What is it?
An emulsifier made by combining sorbitol, a sugar alcohol, with palmitic acid, a fatty acid usually taken from palm oil. It helps oil and water mix and stay mixed in creams, lotions, makeup and lipsticks, and it is also a food additive, E 495 (sorbitan monopalmitate). It belongs to the sorbitan esters, which, unlike their PEG-based relatives the polysorbates, are not made with ethylene oxide.
Key information
- The CIR Expert Panel concluded that sorbitan esters, including sorbitan palmitate, are safe as used in cosmetics, first in 1985 and again in a report published in 2019.
- In human tests, 30 percent sorbitan palmitate did not irritate or sensitize skin.
- The European Food Safety Authority re-evaluated it as food additive E 495 in 2017 and found that estimated intakes did not exceed its acceptable daily intake.
- Unlike polysorbate 40 (PEG-20 sorbitan palmitate), it is not ethoxylated.
More information
Sorbitan palmitate is made by heating sorbitol with palmitic acid. Ingredient names ending in “palmitate” are usually made with palm-derived palmitic acid. No ethylene oxide is used, so it is not an ethoxylated ingredient (see our entries on ethoxylates and 1,4-dioxane). Its ethoxylated relative, polysorbate 40 (PEG-20 sorbitan palmitate), is a different ingredient.
The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) Expert Panel concluded sorbitan palmitate was safe as used in 1985 and, in a re-review published in 2019, concluded that the sorbitan esters are safe in present practices of use and concentration. Reported uses included lipsticks at up to 5.3 percent. In human tests, 30 percent sorbitan palmitate did not irritate or sensitize, and 50 percent did not irritate under a 72-hour patch, although some finished formulas with 4 percent were slightly irritating in 21-day tests. The allergic reactions to sorbitan esters described in the review involved other members of the family, especially sorbitan sesquioleate, in people being patch-tested for dermatitis.
As a food additive, it was re-evaluated with the other sorbitan esters by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2017. EFSA set a group acceptable daily intake of 10 mg per kilogram of body weight per day, expressed as sorbitan, and found that estimated exposure did not exceed it in any population group. It saw no genotoxicity concern and no sign of cancer in long-term studies in mice and rats.
Sources: Cosmetic Ingredient Review: Safety assessment of sorbitan esters as used in cosmetics (panel report, 2014); International Journal of Toxicology (2019): Safety assessment of sorbitan esters as used in cosmetics; EFSA Journal (2017): Re-evaluation of sorbitan esters (E 491-495) when used as food additives; Rainforest Action Network: The many ingredient names for palm oil (2011)
