Öko-Test has examined baby cream. Two well-known brands failed because they contained potentially carcinogenic ingredients.
Tender baby skin needs care. When it comes to the right lotion, parents prefer to use the baby variant – after all, it should be free of harmful ingredients. Öko-Test has now put 22 of these products under the microscope. The results are mostly positive. But just two well-known brands failed due to critical defects.
Öko-Test examined 22 baby creams
In the test, particular attention was paid to the ingredients. The creams were all designed for the baby's body and face and should therefore be free of harmful substances. In the majority it was the same: 19 of the test products received the top rating, one was rated "good". Among the test winners were popular brands such as Bübchen, Hipp, but also natural cosmetics such as Lavera and Alverde.
Two of the best-known manufacturers, however, attracted negative attention several times: These are the baby creams from Nivea and Penaten, which failed due to their ingredients. They not only contained plastics, but also questionable paraffins and preservatives.
Baby creams from Nivea and Penaten fail
Aromatic mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOAH) could be detected in both creams. These can have a carcinogenic effect – due to a lack of data, no health assessment is currently possible, writes the Federal Office for Risk Assessment on the substances. They are undesirable in food.
In baby cream that is absorbed directly into the skin, such so-called paraffins, i.e. fats based on petroleum, are neither welcome nor necessary. As Öko-Test writes, they could not integrate so well into the natural balance of the skin.
In addition, in the skin care cream from Penaten Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) was found. The substance is one of the chemical antioxidants and should not be found in any cosmetics due to unexplained health risks – and certainly not in baby cream. According to Öko-Test, the substance can even form cancer-causing compounds, deposit in fatty tissue and trigger allergies.
In conclusion, there is positive news: Penaten is said to have already removed the ingredient from the cream.
Overall, according to the Öko-Test, you should finally make sure to use mild and active ingredient-free lotions. Then baby creams are definitely recommended to stabilize the natural skin barrier of the little ones.