An investigation of the antioxidant, whitening and acne-removing effect of blueberry-rose compound ferment in cosmetic field

On account of the increasing emphasis given to appearance, the modern society is witnessing the booming market of cosmetics. Therefore, in order to cater to consumers’ demand, finding and researching for a suitable and effective cosmetic ingredient is essential. This project will evaluate the efficacy of an ingredient called ferment, which refers to the functional microbial fermentation products. Owning to its abundant nutrients, ferment is expected to have very comprehensive efficacy.In this study, different proportions of blueberries and roses were mixed as raw materials, Pediococcus acidilactici and Metschnikowia pulcherrima were added for fermentation. The five types of ferment solution to be tested include (1)100% blueberry (2)70% blueberry and 30% rose (3)50% blueberry and 50% rose (4)30% blueberry and 70% rose (5)100% rose.The first efficacy of ferment to be investigated is the antioxidant activity, DPPH free radical clearance rate test will be carried out. The result of this experiment shows that all five ferment has DPPH clearance rate higher than 90%, indicating remarkable antioxidant activity. The following experiment involves testing tyrosinase inhibition rate. The result shows that all five ferment has tyrosinase inhibition rate in the range from 20% to 40%, indicating certain whitening effect. Finally, by measuring the diameter of bacterial inhibition ring, the acne-removing effect of ferment will be evaluated. The experimental result reveals that the ferment has weak effect on inhibiting Staphylococcus aureus but certain effect on inhibiting Escherichia coli.All experiments have proved that ferment is more suitable for compound fermentation, as most compound ferment shows better antioxidant and antibacterial effects than single-material ferment. Among all five types of ferment, ferment 4 (70% rose and 30% blueberry) has the most comprehensive ability, since it ranks at the top twice and the second twice in four experiments.