151: Bemotrizinol EXPOSED: 20 Years Late, But Is It Actually Good?

Episode 151 - Bemotrizinol EXPOSED_1
===

The FDA, after over 20 years, finally approved a new sunscreen ingredient called bemotrizinol, and the question is, is it really safe? You know, now the FDA had 20 years of evaluating whether or not it's safe, so it's gotta be safe, right? Well, you know, if you've been following me for a while, you probably know that I don't use sunscreen very often.

Um, I build up UV resilience, um, over winter and spring, and then in summer I don't burn anymore because my skin has gotten used to it, like progressively being exposed to UV. If need be, I use shade or clothing, and if I absolutely cannot avoid it, in the past I've used mineral-based sunscreen. But when a reader replied to an email where I covered, you know, my, my sun exposure, he said, "Hey, have you heard about bemotrizinol?

It's a new ingredient, has been used in Europe for over 20 years, and it's finally gotten approval from the FDA. What do you think about it?" And I'm like, "Well, honestly, I've never heard about that ingredient, so I don't know." I thought in the moment, to be perfectly honest, it's probably another BS chemical that we'll find out in 20 years is not so safe.

But I'm like, well, if it's been in use in Europe for so long, maybe there is something to it. So I decided to do some research, and in this episode, I wanna share with you what I found and whether or not it's going to change how I enjoy the sun, you know, or if I use the-- a product containing bemotrizinol.

Welcome to the Primal Shift Podcast. I actually went on Amazon immediately and looked for products. Now, since this has just been approved as an ingredient, you know, there is not a whole lot of inventory, but I found a product called Bemotrizine. Bemotrizine. I don't know how it's pronounced. Bemotrizine, I suppose.

And it says in big letters bem- uh, bemotrizinol-based sunscreen SPF 50. They didn't have an ingredients list on the product listing, but once I got the product and looked at it, I'm like, holy moly, there's a whole lot more in there than the main ingredient that I wanted. You know, that is bemotrizinol. So- We'll talk about those ingredients, and the reason why I'm bringing this up now is because, you know The question shouldn't really be, is bemotrizinol safe?

Because that's not what you're putting on your skin. You don't put an ingredient on your skin, you put a product on your skin that has likely other ingredients, and we'll get to that. So stay tuned. Now, as we dive into the relative safety of this new sunscreen ingredient, y- you should know, and you probably do, that there are different types of, of sunscreens, right?

And the skin isn't a sealed barrier. You know, it's the largest organ of the body, and it is fairly particular what it lets through and cross into your bloodstream, you know. And that's one of the reasons why the FDA, uh, performs blood tests or asks for a blood test to see whatever you put in your skin, um, as far as sunscreen is concerned, how much of that ends up in your bloodstream.

Because here in the US, and that's different to Europe, a sunscreen is an over-the-counter drug, so it needs a clinical trial to prove safety. In Europe, it's a cosmetic, and so it only needs a basic safety review. So that's one of those few occasions where Europe is actually less strict than, than the US, which is comical.

Uh, but that's how it is. And it turned out during those, during those clinical trials and during the testing that bemotrizinol does not go-- does not cross the skin-blood barrier because the molecule is too large. You know, there's a certain molecular, uh, weight that if a molecule is larger than that, it doesn't go through.

And they've done several tests, you know, where people had to put on bemotrizinol-based sunscreen for four times a day for f- four days in a row, and then they tested and checked the blood, and there was nothing that could be detected in the bloodstream. So evidently, the molecule does not go through. And that's rare for chemical-based sunscreens because bemotrizinol is a chemical-based sunscreen that, that intercepts the UV light, basically.

It's not a physical barrier like mineral-based sunscreens. So, you know, put on a mineral, mineral-based sunscreen and it, it scatters the light. It doesn't, it doesn't allow the UV light through. It's literally a physical barrier, which is the reason when you put on a mineral, mineral-based sunscreen, you can usually see it on your skin as this white, you know, stuff that nobody likes.

Bemotrizinol is different. It's a chemical sunscreen like some of the, the older ones before a mineral, mineral-based sunscreens were a thing. And all of the older chemical sunscreens, they all went through the skin and got into the bloodstream. And that's a bad thing because a lot of those chemicals have endocrine-disrupting chemicals, meaning they mimic the sex hormone estrogen, they interfere with testosterone, uh, they can cause DNA damage and a whole lot of other things, and that's, you know, not a good thing.

