How Good Nutrition Can Benefit Your Skin

Do the foods we eat affect the appearance and health of our skin? Well, the research is in and the answer is yes — doctors agree that diet and skin health are connected. This means that every time you look in the mirror you see the effects of diet on your body’s most visible organ– the skin. Every day, our bodies naturally produce evidence of what we consume.

Oxygen–in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and food we eat– combines with other processes in our skin at the cellular level to produce free radicals. Once produced, these agents become the enemy of skin tissue. This is a natural process, much like the effects of oxygen on metal, which causes oxidation and eventually rust. But in your body, this same process leads to inflammation, and it can take many forms. On the skin, inflammation can make pores look bigger, or make skin look dull, discolored, or aged. Wrinkles, acne, and even eczema are also related to the damaging effects of oxidation-related inflamation.

But if this “rusting” of our skin (and other organs) is a natural process, what can we do?

Consider this…

• Vitamins A, C, and E are antioxidant rich adversaries of the free radicals that hide in our cells and attack our skin.
• Selenium is a mineral is critical to the production of glutathione, another enemy of free radicals.
• Thiamine is a B vitamin that helps skin cells function normally.
• Zinc assists epidermal cell growth
• Protein is essential for skin repair
• Vitamin C helps the body naturally manufacture collagen, a protein that keeps the skin supple and tight.

Vitamins and minerals are essential to skin health because they maintain a system of resistance to the processes commonly associated with aging, and those vitamins and minerals reside in the foods we eat.

The best part is, most of these food-related issues are in your control, and the more you know, the more you can influence the natural processes that change your skin over time. But as usual, permanent lifestyle changes are the ones that work, not fads or gimmicks.