Plant extract
What is Mung bean extract?
Mung bean extract is a water based extract of the mung bean, which Korean labels call nokdu. It goes into the water phase as a botanical additive. Like other plant extracts it is a mixture rather than one defined compound, so what is in it depends on how the supplier made it.
Which products use it?
Of the 178 products whose labels we have read, 4 put this one on the front.
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Mung Bean Pore Cleansing Milk Balm
We checked 7 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. None of them hold up on their own. They are partly right at best.
1likely2partly backed2overstated2says nothing
See the label check (7 lines)
Claims translated from Korean, originals preserved.
- A hybrid texture that turns from balm to milk
Korean original
밤에서 밀크로 변하는 하이브리드 제형
- Contains 10,000ppm of mung bean extract
Korean original
녹두추출물 10,000ppm 함유
- Contains the exfoliating ingredients PHA and LHA
Korean original
각질 제거 성분 PHA, LHA 함유
- Gentle and clean deep cleansing
Korean original
순하고 말끔하게 딥 클렌징
- A cleansing balm that cleanly melts away even sebum and flakes inside pores
Korean original
모공 속 피지와 각질까지 말끔하게 녹여주는 클렌징 밤
- Pore confidence, mung bean
Korean original
모공자신감, 녹두
- Joyful skin confidence, beplain
Korean original
즐거운 피부 자신감, 비플레인
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Mung Bean Pore Clearing LHA Toner
We checked 4 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. 2 of them hold up. The rest are only partly right or have nothing behind them.
2backed2overstated
See the label check (4 lines)
- 세안 후, 화장솜에 내용물을 충분히 덜어 피부결을 따라 닦아주거나, 적당량을 덜어 얼굴과 목에 부드럽게 펴 발라 흡수시켜 줍니다.
- 식품의약품안전처심사 필 문구 해당없음
- 모공자신감, 녹두
- 모든 피부 타입
beplain
Mung Bean Pore Tight-up Soothing Cream
We checked 2 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. None of them hold up on their own. They are partly right at best.
1likely1no evidence
See the label check (2 lines)
Claims translated from Korean, originals preserved.
- For all skin types
Korean original
모든피부용
- Has completed functional cosmetic review (or reporting) under the Cosmetics Act
Korean original
화장품법에 따른 기능성 화장품 심사(또는 보고)를 필함
beplain
Mung Bean Weakly Acidic Cleansing Foam
We checked 6 lines this product advertises against the ingredient list and public documents. None of them hold up on their own. They are partly right at best.
1likely1partly backed3overstated1says nothing
See the label check (6 lines)
Claims translated from Korean, originals preserved.
- Mung Bean Weakly Acidic Cleansing Foam
Korean original
녹두 약산성 클렌징폼
- When washing, dispense an appropriate amount and lather with water. Roll gently to massage along the grain of the skin, then rinse clean with lukewarm water.
Korean original
세안 시 적당량을 덜어 물과 함께 거품을 냅니다. 부드럽게 롤링하여 피부 결을 마사지한 후 미온수로 깨끗하게 씻어냅니다.
- A moist cleanser that washes away even fine dust
Korean original
미세먼지도 씻어주는 촉촉한 클렌저
- It cleanly cleanses impurities inside pores, sebum, flakes and even ultrafine dust.
Korean original
모공 속 노폐물과 피지, 각질, 초미세먼지까지 말끔하게 클렌징해줍니다.
- All skin types
Korean original
모든 피부 타입
- Pore confidence, mung bean
Korean original
모공자신감, 녹두
What does the research actually show?
Two lists, taken from published studies on this ingredient. The first is what those studies support. The second is what they do not, which is where advertising most often runs ahead of the evidence.
Was this exact ingredient the one tested?
No source located tests a plain Vigna Radiata (Mung Bean) Extract on human skin for a cosmetic efficacy endpoint.
MUN-S1 exposes human skin to a mung bean sprout extract but its human component is a safety patch test, not an efficacy measurement.
