Taking supplements for improving skin health has become so popular, that today there is even a special word for such supplements. Have you ever heard of Nutricosmetics? Well, now you have. This is an umbrella term for any dietary supplements that are designed to help improve things like skin tone, texture, complexion, etc. One example would be supplements for glowing skin.
These days, if you look around on the internet, it seems like almost everyone knows exactly how to get glowing skin overnight. Some recommend radical lifestyle changes, some recommend using topical skin care products, while some others recommend supplements for glowing skin. Personally, I am not very good when it comes to lifestyle changes or dietary changes, so I have to more or less depend on skin care products and supplements to keep my skin looking good.
In this post, I am only going to be discussing some of the truths and myths concerning supplements for glowing skin. Can dietary supplements really give skin that radiant sort of look that so many yearn for? In my opinion, yes they can, or at the very least, they can certainly help. The important thing to remember is that not all supplements are equal.
I am not saying that you need to buy the most expensive supplements you can find, but you need to know what to look for in supplements. Many manufacturers really couldn’t care less about whether their supplements actually work for you or not. They are only interested in sales and profits. They will print anything on their labels if they are legally entitled to.
Supplements for glowing skin can contain any number of different ingredients, so obviously I can’t discuss each and every one of them in the post. Instead, I am just going to shine the light on a few ingredients which often appear on the labels of nutricosmetics.
The Truth about Collagen
If you head over to your local health foods store and you tell them you are looking for dietary supplements for glowing skin, they will very likely recommend products containing collagen. Just about everyone knows what a major role collagen plays in skin health. We have reached a point where we more or less expect or even insist on seeing collagen listed as one of the ingredients.
Can collagen supplementation actually increase one’s collagen levels? I am fairly confident that most doctors, including dermatologists, will tell you that collagen supplementation is not going to have much of an effect on your skin. There was a really nice article published in Vogue magazine last year which, amongst other things, spoke about what happens to collagen when it is ingested.
Collagen supplements were originally designed for promoting injury recovery, and it is virtually impossible to tell if the collagen in supplements actually makes it as far as your skin. After all, it is a protein and it gets broken down into amino acids once it reaches your digestive tract.
If you sustain an injury, your body produces more collagen in order to help heal that injury. A growing body of people believes that when your body suddenly witnesses an increase in collagen, it might see that as a sign of injury, and then start producing more of its own collagen.
As I have said, we just do not know if dietary collagen, including that which is found in supplements, actually makes it to our skin. However, we do know that it gets broken down into amino acids, and amino acids play a huge role in skin health. If you want to, you can read more about the effects of amino acids on skin by visiting the US National Library of Medicine.
So, if you want to buy supplements for glowing skin, I would not say that it is necessary to buy collagen supplements, but I would certainly recommend looking for supplements that contain at least some collagen. By the way, I would also recommend marine sourced collagen rather than collagen sourced from other animals such as pigs, cows and chickens.
What Everyone Needs to Know about Omega-3 Fatty Acids
I think it is safe to say that just about everyone has heard about omega-3 fatty acids and how important they are for your body. A lot of the literature you have read tends to focus mostly on the relationship between omega-3 fatty acids and heart health. There is also much written about the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids for people with a range of other health problems.
According to the US Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health website, the polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3) found in fish oil, have proven to be beneficial for treating rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, asthma, Parkinson’s disease, osteoporosis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular events, cancers, and depression.
What many people do not realize is the fact that these exact same fatty acids can do wonders for your skin as well. According to the same source which I have referenced above, omega-3 fatty acids are believed to have the ability to lessen the severity of certain skin problems, including photo-aging, skin cancer, skin allergies, dermatitis, etc.
Vitamin C – More Than Just an Immunity Booster
When people think about vitamin C, they often tend to think about things like colds and flu, but let us not forget that vitamin-C originally became famous when it was discovered that it could both prevent and cure scurvy, a potentially fatal disease. We all know that scurvy is caused by vitamin-C deficiency, but not everyone knows exactly why it was such a devastating disease.
The reason why it was so devastating is because your body simply cannot function without collagen, and without adequate vitamin-C, your body cannot produce the collagen it needs. Since vitamin-C plays such a crucial role in collagen production, and since collagen plays such an important role in skin health, I think it is pretty obvious that we need vitamin-C for radiant looking skin.
There is a ton of information online about the relationship between vitamin-C and skin health, so I am not going to say any more about this super-vitamin. All I will say, is that if you are looking for supplements for glowing skin, do not forget about vitamin-C.
Vitamins A, D, E and K
I have already pointed out how important vitamin-C is for the health of your skin, but that is not to say other vitamins do not also play a crucial role. Aside from vitamin-C, vitamins A, D, E and K are also really important if you want your skin to have a healthy radiant glow. For this reason, many supplements for glowing skin will include these vitamins.
