Researchers at University of California-San Diego are studying the use of a product found in coconut oil and human milk to treat acne. Lauric acid has been shown to kill Propionibacterium acnes, the bacteria that causes acne, and graduate student Dissaya "Nu" Pornpattananangkul has developed a system that can deliver "lauric-acid-filled nano-scale bombs" directly to the skin.
In a video, Pornpattananangkul describes her work and explains that current anti-acne medications often cause side effects such as redness and burning. The hope is that a cream derived from this natural product would avoid such problems.
A FitPregnancy blog today reported on the early research, which was presented last week at a UC- San Diego engineering conference.
