Synergistic effect of green coffee oil and synthetic sunscreen for health care application

• Natural products in cosmetics could prevent chronic diseases, such as cancer.
• Sunscreens and antioxidant compounds are adequate to prevent aging and cancers.
• The lack on application of spent coffee grounds represents costs to industry.
• Oil extracted from spent coffee grounds is antioxidant and promotes photoprotection.
• According to the cytotoxicity assay, the oil is safe to cosmetic use.

Green coffee oil (GCO) is a potential natural product for application in health care products. In this study, the properties of GCO from spent coffee grains were evaluated aiming its application in sunscreens. GCO showed an intense synergistic effect in SPF value when it was associated with the synthetic sunscreen ethylhexylmethoxycinnamate, leading to an increase of 20% in SPF. Additionally, the antioxidant activity, the cytotoxicity and the sun protection factor (SPF) of GCO were determined. The results show no cytotoxic effect for skin and liver cells in vitro, even at high concentrations. The results suggest the use of GCO as a potential natural product for sunscreens formulations to improve the efficiency and protection against skin damage.