Antibacterial Soap No Better Than Regular Soap, Study Finds

Serious about washing your hands with antibacterial soap? This bacteria was then spread on the hands of 16 adults who had not used antibacterial soap for the preceding week, and who were then told to wash their hands for 30 seconds with plain or antibacterial soap in water heated to 40º Celcius.

The study “talks about one specific ingredient that really is not being used in much of the mass-market antibacterial soaps anymore”, says Sansoni, vice president of communication and membership for the American Cleaning Institute.

To test whether buying anti-bacterial soaps instead of regular ones really is all that it’s cut out to be, the researchers behind this study invested in some bars themselves and compared their germ-fighting abilities to those of perfectly ordinary varieties. “Secondly, the soap used in the present study contained surfactants such as sodium laureth sulphate, which may also play a role in reducing the bactericidal effects of triclosan”.

Dr Min-Suk Rhee at the Department of Food Bioscience and Technology said: “Hand washing with water and or soap is an important and cheap method for preventing the transmission of infection because it is effective at removing contaminants, including pathogenic bacteria or viruses, from hands”.

During the experiment the bacteria were exposed for twenty seconds to two things: regular and anti-bacterial (0.3 percent triclosan) soap and temperature. All participants first had their hands exposed to bacteria.

Here are some early reports on antibacterial soap or triclosan.

Even though they may not be immediately effective, antibacterial soaps still have the power to leave traces on the germs they are trying to kill.

The triclosan-containing soap only “performed significantly better after nine hours of exposure”. After having volunteers wash their hands according to recommended guidelines with both plain soap and antibacterial soap, in the short-term, there was no significant difference in bacterial activity on the volunteers’. Other studies have linked triclosan to allergic reactions, antibiotic resistance and hormonal disturbances.

The researchers said consumers need to be made aware the antibacterial soaps do not guarantee germ protection.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in 2013, proposed a rule saying that soap manufacturers must submit specific data on the effectiveness of their products.

“If the manufacturer would like to advertise the antiseptic efficacy of their products, they should supply scientific evidence to support the claims”, Rhee said. A study published past year by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that triclosan promotes liver tumors in mice.