UNAIR NEWS – Sunblock or sunscreen is one of the routine skin care products for people. Not only protect the skin from sunburn, but also one form of prevention of skin cancer. However, the fact is that some active ingredients of sunscreens have been found to have harmful effects on the environment. One of these active ingredients is oxybenzene. Oxybenzene is found to pollute waters and damage coral reefs. Therefore, there are several criticisms from environmentalists to find a safer sunscreen now.
Moreover, three students from Faculty of Pharmacy Universitas Airlangga consisting of Fatihatul Alifiyah, Diyna Rusayliya Purwanto, and Fakhriyah Dinina tried to develop sunscreens from natural ingredients. It was made by Student Creativity Program in Exact Research (PKM-PE) entitled “Potential of Tamarind Extract as a Sunscreen Cream for Prevention of Skin Cancer.”
According to Fatihatul Alifiyah as Head of research team, the use of tamarind seeds is expected to minimize the side effects caused by synthetic chemical-based sunscreens. Besides, tamarind is also one of the plants that are easy to find in Indonesia.
“So, the use of tamarind seeds as sunscreen also helps in exploring natural wealth in Indonesia,” she explained.
The team was guided directly by Rr. Retno Widyowati, Ph.D., Apt., Initially tried to develop tamarind and tamarind seed cream. After further investigation, the team found that sunscreen from tamarind seeds had an SPF of 26 with an extract concentration of 30%. Besides, sunscreen cream from tamarind fruit has SPF below 10, so the potential is low to become a sunscreen.
“In the future, we hope the potential of the tamarind seed extract can continue to be developed into a product that can be used widely in the community and increase public awareness to prevent dangerous skin cancer,” she concluded.
Author: PKMPE TEAM POTENTIAL OF JAVA ACID EXTRACT AS SOLAR TREATMENT CREAM FOR PREVENTION OF SKIN CANCER Editor: Nuri Hermawan
