Superfood for Your Skin: Costmetic Industry Turns To “Ingestibles” For Anti-aging
Today’s latest philosophy in anti-aging has less to do with needles and creams and more to do with what you eat for dinner. “The creams and lotions and potions you put on top of your face mean nothing if you’re not eating well” says Harvard-trained dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon Carolyn Jacob in a Seattle Times report.
Processed foods in the typical American diet show on our faces: inflammation and oxidation from sugar, flour and trans fats cause the breakdown of tissue and destroy cells (a.k.a. wrinkles).
Foods with antioxidants as well as foods with anti-inflammatory properties are the key to preserving a youthful appearance, says Jacob. Refined sugar and flour and trans-fats are all examples of inflammatory foods.
Studies show that antioxidants combat oxidation and inflammation, something we have all grown to understand in recent years and typically associate with disease prevention. Given that the skin is the body’s largest organ, it’s a logical leap to apply this research to the lucrative beauty market.
Indeed, supplements (or “ingestibles”) are the latest niche in the 45-billion dollar cosmetic and skin care industries, not to mention the world’s most respected skin docs flooding book shelves with eat-to-look-young books and appearing on Oprah.
Top antioxidant and anti-inflammatory foods include the “superfruits” such as pomegranete, cranberry, blueberry and acai berry as well as spinach, kale, cocoa beans, salmon, seaweed, green tea, flax seed oil, raw almonds name a few.
So, sure it’s possible to get these “ingestibles” from our diet, but it appears that the cosmetics industry is banking on the fact that we won’t. A recent trip to my supermarket to find healthy ingredients for my sunday supper tells me that it might be a challenge even if I wanted to.
Doctors and nutritionists say even people who make a point of eating a diet rich in healthy, unprocessed foods don’t get all the nutrients they need. Whether it’s food processing, a time lag from harvesting to getting produce to the table or the environment we live in, doctors say it’s easy to miss out on vitamins. Vitamins and supplements, write Oz and Roizen, “are an insurance policy for an imperfect diet.”
Source: Seattle Times
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There is already an “original skin drink” called SIP being sold in the UK and Europe - naturally flavoured water with antioxidants and botanicals.