and Organic.
Sacchetto SpA rice starch can be used in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical sectors and is available for purchase in bulk, 750kg big bags or in 20kg bags on pallets.
