Evaluation of the extracts from the renewable parts in Garcinia subelliptica as natural sunscreen additives

In recent years, many investigations have found that artificial sunscreen additives not only have allergic and endocrine disruption problems, but also found that these additives affect aquatic organisms such as corals. Therefore, finding alternative additives to satisfy the needs of users while ensuring environmental and ecological safety has become an important issue today. Natural sunscreen additives with low toxicity, low allergenicity and high environmental friendliness have become the focus of development of new sunscreens. It is known from previous studies that the renewable parts of Garcinia subelliptica are rich in benzophenones, biflavonoids and xanthonoids, indicating potential for application in sun protection. Hence, this study evaluated the potential of the renewable parts (branches, leaves and fruits) of G. subelliptica, and combined the concept of the circular economy to make natural sunscreen additives with environment-friendly value. The results showed that the phenolic compounds and flavonoids in the renewable parts of G. subelliptica are rich, endowing them with good sun protection efficacies and antioxidant ability via absorption of ultraviolet light and scavenging of free radicals, especially the biflavonoids in the leaves. These results indicated that the extract of G. subelliptica leaves has the most potential for development as natural sunscreen additives. The active ingredients in these leaves are worth further investigate. Future research can also combine urban forestry or community forestry policies to develop the renewable parts of G. subelliptica into environmentally friendly raw materials for natural sunscreen additives with multiple functions such as sunscreen and antioxidant, enhancing the utilization values.