Intimidated by all sorts of microbes, especially in the season of colds and flu, we all try to wash hands as often as possible, hoping to wash away with them all potentially nasty germs. But whether it is necessary to use antibacterial soap or the regular will be ok?
Most of us, in order to protect the health of our families, have at least one liquid or plain soap on whose packaging says “kills up to 100 percent of bacteria.” Given the fact that these soaps are more expensive than ordinary, the question is whether they are really effective and whether they really make our hand cleaner after washing.
If you believe the latest scientific study, antibacterial soaps are no better especially in the prevention of disease germs than classic. Moreover, there has not been any advantage, besides being more expensive.
Korean experts examined the effect of triclosan – an essential ingredient of antibacterial antiseptic soap – testing 20 different strains of bacteria.
They have tested the action of this chemical at 22 degrees Celsius (which is the average temperature of cold tap water for hand washing), and at 40 degrees (normal value hot water for hand washing).
They used soap with maximum concentration of triclosan permitted by the law, as a solution of about 0.3 percent, because all over it is toxic and carcinogenic to humans.
As it turned out, when the bacteria are submerged in the solution to the nine or more hours, triclosan would really killed significantly more germs than if the bacteria stood in plain soap. However, absolutely no effect is observed when the organisms were exposed to triclosan sixty seconds, as usually lasts washing hands.
Then the researchers repeated the same experiment on 16 adult volunteers and get identical results – antibacterial soap did not destroy the bacteria from their hands.
Finally, the conclusion of this study is that hand washing is very important, because with water, soap and rubbing liberate significant amounts of dangerous predators, but it does not matter whether we use classic soap or soap with antibacterial effect.
Source: Cuisine & Health
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