PARIS, February 2010 — Some ancient Egyptians believed that the black eye makeup that Queen Nefertiti and other royal family members wore was magically protective against certain illnesses.
Queen Nefertiti and other ancient Egyptian women may have worn heavy makeup to protect against eye infections that were a constant threat in the time of the pharaohs. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Since the makeup was lead-based and therefore toxic, most modern scientists have denied that possibility.
But scientists in France analyzed 52 samples from ancient Egyptian makeup containers kept in the Louvre museum and identified four lead-based substances that increase nitric oxide production by up to 240 percent in cultured human skin cells.
Among other things, nitric oxide increases the immune system's ability to fight diseases such as the bacterial eye infections suffered by people living in the tropical marshy area of the Nile River. These infections probably occurred when the eyes came into contact with contaminated water.
The researchers also noted that two of the compounds don't occur naturally and must have been created by Egyptian chemists, perhaps to help prevent or treat eye disease, though this speculation is unproven.
The findings appeared in the Jan. 15 issue of Analytical Chemistry.