What Are Parabens? Health Effects, Risk Factors for Exposure, and More

If you've noticed lately there’s more makeup, lotion, and shampoo labeled “paraben-free,” it’s not just your imagination.

Product labels touting a lack of parabens are becoming more common as concerns mount about potential human health risks associated with these chemicals. In recent years, a growing body of evidence has linked parabens to certain cancers and abnormal hormone function.

Much of what we know about parabens is based on lab tests with animals or cell tissue — not human studies — says Steve Xu, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and a professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. But the potential health risks have still prompted many consumers to seek out paraben-free products. “Parabens have been vilified with a shift in consumer preferences that is unlikely to be reversed,” Dr. Xu says.

Shoppers are already seeking out cosmetics and personal-care products that are free of parabens and other chemicals, and this trend is expected to continue. The global organic skin-care market is projected to exceed $17.5 billion by 2028, up from $9.8 billion in 2021, driven in large part by increased demand for products that are free of parabens and other chemicals, according to an October 2022 report from Research and Markets. In the United States, sales of organic skin-care products reached $1.9 billion last year and are expected to climb 8.9 percent annually from 2022 to 2030, according to another report, from Grand View Research.

Read on to learn more about how you might get exposed to parabens, what you need to know about the potential health risks, and how you can try to avoid these chemicals.

Parabens are synthetic chemicals that are widely used as preservatives in cosmetics, personal-care products like shampoo and shaving cream, pharmaceuticals, foods, and beverages, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Parabens make products last longer and have antimicrobial properties that prevent the growth of bacteria, mold, and fungi.

There are several different types of parabens, and many products contain more than one. Some parabens commonly found in consumer goods are methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben, according to the CDC.

“Parabens are used as a preservative in a wide range of products we encounter every day,” Xu says. They appear in foods, medicines, cosmetics, and personal-care products — including creams and lotions used for babies and infants, Xu adds. By far the greatest exposure comes from cosmetics and personal-care products, Xu says.

If you want to know if a product contains these chemicals and the label doesn't proclaim “paraben-free,” simply look on the ingredients list for the word “parabens” or any of its versions (for example, “methylparaben” would suggest the presence of a paraben).

Long-term daily exposure to parabens is common, because these chemicals are used to prevent contamination in so many products that people use for much of their lives, says Marianna Blyumin-Karasik, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and a cofounder of the Precision Skin Institute in Davie, Florida.

“They are commonly absorbed or ingested daily from paraben-containing personal-care products, such as lotions, deodorants, hair-care products, shaving products, pharmaceuticals, foods, and supplements,” Dr. Blyumin-Karasik says. Less often, people ingest these chemicals in food, beverages, or medicines that use parabens as a preservative.

Parabens are what’s known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, which means they may interfere with the production of hormones needed for normal growth and development. Research published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in February 2022 found that parabens may contribute to a variety of issues related to abnormal hormone production, including infertility and breast cancer.

Some preliminary research in the March 2021 issue of Applied Sciences has also linked hormone disruption from parabens to changes in several aspects of human health, including cholesterol and blood sugar levels, obesity risk, cognitive function, and immune system function.

Much of this research has been done in animals or was focused on testing paraben levels in urine to see if people with higher exposure to parabens had a greater likelihood of developing certain health issues, Xu notes. Some studies, such as one published in November 2022 in Molecular Carcinogenesis, have linked evidence of parabens in urine to an increased risk of breast cancer. A study published in April 2023 in Environmental Advances found higher levels of parabens in breast cancer tissue than in healthy breast tissue.

“There are some observational studies linking urinary levels of parabens to elevated breast cancer risks — however, it is very difficult to control for all other factors, such as age, genetic risk factors, and other environmental exposures,” Xu says. “Ultimately, the scientific data is not conclusive that parabens cause human harm.”

And when it comes to parabens in cosmetics — the biggest source of human exposure — U.S. regulators have not identified a clear enough risk of health harms to warn people against using products with these chemicals. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates cosmetics, wrote last year that it did “not have information showing that parabens as used in cosmetics have an effect on human health.”

“Exposure to parabens is common — and for some parabens, like methylparaben and propylparaben, it seems ubiquitous,” says Shruthi Mahalingaiah, MD, an assistant professor of environmental, reproductive, and women’s health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

One study examining urinary concentrations of different types of parabens in American adults, for example, found that 99 percent of participants had exposure to methylparaben, and almost 93 percent of participants had exposure to propylparaben.

Although most people have at least some exposure to parabens, there are certain individuals who are at higher risk of exposure, according to a CDC report. Higher-risk individuals include women, Black people, and adults older than 20.

“Those who use more personal-care products or select products containing parabens may be more at risk on an individual level,” Dr. Mahalingaiah says.

Some people — particularly pregnant women, infants and young children — may also be at increased risk for certain health problems associated with exposure to parabens. Because there’s some potential for paraben exposure to influence fertility and child development, regulators in Europe have chosen to be cautious and banned several common parabens from use in cosmetics, personal care products, and infant-care products.

Even if the evidence is too inconclusive for parabens to be banned in the United States, there’s still a lot you can do to limit your exposure to these chemicals if you’re concerned and want to minimize your potential risk.

The best thing you can do is scrutinize product labels, says Homer Swei, PhD, the senior vice president for healthy living science at the Environmental Working Group, a consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. What can make this easier is more and more brands are offering cosmetics and personal-care products labeled as paraben-free.

Some parabens — like butylparaben and propylparaben — are more likely to cause health risks because they’re what’s known as “long chain parabens,” that are more likely to interfere with the body’s hormone system, Dr. Swei says. Other so-called “short-chain” parabens like methylparaben and ethylparaben are less likely to disrupt hormone function.

“So for consumers looking to minimize exposures, start by reviewing product labels and avoiding butyl and propylparaben preservatives,” Swei advises. You can also search the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database to search for verified paraben-free products.

One thing you don’t want to do is assume something labeled as “clean” or “natural” is paraben-free, Blyumin-Karasik cautions. Same goes with “organic,” which is not a fully regulated term when it comes to personal-care products, and may simply be used for marketing, per the USDA and FDA. (If a food item, on the other hand, has a USDA organic label, rest assured it is considered organic under that agency’s definition.) You should still read the labels, and make sure if it says it’s paraben-free that no type of paraben is on the ingredient list.

Beyond this, you may want to be especially careful if you’re at stages in your life when parabens might have the most impact on your health — like when you’re trying to conceive, Swei adds.

Parabens are widely used in consumer products because the alternative — products with mold, yeast, or bacteria growing in them — is not something we want in the things we eat or put on our skin, Xu says. “For the average person, I would not worry about parabens,” Xu says. In addition to the FDA, organizations such as the American Academy of Dermatology have also noted these preservatives are generally safe.

But if you’re really concerned, or would rather err on the side of caution, your best bet to avoid parabens is to read product labels really carefully, Xu advises. “I would look for labels like ‘paraben free’ and then double-check for the word paraben itself on the ingredient list,” Xu says.