We want you to get the most out of life and be as healthy as possible while looking your best.
Did you know you can help your skin look younger from the inside as well as from the outside?
Beyond relying on skin toners and creams to hide the signs of aging, certain supplements and foods can make your skin look and feel younger by fighting the aging process. Antioxidants, those good things you hear about all the time, neutralize free radicals that accelerate the aging process. Let’s look into how free radicals and antioxidants can do this.
What are antioxidants and free radicals?
Free radicals are unstable atoms because they have too few electrons attached to them. This makes them hungry predators looking for a meal of electrons anywhere they can find it. They can build up in your skin, liver and other areas and over time wreak havoc on the molecular level. This includes damaging your DNA fueling premature aging and even cancer.
On the flipside, antioxidants (the good guys) are powerful substances that neutralize free radicals by stabilizing them. For example, vitamin C gives up a few of its electrons free radicals stabilizing them by, in effect, neutralizing their appetites. When this happens, the electrons of your proteins and DNA are safe.
When free radicals outnumber antioxidants, your body can suffer from oxidative stress and age more rapidly.
As you can imagine the balance of antioxidants and free radicals is crucial when it comes to your body’s health and aging.
How do free radicals damage skin?
The most common sign of damage to your skin is wrinkles. Because skin is on the outside it also suffers photoaging: Damage from free radicals created by the Sun’s UV rays.
Other sources of free radicals:
- Poor nutrition
- Severe stress
- Overeating
- Alcohol consumption
- Environmental pollution
Another thing to remember is that your skin showcases your health. If your skin looks damaged, your inner health might have issues.
Luckily, you can reverse the damage caused by free radicals through antioxidants found in some of your favorite foods,
Antioxidants to Fight Free Radicals & Reduce Skin Aging
Some antioxidant rich foods that are amazing at fighting the free radicals damaging your skin are:
Cacao
Do you love chocolate? The active ingredient in chocolate is cacao, and its antioxidants play a role in your skin’s health.
A study of 31 Korean women showed that consuming 12 grams (two tablespoons) of cacao powder every day can reduce the depth of wrinkles and improve your skin’s age. Women in one control group drank a fat-free cacao powder dissolved in water once a day for 24 weeks (six months).
The powder contained 320 milligrams of flavanols, substances that have health benefits and antioxidant properties.
It was noted that once the women’s skin was exposed to high-intensity UV rays, it became damaged more quickly in the placebo group compared to those who consumed the cacao powder. So not only did the cacao reduce wrinkles the flavanols helped protect against the free radicals from sun exposure.
Consider adding cacao powder to a morning smoothie to liven it up. Remember, it has a bitter taste compared to milk chocolate. If you like eating solid chocolate, look for dark chocolate as it has a much higher concentration of cacao and its antioxidant rich compounds than in milk chocolate.
Berries
Blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries and some other fruits such as cherries contain antioxidant rich polyphenols, including ellagic acid. This substance slows the effects of skin aging due to UV rays from the sun.
In another Korean experiment where scientists exposed skin cells to UV rays, damaging or even killing some of the cells. When ellagic acid was applied to the damaged cells that survived it almost completely eradicated the damage originally inflicted by the UV rays.
Tomato Puree and Olive Oil
Tomatoes contain carotenoids and lycopene, nutrients that help your body fight free radicals. They put the red in red tomatoes.
Tomato puree in particular was the subject of a British study at the universities of Newcastle and Manchester. Researchers studied 10 men who consumed 10 tablespoons of tomato puree with 2 tablespoons of olive oil every day for three months to see how it affected their skin.
The study found a significant uptick in production of procollagen, a precursor to collagen that supports skin strength. Researchers also noted that test subjects’ skin was 30% stronger against damage from UV rays.
Not only are tomatoes and olive oil easy to cook with, they also help keep you looking younger!
Grapes & Oranges
Wine lovers appreciate resveratrol, an active nutrient found in grape skins that seeps into wine during fermentation. Well, Japanese researchers noted that resveratrol could converted spent (vitamin C that already donated its available electrons to neutralize free radicals) back to its active form in skin cells, thereby increasing the amount of vitamin C in the skin.
Additional vitamin C in the skin improves overall skin functions, and resveratrol offers a way to increase the effective Vitamin C supply
On a hot summer day, you should feel good about such a nutritious skin healthy snack of orange slices and red grapes.
Astaxanthin Supplement
Astaxanthin is from the carotenoid family of antioxidants, the same class as what’s found in carrots, pumpkins, and tomatoes.
Another group of Japanese researchers discovered that consuming 6 milligrams of astaxanthin reduces facial wrinkles and makes the skin less dry. A total of 18 men took a 3-milligram capsule both with breakfast and with dinner for 6 weeks. Researchers noted that the regimen reduced some wrinkles although the deepest ones did not yet appear to benefit.
Look for astaxanthin supplements derived from the algae Haematococcus pluvialis to help your skin.
KINETIQ Glow Antioxidant Skin Health Formula
There are enough good food choices that everyone should be able to improve their nutrition with foods they also enjoy. However, even an enjoyable diet takes some work and planning and may still leave room for more help, so it is always nice to have a simple safety net to supplement healthy habits. That’s why we provide products like KINETIQ Glow.
Glow’s formula can reduce photoaging while protecting your skin from the sun’s rays. The ellagic acid from the pomegranates helps your skin produce more collagen, a substance that helps your skin stay strong and hydrated.
Try out a bottle today and let us know what you think!