And so bemotrizinol is different. Yes, it's a chemical -based sunscreen, but it doesn't ab- get absorbed through the skin. It's clean on hormones. It's not, uh, endocrine disruptive. So why did it take 20 years? Well, it's got nothing to do with relative safely. It was just a, you know, the thing is that sunscreen ingredients, the list of approved ingredients was pretty much frozen in 1999 by the FDA and nothing got added ever since.

And when then the, the manufacturer of, uh, bemotrizinol finally applied in 2005, that's how long it took them to finally get through the backlog and, you know, and approve it. So n- nothing was found that could put, be, be potentially concerning. But let's get back to the sunscreen that I purchased because eventually, you know, if you said, "You know what?

I believe based on what you said, the ingredient is safe, let me get a sunscreen that contains, that is based on that new ingredient." And that's exactly what I did. Found one on Amazon. Again, the selection is very, not very big because it's just got approved. But I found this product that says in bold letters, "Bemotrizinol-based sunscreen SPF 50."

And it's from a company, um, called BioPop Health. Now, one thing I noticed when I looked at the ingredients list, the commas. You know, in, in, in the US typically, and in Europe as well, the comma goes from right to left. The ingredients list on the back goes the other way. So that tells me that this product is probably an import from somewhere else, which I suppose makes sense considering it has to come from somewhere else because nobody, I assume, was able to produce a...

launch a brand-new product, you know, with that short notice considering the approval is just a few weeks old. Um, but anyway, I looked at the ingredients list. We have to interrupt this episode for an important message from your feet.

Thank you to this episode’s sponsor, Peluva!

Peluva makes minimalist shoes to support optimal foot, back and joint health. I started wearing Peluvas several months ago, and I haven’t worn regular shoes since. I encourage you to consider trading your sneakers or training shoes for a pair of Peluvas, and then watch the health of your feet and lower back improve while reducing your risk of injury.

To learn more about why I love Peluva barefoot shoes, check out my in-depth review: https://michaelkummer.com/health/peluva-review/

And use code MICHAEL to get 10% off your first pair: https://michaelkummer.com/go/peluva

And now back to the episode. And it's split into ingredients and other trace ingredients, and if you're watching this on a video platform, you can see it. I'm gonna share a big screenshot in it, and also I'm gonna have the ingredients list down in the description of the show notes so you can check it out for yourself.

But the biggest offender that I found in this ingredient list is a, is an ingredient that I can't even properly pronounce. It's called ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate And it's better known, not to me, but I guess generally speaking, uh, as, uh, octinoxate, and it's a second, uh, sunscreen chemical. So this w- the product I bought isn't really a bemotrizinol sunscreen or product, it's a bemotrizinol and octinoxate product, which is interesting because why put in the latest ingredient that is safe, that can-- that is better than e- everything else and then still have some of the older stuff in there?

Doesn't really make sense. But anyway, the problem is that octinoxate, um, in two-- in 2024 was classified in Europe as hormonally active because it acts like estrogen, so it's a xenoestrogen. And if you've listened to my xenoestrogen content before or read it, you know that you don't wanna have anything in your body that acts like the sex hormone estrogen, that binds to the estrogen receptors and then does the same thing as estro- You don't wanna have more estrogen, not as a male for sure, but also not as a female.

At least that's true for most females. And it also interferes with testosterone production. Again, not a good thing, um, if you wanna have healthy testosterone levels. And the scientists actually said they couldn't rule out DNA damage either. So It's one of those ingredients that failed the FDA blood test that clearly goes through the skin and into your bloodstream, and it's banned in Hawaii and Palau.

And it's the exact thing, uh, that you would buy Bemotrizinol for, um, to avoid those kind of ingredients. You know, that's why the new ingredients exist, but yet it has-- this product has it as well. I, I don't know why. Again, unexplainable, but not a good thing. The second thing that's in there is a preservative that slowly releases formaldehyde, and another one that releases iodine and is banned in Europe for kids under three.

