11 March 2019

Vitamins & Nutrients for Healthy Skin

Healthy Fats - This is how your skin gets its "glow." Too little fat in your diet can make your skin wrinkled and dry.

Which nutrients do you need? 

Focus on monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats from plants like nuts, seeds, and avocado. These help your skin stay moist, firm, and flexible, and they're better for your heart than other saturated fats. 

Omega-3 fatty acids are a kind of polyunsaturated fat, which your body can't make but needs to build cell walls. They also block a chemical that lets skin cancer grow and spread, and they may lower inflammation. 

In general, fruits and veggies are good choices because they have skin-friendly vitamins and other antioxidants.

Some foods pack more than one nutrient for your skin, which often helps them work better:

  • Fatty fish (salmon, sardines, tuna): protein, omega-3s, selenium
  • Leafy dark greens (kale, spinach, collards): vitamins A, C, and E; omega-3s; protein -- plus selenium in spinach
  • Eggs; protein, vitamins A and E, selenium, zinc
  • Flaxseeds: omega-3s, selenium
  • Legumes (lentils, chickpeas): protein, zinc
  • Avocados: healthy fats,  vitamins C and E
  • Extra virgin olive oil: healthy fat and Vitamin E

Supplements

  • Selenium is a mineral that helps certain antioxidants protect your skin from UV rays. Selenium deficiency has been linked with a greater chance of skin cancer.
  • Vitamin E - This antioxidant and anti-inflammatory can also absorb the energy from UV light, which damages skin and leads to wrinkles, sagging, and skin cancer.  It works with vitamin C to strengthen cell walls.
  • Zinc - The outer layer of your skin has five times more of this mineral than the layer underneath. Zinc helps your skin heal after an injury. It's needed to keep cell walls stable and for cells to divide and specialize as they grow. Zinc may protect skin from UV damage because of the way it behaves in relation to other metals in your body, like iron and copper. It also acts like an antioxidant.
  • High anti oxidants, like Pomegranate includes polyphenols, which have shown to have antioxidant activities. These activities add to the protection of tissue and DNA in cells against free radicals. 
  • Malus pumila Extract - is seen as a skin conditioner because of its nourishing and moisturizing properties. 

​All the above and a few more will help you to maintain a perfect skin. 

 

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