Foods For Healthy Skin & Antioxidant Skin Creams Work Hand in Hand
By: Valerie Rosenbaum
Submitted: 2009-10-14 06:12:49 | Word Count: 528
Eating food for healthy skin is a great choice. It’s good for the rest of your body, too. But, you should also be aware of the value of a good skincare cream. If it contains the right ingredients, it can provide “direct” nourishment.
The skin’s outer layers are composed completely of dead keratinized cells. They are produced by stem cells, located within the dermis layer, along with the melanocytes (produce the pigment melanin in response to sun exposure) and the elastic fibers.
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When we are young, the stem cells are producing 24 hours a day. The entire outer layer (called the epidermis) is replaced in four weeks or less. Thousands of dead cells are sloughed off every day, as new ones make their way to the surface. As we get older, all of that slows down.
Since, the cells in the epidermis are dead; you might think that they don’t need nourishment. But, in order to provide protection for the deeper layers and the inner body, which is their purpose; they need all of the nutrients found in the foods used for healthy skin.
There are no blood vessels in the epidermis. So, it gets its nutrition through a process called diffusion. The nutrients are “passed up” from the deeper layers. As you might think, that process is somewhat inefficient and becomes even less efficient with age. So, the purpose of a nourishing skincare cream is to supplement what makes its way up from below.
Any nutritional deficit will lead to problems with the skin’s health or appearance. Essential fatty acid deficiency causes dryness and flakiness. Vitamin C deficiency causes weakened fibers, sagging, easy bruising and bleeding. But, if there is a protein deficiency in your diet, the normal replacement of the epidermis cannot be accomplished.
One food for healthy skin that is recommended by popular diet doctors is salmon. There is even one dermatologist that says eating it every day will reduce wrinkles. Who knows whether or not that’s true. But, there is one thing that we know for sure. Salmon is a good source of protein, essential fatty acids and several antioxidants.
When it comes to providing direct nourishment, antioxidants are a must. All skincare creams should contain them. Many of them do, but few contain a high enough quantity to be effective.
Some of the most potent antioxidants are not present in the basic foods for healthy skin. For example, coenzyme Q10 is a very important antioxidant that is quickly depleted by overexposure to sunlight, one of the causes of wrinkles, sagging and other signs of age. However, coenzyme Q10 is not present in things that most people eat. The highest concentrations are found in heart and other organ meats.
Luckily, we don’t have to eat those things. We can take a good supplement that contains COQ10 and there are excellent skincare creams that contain it. Studies have shown that use of COQ10 creams repairs sun damage, reverses wrinkles, reduces roughness and improves the skin’s moisture content. Those are things that food for healthy skin might do, over time. But, a good cream will do it in no time.
Author Resource:-
Valerie Rosenbaum has spent the last several years researching natural skin care products in an effort to find the best skin care products available on the market today. For more information visit http://www.defendyourskin.com
