No matter how good your skin care routine is, if you don’t take care of your skin from the inside, it just isn’t going to look its best. Healthy skin starts with what you eat – as well as what you don't consume too much of. In this article, I will cover 3 types of foods that are scientifically proven to promote healthy skin, as well as 2 things that you should avoid to keep your skin from aging quickly. If you prefer to listen to this article, click here.
One of these promotes smooth skin, and the other speeds up aging. But, why?
Let’s start with the foods that you should have more of to keep your skin glowing:
Category number 1: Foods that are rich in the antioxidants vitamin C and vitamin E
Vitamin C is important for the health of your skin because it plays a key role in the formation of collagen, which is one of the central building blocks of your skin. Vitamin C is also a potent antioxidant. Our skin being an external organ means that it is constantly exposed to all sorts of things that can cause damage, with the main perpetrator being exposure to ultraviolet or UV light.
Quick science lesson – there are three types of UV light – UVA, UVB, and – wait for it – UVC.
UVC gets filtered out by the Earth’s atmosphere, UVB is the kind that helps us to make vitamin D, and UVA is the one that causes skin damage. Photoaging, reduced elasticity, hyperpigmentation, and fine wrinkles are all linked to UVA.
Our sun: both a friend, and a foe.
Vitamin C helps to combat the damage caused by UVA by scavenging free radicals and keeping our body’s tissues from being completely broken down. It also helps vitamin E to do its job by essentially recharging it as the body uses it to fight inflammation. Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant in its own right that maintains the collagen network of your skin and fights oxidative damage.
Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables each day will give you plenty of vitamin C.
Oranges typically come to mind when we think of high vitamin C foods, but here’s a fun fact – one ½ cup of red bell peppers actually has more vitamin C than a medium sized orange. Mind blowing, I know. Another food that may surprise you with its high vitamin C content is broccoli, which provides 57% of the daily value of vitamin C per ½ cup serving.
Yes, we’ve all been lied to.
Wheat germ oil, sunflower seeds, and almonds are all excellent sources of vitamin E.
Category number 2: Protein-rich foods
Amino acids are the smallest units of all the proteins in our bodies, including the ones that keep our skin looking youthful – collagen and elastin. The protein that we eat allows our skin to repair itself, heal wounds, protect itself against sun damage, stay hydrated, and also maintain a healthy balance of microbes, which are the friendly microscopic organisms that call your skin home.
Protein does a lot more than just build muscle tissue.
Fish, chicken, and legumes are all good sources of protein.
Category number 3: Polyphenol-rich foods
Polyphenols are a huge class of antioxidants. This article shows some examples – there’s quercetin, kampferol, apigenin, chrysin, catechin, epicatechin, naringenin, cyanidin, delphinidin, genistein – and several thousand more.
They protect skin health by scavenging free radicals, helping the enzymes in the skin to function properly, providing moisture to the skin, preventing photodamage, minimizing pigmentation, and reducing inflammation.
Berries, dark chocolate, and green tea are all rich in polyphenols.
Any excuse to eat chocolate is a fantastic excuse.
So, let’s recap - consuming lots of vitamin C, vitamin E, protein, and polyphenols is great for keeping your skin looking luscious. Just as important as what you include in your diet, is what you leave out of it. Here are 2 things that you should have less of to keep your skin looking lovely.
The first thing to avoid: Sugar
Eating a diet high in processed, sugary foods is bad for your skin. Nobody wants to hear this, I know, but it’s what the data says. These foods speed up skin aging on the biochemical level, and they do this by promoting the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). AGEs are formed when sugars like glucose and fructose bind to collagen and elastin and block them from being repaired. This process is known as glycation, and it results in a more rapid buildup of skin damage over time.
If you want to have healthy skin, then it would be worth it to keep your intake of soda, sweets, pastries, and other refined foods to a minimum.
I'll take my fine lines, thank you very much.
