Skin is the body’s largest organ. When healthy, its layers work hard to protect us. But when it’s compromised, the skin’s ability to work as an effective barrier is impaired. We have therefore found the best ways to improve skin health to support it in maintaining its protective role.
Eat a healthful diet
What you eat is as important as the products that you put on your skin. Your diet could improve your skin health from the inside out, so a clear complexion begins with eating a healthful diet.
Best Foods for Healthy Skin
Fatty fish
Fatty fish, such as salmon, mackerel, and herring, are excellent foods for healthy skin. They’re rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which are important for maintaining skin health. Omega-3 fatty acids are necessary to help keep skin thick, supple, and moisturized. An omega-3 fatty acid deficiency can cause dry skin. The omega-3 fats in fish reduce inflammation, which can cause redness and acne. They can even make your skin less sensitive to the sun’s harmful UV rays.
Avocados
Avocados are high in healthy fats. These fats benefit many functions in your body, including the health of your skin. Getting enough of these fats is essential to help keep skin flexible and moisturized.
Avocados are also a good source of vitamin E, which is an important antioxidant that helps protect your skin from oxidative damage. Most Americans don’t get enough vitamin E in their diet.
Walnuts
Walnuts have many characteristics that make them an excellent food for healthy skin. They’re a good source of essential fatty acids, which are fats that your body cannot make themselves.
They’re richer than most other nuts in both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
One ounce (28 grams) of walnuts contains 8% of the DV for zinc.
Zinc is essential for your skin to function properly as a barrier. It’s also necessary for wound healing and combating both bacteria and inflammation.
Sunflower seeds
In general, nuts and seeds are good sources of skin-boosting nutrients.
Sunflower seeds are an excellent example.
One ounce (28 grams) of sunflower seeds packs 49% of the DV for vitamin E, 41% of the DV for selenium, 14% of the DV for zinc, and 5.5 grams of protein.
Sweet potatoes
Beta carotene is a nutrient found in plants. It functions as provitamin A, which means it can be converted into vitamin A in your body. Beta carotene is found in oranges and vegetables such as carrots, spinach, and sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes are an excellent source! One 1/2 cup (100-gram) serving of baked sweet potato contains enough beta carotene to provide more than six times the DV of vitamin A.
Carotenoids like beta carotene help keep your skin healthy by acting as a natural sunblock. When consumed, this antioxidant is incorporated into your skin and helps protect your skin cells from sun exposure. This may help prevent sunburn, cell death, and dry, wrinkled skin.
Interestingly, high amounts of beta carotene may also add a warm, orange color to your skin, contributing to an overall healthier appearance.
Red or yellow bell peppers
Like sweet potatoes, bell peppers are an excellent source of beta-carotene, which your body converts into vitamin A.
One cup (149 grams) of chopped red bell pepper contains the equivalent of 156% of the DV for vitamin A.
They’re also one of the best sources of vitamin C. This vitamin is necessary for creating the protein collagen, which keeps skin firm and strong.
A single cup (149 grams) of bell pepper provides an impressive 211% of the DV for vitamin C. A large observational study involving women linked eating plenty of vitamin C to a reduced risk of wrinkled and dry skin with age.
Keep stress in check
Have you ever noticed that right before an important event, an unsightly pimple appears on your face? Well, scientists have identified some links between stress levels and skin problems. Stress increases the quantity of sebum, which is the oily substance that blocks pores. This, in turn, leads to greater acne severity. Reducing your stress levels may lead to clearer skin. If you think that stress is having an impact on your skin, try stress reduction techniques such as tai chi, yoga, or meditation.
Keep moisture in the skin
Skin moisturizers keep the top layer of skin cells hydrated and seal in moisture. Moisturizers often contain humectants to attract moisture, occlusive agents to retain moisture in the skin, and emollients to smooth the spaces between skin cells.
Quit smoking
Smoking ages facial skin and skin located in other body areas. Smoking narrows the blood vessels found in the outer layer of the skin, which reduces blood flow and exhausts the skin of the nutrients and oxygen it needs to remain healthy.
Collagen and elastin give the skin its strength and elasticity. Smoking may reduce the natural elasticity of the skin by causing the breakdown of collagen and reduction of collagen production.
Furthermore, the repetitive expressions that are made when smoking such as pursing the lips can contribute to wrinkles on the face.
Get your beauty sleep
Getting your beauty sleep will banish those dark circles around your eyes and improve your skin tone, and, best of all, it is free.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults sleep for between 7 and 9 hours every day. Sleeping for under that amount of time could be detrimental to your health — and your skin, in particular. Chronic sleep deprivation is known to be linked with obesity, immune deficiency, diabetes, and cancer, but research has shown that sleep quality may also have a significant impact on skin function and aging.
