Brighten Up Your Day With Titanium Dioxide!
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| Source: Nicole Dunai. Titanium Dioxide within Cosmetics. Taken December 5, 2013. |
Titanium dioxide is a compound that everyone comes across on a
daily basis. Commonly found in items such as paint and coatings, paper and
plastics, cosmetics and beauty products, as well as food products and
pharmaceuticals, titanium dioxide is an extremely versatile substance (1). The
unique characteristics that make it so useful are its high refractive index,
(the highest currently known to man), and extremely white pigmentation (1).
Refractive index describes how light behaves when it hits a particular
substance. In the case of titanium dioxide, because its refractive index is so
high, (basically, it “reflects” light away), it is capable of blocking UV
light, making it extremely useful as a sun-blocking agent in products like
makeup and, understandably, sunscreens. As well, because of its bright white
color, its most common uses within products are to brighten, opacify, and
whiten; think white paint, paper, lotions, and even white pills, just to name a
few (1).
So if titanium dioxide is found in so many products we come into
close contact with, even ingest, should we be worried about any health effects?
Fear not – titanium dioxide is a virtually inert earth mineral (2). Adverse
effects on humans are generally only experienced in those who work directly
with the mineral in its pure form, such as those in the manufacturing or production
sector. Despite some reports that titanium dioxide is toxic or unsafe, there is
no discernable evidence proving these claims, which is supported by the
International Agency for Research on Cancer, which states that there is no
correlation between titanium dioxide exposure and cancer (3).
Overall, there’s no doubt that titanium dioxide, with its wide
array of uses, and general lack of adverse health effects, does its job, and
does its job well.
References
1. ICIS. (2010). Titanium Dioxide
(TiO2) Uses and Market Data. Retrieved November 3, 2013, from http://www.icis.com/Articles/2007/11/07/9076546/titanium-dioxide-tio2-uses-and-market-data.html
2. Sibum, H.,
Guther, V., Roidi, O., Habashi, F., Wolf, H, U. (2000). Titanium, Titanium
Alloys, and Titanium Compounds. In Ullmann’s
Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2055/doi/10.1002/14356007.a27_095/full
3.
International Agency for Research on Cancer. (2006). Titanium Dioxide.
Retrieved from http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/PDFs/93-titaniumdioxide.pdf