The second thing to avoid: Tobacco
Fortunately, we are no longer in the era of Mad Men where smoking was extremely commonplace, and the percentage of Americans who do smoke is declining. Still, 13 out of every 100 adults in this country smoke, and over 16 million Americans are currently living with a disease that is related to smoking.
Research suggests that smoking is linked to having more upper facial lines, crow’s feet, hollowing of the tear trough, reduced lip fullness, and more defined perioral lines and oral commissures, which are the lines at the corners of your mouth.
Smoking looks cool, but it can make even black crack.
Interestingly, much of what we know about the impact of smoking on aging comes from twin studies (see this one, and this one). This type of research helps us to suss out the role of nature versus that of nurture, something that is still difficult to do even when you are looking at identical twins, given that our genes and the environment are in a never-ending dance with one another. Still, the data is pretty clear – people who smoke look older than people who don't, all else being equal.
If your goal is to have youthful looking skin for as long as possible, quitting smoking and having a little less sugar will increase your chances of meeting that goal. Easier said than done, I know, but I’m just here to share the information – what you do is up to you.
If you learned anything new or think that someone you care about could benefit from this information, share this article, and subscribe to the blog for regular updates on commonly asked nutrition questions.
Enjoy today!
References:
Al-Niaimi, F., & Chiang, N. (2017). Topical Vitamin C and the Skin: Mechanisms of Action and Clinical Applications. The Journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology, 10(7), 14–17.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5605218/
CDC. (2018). CDC - Fact Sheet - Current Cigarette Smoking Among Adults in the United States - Smoking & Tobacco Use. Smoking and Tobacco Use. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/index.htm
Danby, F. W. (2010). Nutrition and aging skin: sugar and glycation. Clinics in Dermatology, 28(4), 409-11. doi: 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2010.03.018. PMID: 20620757.
Evans, J. A., & Johnson, E. J. (2010). The role of phytonutrients in skin health. Nutrients, 2(8), 903–928. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu2080903
Goodman, G. D., Kaufman, J., Day, D., Weiss, R., Kawata, A. K., Garcia, J. K., Santangelo, S., & Gallagher, C. J. (2019). Impact of Smoking and Alcohol Use on Facial Aging in Women: Results of a Large Multinational, Multiracial, Cross-sectional Survey. The Journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology, 12(8), 28–39.
Guyuron, B., Rowe, D. J., Weinfeld, A. B., Eshraghi, Y., Fathi, A., Iamphongsai, S. (2009). Factors contributing to the facial aging of identical twins. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 123(4), 1321-1331. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0b013e31819c4d42. PMID: 19337100.
Liu, R. H. (2004). Potential Synergy of Phytochemicals in Cancer Prevention: Mechanism of Action. The Journal of Nutrition, 134(12), 3479S–3485S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/134.12.3479S
Michalak M. (2022). Plant-Derived Antioxidants: Significance in Skin Health and the Ageing Process. International journal of molecular sciences, 23(2), 585. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23020585
National Institutes of Health. (2021, March 26). Office of Dietary Supplements - Vitamin C. Nih.gov. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminC-HealthProfessional/
National Institutes of Health. (2017). Office of Dietary Supplements - Vitamin E. Nih.gov. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminE-HealthProfessional/
Rexbye, H., Petersen, I., Johansens, M., Klitkou, L., Jeune, B., Christensen, K. (2006). Influence of environmental factors on facial ageing. Age Ageing, 35(2), 110-5. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afj031. Epub 2006 Jan 11. PMID: 16407433.
Solano, F. (2020). Metabolism and Functions of Amino Acids in the Skin. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 1265, 187-199. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-45328-2_11. PMID: 32761577.
Touitou, E., Godin, B. (2008). Skin nonpenetrating sunscreens for cosmetic and pharmaceutical formulations. Clinics in Dermatology, 26(4), 375-9. doi: 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2008.01.014. PMID: 18691518.
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