Guava-fruit extract can improve the UV-protection efficiency of synthetic filters in sun cream formulations.

Increasing concerns about health safety, social impacts and fair trade have intensified the industrial interest for using natural products in commercial cosmetic formulations. Several studies are currently focusing on plant extracts, but tropical fruits, such as guava, remain yet unexplored and, consequently, underutilized. This research aims to evaluate the potential for using guava-fruit extract as a photoprotective additive agent for sun cream formulations. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids and tannins and the absence of coumarins. Although the Psidium guajava extract showed a low sun protection factor (SPF) value (1.0), it improved in about 134% the photoprotective result (8.1) of 7.5% 2-ethyl-hexyl methoxycinnamate formulation. Therefore, guava-fruit extract supplementation in the formulation shows the potential to reduce the use of synthetic photoprotectors in about 78.9% from the total synthetic organic filters used to achieve the SPF value of 18. Thus, sun cream supplemented with guava-fruit extract show the potential for minimizing the risk of synthetic agent toxicity, and a 65.8% reduction in the cost of the sunscreen production.