What the evidence supports
- Antioxidant activity of mung bean sprout water extract, in chemical assays.
- DPPH scavenging above 85% at every tested shoot length, total antioxidant capacity above 4.0, and ferrous chelation near 80% at day one of sprouting (MUN-S1).
- Sources: 1
- Protection of human skin cells against oxidative injury, in vitro.
- Hull phenolic extracts and their isolated compounds protected HaCaT and human skin fibroblast viability under H2O2 stress (MUN-S2).
- Sources: 2
- Human skin tolerance of a mung bean sprout extract.
- The red blood cell hemolysis test, chick chorioallantoic membrane assay and human skin patch test together led the authors to conclude that "extracts of mung bean sprouts are safe" (MUN-S1, 7 words) and usable as additives in antiaging cosmetic products.
- Sources: 1
What the evidence does not support
- Claim: mung bean extract brightens skin, evens tone, or reduces pigmentation.
- The tyrosinase and melanogenesis work belongs to Pracparatum mungo, a fermented preparation of mung bean mixed with other Chinese medicines (MUN-S3), so the effect cannot be attributed to mung bean.
- Sources: 3
- Claim: mung bean is proven for skin by research.
- Directly contradicted by an explicit source statement.
- Claim: mung bean calms or purifies pores and clears blemishes.
- Sources: 4
- Claim: mung bean's vitexin content delivers an anti-aging benefit in a finished product.
- Isovitexin and vitexin were the most protective of eight isolated compounds against H2O2 damage in cultured cells (MUN-S2), but they were tested as isolated compounds from a hull extract, not as constituents of a cosmetic mung bean extract at whatever level such an extract contains.
- Sources: 2
- Claim: mung bean is antioxidant, therefore it is anti-aging on skin.
- The antioxidant measurements are chemical assays and cell viability endpoints (MUN-S1, MUN-S2).
- Sources: 1, 2
- Claim: mung bean extract is confirmed safe by an expert panel.
- No CIR safety assessment covering Vigna Radiata (Mung Bean) Extract was located.
These lines are quoted from a reading of the published literature on this ingredient, not from testing we ran. Every source is listed below with its DOI or PubMed identifier so you can read it yourself. Findings about treating a medical condition are outside what a cosmetic page covers and are left out.
Do the ad lines about it hold up?
We checked the one advertised line that names this ingredient.
| How it read | Ad lines |
|---|---|
| partly backed | 1 of 1 |
The count is of advertised lines, not products. One product can advertise the same ingredient in several lines, and each line was read on its own against the ingredient list and public documents.
What is it usually paired with?
Ingredients that other products put on the front of the label together with this one.
Which studies is this based on?
Every source cited above, in the order it first appears. Identifiers link to the publisher record or the PubMed entry.
- 1Dongyan T, Yinmao D, Li L, Yueheng L, Congfen H, Jixiang L. Antioxidant activity in mung bean sprouts and safety of extracts for cosmetic use. J Cosmet Sci. 2014;65(4):207-216.PMID 25423740
- 2Hao R, Li M, Li F, Sun-Waterhouse D, Li D. Protective effects of the phenolic compounds from mung bean hull against H2O2-induced skin aging through alleviating oxidative injury and autophagy in HaCaT cells and HSF cells. Sci Total Environ. 2022;841:156669.DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156669PMID 35718184
- 3Kao YY, Chuang TF, Chao SH, Yang JH, Lin YC, Huang HY. Evaluation of the antioxidant and melanogenesis inhibitory properties of pracparatum mungo (lu-do huang). J Tradit Complement Med. 2013;3(3):163-170.DOI 10.4103/2225-4110.113443PMID 24716173
- 4Chellathurai BJ, Anburose R, Alyami MH, Sellappan M, Bayan MF, Chandrasekaran B, Chidambaram K, Rahamathulla M. Development of a Polyherbal Topical Gel for the Treatment of Acne. Gels. 2023;9(2):163.DOI 10.3390/gels9020163PMID 36826332