Formulation Development and Facial Skin Evaluation of Serum Containing Jellose from Tamarind Seeds

Jellose is a natural polysaccharide that is extracted from tamarind seed kernel. This natural polymer has many good properties to be a useful excipient for pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical products. It can used as a thickening agent, suspending agent, viscosity enhancer, emulsifying agent and more. Recently, it was reported that jellose can inhibit tyrosinase enzyme and has antioxidant activity which makes this ingredient interesting to be utilized for skin lightening in cosmeceutical products. The aim of this study was to formulate a facial serum product containing jellose as one of active ingredients, evaluate the physicochemical properties and stability, and also obtain a clinical result of product with the help of volunteers. Two types of jellose serums were developed: oil in water formula; and oil-free formula. The stability of serum was studied under heating and cooling cycle tests for 6 cycles, and then placed in room temperature (30±1°C) for 3 months. Results showed that both types of serums had good stability. The physicochemical properties such as viscosity, pH, antioxidant activity and tyrosinase enzyme inhibition activity were evaluated to select the optimal formulation. The selected formulation was tested by applying it on the facial area of 35 healthy volunteers aged 35-75 years, and then analyzing with Skin Visual Analyzer at 15, 30 and 60 days. It was found that the jellose serum can reduce skin roughness, has an anti-wrinkle property, and brightened the skin significantly when regularly used for at least 30 days. During this study, none of the volunteers reported any kind of allergies and the overall satisfaction assessment of jellose serum was excellent. It was concluded that jellose can become a novel and potential ingredient in cosmeceuticals.