Sent to you by redcliff via Google Reader:
Leatha questions chirality…I have started using a skin care line called Cosmedix and they claim that their products are chirally correct. I don't know what this means and whether it is a marketing gimmick or if there is some truth to it.
The Left Brain criticizes Cosmedix:
The term chiral is derived from the Greek work for handedness and a molecule is called chiral if it differs from its mirror image. (A simple way to visualize this concept is to think of your right and left hand. You can't fit your left hand in your right glove, right? That's because they're chiral. You can learn more about the idea here.)
Some chemical reactions produce both the left handed and right handed version of the same molecule. These versions are called isomers. This concept is very important in drug manufacture where the Left and Right isomers may have different chemical properties. If the Left isomer is effective against a given disease, you want a chemical reaction that produces pure Left, not a mixture of Right and Left. So for drugs, chiral purity is very important.
But for cosmetic products, chirality isn't really an issue. That's because cosmetic ingredients don't interact with the biological systems of your body the same way drugs do. So your first guess was correct this IS a marketing gimmick!
Things you can do from here:
- Subscribe to The Beauty Brains using Google Reader
- Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