Just remember, dietary supplements are only intended to supplement your diet, rather than to meet all your vitamin requirements. Foods which are a good source of vitamin include cod liver oil, eggs, orange and yellow fruits and vegetables, dark green vegetables, and certain fortified foods and beverages.
Vitamin-D is not very abundant in foods, and the vitamin-D which is present in some foods is not really the best form for your body. The best vitamin-D is that which your body produces when your skin is exposed to direct sunlight. To give your vitamin-D levels a boost, simply spend a few minutes in the sun every so often.
Vitamin-E has long been associated with healthy looking skin, hence the reason why you will find this vitamin in an almost infinite number of skin care products, as well as in supplements which are intended for skin health. A number of vegetable oils are rich in vitamin-E, but they can be quite bad for you in other ways. Instead of vegetable oils, I would recommend eating more nuts, and particularly almonds, hazelnuts and peanuts.
For boosting vitamin-K, I would recommend adding more green leafy vegetables to your diet. Virtually all leafy green vegetable are good sources of vitamin-K. You can also get vitamin-K from fish, meat, eggs and cereals, but in lesser amounts.
Other Key Ingredients for Radiant Looking Skin
Your skin is your body’s biggest and most visible organ, and when it is neglected, it does not take long for it to show. Just like all our other organs, our skin requires proper nourishment in the form of vitamins, minerals, etc. These days, it is virtually impossible for the vast majority of us to get all the vitamins and minerals we need from our diet alone.
Most of us simply don’t have the time, money, or knowledge to ensure a perfectly balanced diet. Fortunately, nature has provided us with many often-overlooked options that can help us to make up for some of our shortfalls. For instance, there are many different leaves, flowers and seeds that have a high concentration of some of the things which we so desperately need, including things like antioxidants.
Unfortunately, many of them are not very palatable, so we need machines and various processes in order to extract all that goodness. Grape seed oil is one such example. These seeds are rich in Linoleic acid and Oleic acid, both of which are essential fatty acids. In other words, they are essential for health.
Of course, none of us want to be chomping on a mouthful of grape seeds, but if I am going to be taking supplements for glowing skin, then I would like to see grape seed oil or grape seed extract in the list of ingredients.
Selenium and Chromium are another two compounds which you may want to keep an eye open for. According to the US Department of Health & Human Services, Selenium is nutritionally essential for humans. It consists of more than two dozen seleno-proteins that play a crucial role in DNA synthesis, reproduction and thyroid hormone metabolism. They also play a crucial role in protecting our bodies, including our skin, from oxidative damage and infections.
Chromium is sometimes referred to as the Forgotten Mineral, and yet it is crucial for our health and our skin. According to the MediLine Plus website, chromium is classified as an essential mineral that can only be obtained via diet and/or supplements. Chromium is crucial for the breakdown of fats and carbohydrates. It is necessary for stimulating the synthesis of fatty acid and cholesterol, which in turn is crucial for proper brain function, skin health and other processes within the body.
How to Get Glowing Body Skin without Supplements
To get glowing body skin without the help of supplements, you will have to commit to paying more attention to your diet. You will really need to get your diet as well-balanced as possible. Yes, there are millions of people who don’t rely on supplements for glowing skin, and yet they have beautifully radiant skin. The truth is, most of them have healthy lifestyles. They eat healthy diets; they don’t drink alcohol or use tobacco, and they get regular exercise.
If you cannot or do not want to use supplements, then you really do not have to, but if you are anything like me, you will almost certainly have to make a number of sacrifices. Certain skin care products can be a great help, but they cannot perform miracles.
How to Get Glowing Skin for Men
These days, it is not only women who want healthy radiant looking skin. Over the past few decades, men have become increasingly concerned about their appearance, including the appearance of their skin. Just like you get moisturizers and anti-aging serums for women, now you get them for men as well.
Unfortunately, many supplement manufactures follow a one-size-fits-all approach. One might argue that glowing skin for men is no different to glowing skin for women. However, men and women have different dietary requirements. Generally speaking, men require a little more of everything compared to women. Let’s take a look at vitamin-C as an example:
According to the Harvard Medical School, the recommended daily intake of vitamin-C for healthy women is 75 mg/day. For healthy men, the recommended daily intake is 90 mg/day. This is just one vitamin, but you will find similar differences with all other vitamins and minerals. Men simply need more of each than what women do.
In my opinion, if a supplement manufacturer is serious about providing high quality supplements for both men and women, then they should be aware of the fact that men and women have different requirements, and they should make the necessary effort to accommodate those differences. If you are a guy and you want to order supplements for glowing skin, then I honestly do think that you should also take this into consideration.
