Alpha arbutin is a widely used skin-lightening ingredient found in many cosmetic and pharmaceutical products designed to fade dark spots and discoloration like melasma and age spots. It’s considered safer than some alternative treatments and more effective than related compounds. Despite its popularity, there hasn’t been much research into how it affects human cells at a genetic level. This study tested whether alpha arbutin could damage cells or cause mutations by using multiple laboratory methods to examine its effects. The researchers found that at high concentrations, alpha arbutin did kill cells and caused some DNA damage in skin cells. However, when they tested whether these effects could lead to permanent genetic changes or cancer risk using two different mutation tests, they found no evidence of actual mutations.
This suggests that while the ingredient may cause temporary cellular stress, it doesn’t appear to cause lasting genetic harm under normal usage conditions. (Source: Food Chem Toxicol, via PubMed.)
Source: PubMed — read the full article