Thus, regular soaps don’t necessarily kill bacteria and viruses as much as they simply help you wash them off your skin. Secondly, you tend to wash your hands for a longer period when using soap, because you try to rinse all of it away. Firstly, the amphipathic nature of soap loosens the bacteria and viruses off your hands so they can be washed away more easily. In terms of illness-causing germs, which are mostly bacteria and viruses, soap has a two-fold effect: one chemical and one behavioral. This gives soap the ability to dissolve most types of molecules, making it easier to wash them off your hands (Figure 1). Soap molecules are amphipathic, meaning they have both polar and non-polar properties. A quick chemistry refresher will remind us that there are two general types of molecules: polar (things that can be mixed into water, like sugar) and nonpolar (things that cannot be mixed into water, like oil). To fully understand the FDA’s ruling, we should first understand a little about how soaps clean and disinfect. So why has the FDA decided to prohibit these seemingly helpful additives? How does soap work? In fact, on September 2, 2016, the FDA banned 19 supposedly antibacterial additives commonly found in over-the-counter soaps. Therefore, using soap with antibacterial compounds added is a no-brainer, right? Wrong! At least according to the U.S. How many times per day do you wash your hands? Do you ever think about the type of soap you use? We all know handwashing with soap is an impactful way to maintain health by decreasing the risk of becoming infected with one germ or another.
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