PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a whitening cosmetic which has both of remarkably excellent whitening effect and biosafety by containing such components that exhibit excellent prevention and improvement effect against such skin pigmentation phenomena as stains, freckles, and chloasma, and have a whitening-action mechanism which can keep the skin in youthful and healthy conditions or improve the skin conditions, and are found, in natural products, to be a whitening component which has a little irritation to the skin and also excellent biosafety.SOLUTION: A whitening cosmetic contains, as an active ingredient, an extract which is obtained from Perilla, Lamiaceae Perilla plant, and has melanocyte growth suppressing activity to be activated and proliferated by NF-&kgr；B activation inhibitory effect within epidermal cells and a released factor from keratinocyte of epidermal cells.【課題】シミ、ソバカス、肝斑等の皮膚の色素沈着現象に対してすぐれた予防、改善効果を発揮して、皮膚を若々しく健全な状態に保持し、又は改善し得る美白作用機序を有するとともに、皮膚に対する刺激が少なく生体安全性にもすぐれた美白成分を天然物中に見出し、かかる成分を配合することにより、格段にすぐれた美白効果及び生体安全性を兼ね備えた美白化粧料を提供する。【解決手段】シソ科（Lamiaceae）シソ属（Perilla）の植物であるシソから得られ、表皮細胞内のＮＦ－κＢ活性化抑制作用及び表皮細胞のケラチノサイトから放出される因子により活性化増殖するメラノサイト増殖抑制作用を有する抽出物を有効成分とする美白化粧料。【選択図】図２