Protect yourself from the sun
One of the most important ways to take care of your skin is to protect it from the sun. A lifetime of sun exposure can cause wrinkles, age spots, and other skin problems — as well as increase the risk of skin cancer.
Use sunscreen
Use broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15. Apply sunscreen generously, and reapply every two hours or more often if you’re swimming or perspiring.
Seek shade
Avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when the sun’s rays are strongest.
Wear protective clothing
Cover your skin with tightly woven long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and wide-brimmed hats. Also consider laundry additives, which give clothing an additional layer of ultraviolet protection for a certain number of washings, or special sun-protective clothing which is specifically designed to block ultraviolet rays.
Nutrients for healthy skin
Your skin needs the right balance of nutrients to do its main job: a barrier that protects the rest of your body from things outside it. To help keep your skin looking, working, and feeling good, feed it well from the inside.
Protein
Your body turns the proteins you eat into building blocks called amino acids and reuses them to make other proteins, including the collagen and keratin that form the structure of skin. Amino acids also help slough off old skin.
Vitamin A, C, E, and Zinc
Vitamin A
Both the upper and lower layers of skin need vitamin A. It seems to prevent sun damage by interrupting the process that breaks down collagen. Since it’s an antioxidant, it may give your skin some protection against sunburn (although not as much as wearing sunscreen). It helps the oil glands around your hair follicles work and may also help cuts and scrapes heal, especially if you’re taking steroids to reduce inflammation.
Without enough vitamin A, your skin might get dry and itchy or bumpy.
Vitamin C
Think “C” for collagen: This vitamin helps the twisted web of protein hold its shape. It’s also a powerful antioxidant, protecting you from free radicals and possibly lowering your chance of skin cancer. Low levels of vitamin C can cause easy bruising and bleeding gums, as well as slower-healing sores.
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.
Collagen
Collagen is a major component of your skin.
It plays a role in strengthening skin, as well as in elasticity and hydration. As you age, your body produces less collagen, leading to dry skin and the formation of wrinkles.
By following our simple advice, you will be able to achieve a good balance between staying healthy and being able to focus on your work.
We ‘Hi Well’ are always here to support your health for a better life.
*Follow us for your healthy lifestyle!*
Hi Well official Instagram
Hi Well official Facebook
Amazon USA
Health NZ
※Disclaimer
The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, images and information, contained on or available through this website is for general information purposes only. Hi Well Healthcare is not responsibly liable for any advice, course of treatment, diagnosis or any other information services or products that you obtain through this website.
※References
1De Mel, D., & Suphioglu, C. (2014). Fishy business: effect of omega-3 fatty acids on zinc transporters and free zinc availability in human neuronal cells. Nutrients, 6(8), 3245–3258. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu6083245
2.Black, H. S., & Rhodes, L. E. (2016). Potential Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer. Journal of clinical medicine, 5(2), 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm5020023
3.Lorencini, M., Brohem, C. A., Dieamant, G. C., Zanchin, N. I., & Maibach, H. I. (2014). Active ingredients against human epidermal aging. Ageing research reviews, 15, 100–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2014.03.002
4.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
5.Kaur, N., Chugh, V., & Gupta, A. K. (2014). Essential fatty acids as functional components of foods- a review. Journal of food science and technology, 51(10), 2289–2303. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-012-0677-0
6.Lamore, S. D., & Wondrak, G. T. (2011). Zinc pyrithione impairs zinc homeostasis and upregulates stress response gene expression in reconstructed human epidermis. Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine, 24(5), 875–890. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-011-9441-6
7.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
8.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
9.Cosgrove, M. C., Franco, O. H., Granger, S. P., Murray, P. G., & Mayes, A. E. (2007). Dietary nutrient intakes and skin-aging appearance among middle-aged American women. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 86(4), 1225–1231. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/86.4.1225
10.Yosipovitch G, Tang M, Dawn AG, Chen M, Goh CL, Huak Y, et al. Study of psychological stress, sebum production and acne vulgaris in adolescents. Acta Derm Venereol 2007; 87: 135–139.
11.Verhoeven EW, de Klerk S, Kraaimaat FW, van de Kerkhof PC, de Jong EM, Evers AW. Biopsychosocial mechanisms of chronic itch in patients with skin diseases: a review. Acta Derm Venereol 2008; 88: 211–218.
12.Martires KJ, Fu P, Polster AM, Cooper KD, Baron ED. Factors That Affect Skin Aging: A Cohort-Based Survey on Twins. Arch Dermatol. 2009;145(12):1375–1379. doi:10.1001/archdermatol.2009.303
13.Al-Atif H. (2022). Collagen Supplements for Aging and Wrinkles: A Paradigm Shift in the Fields of Dermatology and Cosmetics. Dermatology practical & conceptual, 12(1), e2022018. https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.1201a18
