“Gluconolactone?”Here!
Appears in 1 scanned product.
In personal care
A polyhydroxy acid (PHA) derived from glucose, a larger and more gentle molecule than the alpha-hydroxy acids like glycolic acid.
Why it’s used
It exfoliates the skin's surface and holds moisture at the same time, and because its molecule is larger it penetrates more slowly than AHAs, making it a common choice for sensitive-skin exfoliating products. It also binds trace metals, which helps stabilize formulas.
What the evidence says
We haven’t found a source for this one that you can open and check, so we’re not summarizing the evidence.
Look it up yourself
We would rather point you at the shelf than summarize something you can’t check. These are the same places we search:
- PubChem — what the substance is, chemically — names, synonyms and structure
- PubMed — every paper indexed by the US National Library of Medicine that names it
These are starting points, not our findings — we haven’t run them for you. A substance whose name is also an ordinary word (“Heart”, “Alanine”, “Water”) will return papers that are not about the ingredient at all.
Context
Used in leave-on exfoliating and anti-aging products; its larger molecular size compared to AHAs is the reason it's marketed as gentler for sensitive skin.
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