When it comes to beauty, the trends of the past have been to question what the product does not contain and what you should not eat when on a certain diet. Skip a few years and the trend is moving more towards ‘positive nutrition’; what you should eat for skin benefits, hence the rise of beauty foods and drinks and a more holistic approach to health and beauty.
Nutraceuticals ingestible products formulated for health or beauty purposes) have started to filter onto our beauty shelves now that many companies are finally realising the benefit of ‘beauty from within’. These can be foods, drinks, supplements; anything taken orally which claims to have beauty benefits. But do these products live up to their claims? We asked nutritionist Henrietta Norton…“Our skin is invaluable to us but with more and more skin health products available which are ever more bizarre and claiming to be the ticket to a youthful complexion, many may be left asking what should I be using, eating or drinking to ensure the best health for my skin?
As a nutritionist I cannot underestimate the importance of an approach that ‘nourishes from within’ and many in the natural health field would agree that the condition of a persons skin can be a key indicator of their inner health. For many years the nutrition industry has focused on what not to eat for health. More recently however scientific investigation has shown us that hundreds of compounds exist in natural foods that have health promoting properties and today we understand that what to eat is equally, if not more, important. Enter a new wave of products known as ‘nutraceuticals’. Although they have been prominent in Asia for a little while now, in the West these comparatively ‘new kids on the block’ claim to provide these naturally occurring health properties, either in food or drink form, or as dietary supplements. This approach feeds the skin from the inside, reaching the base cell layer from which skin grows and which can only be reached to a limited degree with superficially applied products and treatments. But are these products as all-encompassing as perhaps they claim? Unfortunately it is not that simple. Solely feeding the skin from the ‘inside out’ can leave the top layer of the skin, the epidermis, vulnerable to damage on a daily basis. This damage occurs from the greatest enemy to skin health, environmental oxidation.
Oxidation, also known as free-radical damage, accounts for the majority of damage to skin. This damage is accelerated by sun exposure and smoking which are heavy sources of free-radicals. You can counter oxidation damage by increasing your intake of antioxidants through diet but as importantly you must protect your skin at the first line of attack, the skin surface. Skincare products (both topical moisturisers and nutraceutical) containing antioxidants such as vitamin C, green or white tea, vitamin A, or vitamin E are, in my opinion, essential in the fight against this free-radical damage. Topically applied antioxidants and essential fats contribute to the reduction of ‘cross-linking’ between proteins in the skin that lead it to become toughened and leathery in appearance caused by free-radical exposure.
It is therefore quite simple to see that there is no one magic ‘bullet’ to youthful, radiant looking skin. Rather it is two-tiered approach that feeds and protects the skin internally and externally. We should all be supplying our skin with these vital nutrients on a daily basis to protect our largest organ from free-radical damage, preserve it’s youthful appearance and maintain its future health.”
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