There are then also fragrances that are endocrine-disrupting. There are, uh, propylparabens, uh, which are also restricted in Europe because they act on estrogen receptors. So all of those are endocrine-disrupting chemicals that mess with your hormones, with your endocrine system, and they're all in this Bemotrizinol-based sunscreen.

So doesn't really matter at this point if Bemotrizinol is safe or not because you get a whole bunch of other things that you don't wanna have. So this product goes back to Amazon. I actually didn't even open it. I left it in the original packaging because I had a suspicion that it's not something that I would use, but not because of the, um, not because of the, uh, Bemotrizinol, because of everything else that's in there, in there.

Now, what does it mean for me in the grander scheme? You know, uh, am I gonna use, once they come out and assuming they are clean ingre- sunscreens that have Bemotrizinol? Maybe, but I honestly, I don't really think they-- Bemotrizinol solves a problem that I have. You know, I, whenever I get a chance, I, I try to expose as much of my skin to sunlight as I can.

And I, again, do this already early in the season to build up my, my callus, basically my UV callus, so that my skin is better at dealing with the stronger UV come summer. You know, that's what I do, and I usually don't burn. This year actually, and I talked about this before, I burned twice because I stayed out for eight hours, you know, in the sun without giving myself enough time to properly get acclimated.

Um, you know, the weeks before, it was the first really nice sunny day, and I'm like, "Ah, whatever." Didn't feel, you know, as hot, but the sun was strong already. Anyway, usually I do not burn, and I have not burned since, and I s- every single day I'm out without shirt, um, and I, you know, I don't really need sunscreen.

So it, you know, even if the product would be perfectly safe, I don't think I would be a, a regular consumer. Now- Those few occasions when we, you know, when we go on vacation, for example, you know, we go to Costa Rica visiting my, my wife's family, whatever. Sun there is really, really strong. We're at the beach, you know, all day.

Of course, you know, I either have to seek shade, cover myself, you know, with clothing, or use a sunscreen. I typically do that, you know, on my neck, maybe on my nose, um, my ears, et cetera, that might be exposed to the sun despite me wearing a hat, so to prevent burning. And in the past, we've used mineral-based sunscreen from OneSkin.

We really like that. It's super clean, and it's easy to put on. Uh, it doesn't feel greasy or anything, and, and it works, you know? Going forward, maybe, maybe we'll switch to a bemotrizinol-based sunscreen if at some point there is a product that doesn't have anything else in there that could be potentially harmful.

As of right now, it's, it's a, you know, it, I don't really... It, it doesn't make a difference for us. That's my take on it. But again, if you're considering bemotrizinol-based sunscreens and wondering, "Is this safe?" It appears to be safe based on what we know. It appears to be very photo, um, photostable, meaning that it doesn't degrade easily.

Some of the older chemical sunscreens, you know, they fell apart literally, uh, within a couple of hours, and then you thought you were still protected, but you really weren't, which is why you had to apply more often. Uh, bemotrizinol appears to be very photostable, so it la-- it, it, it remains stable and offers protection for hours and hours.

That's a good thing. It doesn't cross into your bloodstream. That's the most important aspect. The only thing that you will need to do is, I guess, wait a little bit until we have products here in the United States that are actually safe, and then that, that, that don't contain any of the other sunscreen chemicals that are endocrine-disrupting and that are the whole reason why I stopped using sunscreens, you know?

So that's my take on it. I think it's a good ingredient. It appears to be a safe ingredient. You know, if, if you need to use sunscreen, if you wanna use sunscreen, go ahead, and, uh, bemotrizinol is probably your best bet. Again, once there are products that are actually clean. The one that I purchased is most definitely not.

And yeah, that's, that's my take on it. Uh, let me know what you think. If you're watching this on a platform supporting comments, go down and, and leave me a comment. What is your sunscreen policy? Do you put it on every single day before you leave the house, even on cloudy days, or do you not use sunscreen at all, or are you somewhere in between where, well, if I can't avoid it, I use it, kind of like me?

Uh, let me know. If you're listening to this, maybe when you get a chance, you know, shoot me an email, mike@michaelkummer.com. I'd love to hear what your thought process is, whether or not you use sunscreen and why and/or why not, you know? Let me know. I'd like to hear it. Until next time.