The Best Nutrients for Great-Looking Skin

Our skin specialists in Wilsonville at Valley View Dermatology often hear from patients wanting to know the best tips for keeping their skin looking and feeling great. To maintain healthy skin, your body requires the right balance of nutrients. Maintaining this balance will enable your skin to continue, working, looking, and feeling like it should to protect your body from outside forces.

Let’s take a look at the vital nutrients our skin specialists in Wilsonville believe your skin requires.

Healthy Fats

Healthy fats proved your skin with that highly desirable glow. Too little fat in a diet can make skin appear wrinkled and dry.

Since not all fats are created equal, focus on consuming more polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats from sources like seeds, nuts, avocadoes, and from eating more fish. These types of fats will enable your skin to remain firm, flexible, and moist. Plus, they’re far better for your heart and body than saturated fats.

Omega-3 fatty acids are an especially useful type of polyunsaturated fat. These types of fatty acids enable the body to build cell walls, and they also block a type of chemical that allows skin cancer to spread and grow. Some research has even suggested they may help to lower inflammation as well.

Protein

The body transforms the proteins you consume into building blocks known as amino acids. The body reuses amino acids to create other needed proteins, such as keratin and collagen, that promote the growth of new skin cells. Amino acids also help the body to better shed off old skin cells.

Some types of amino acids are antioxidants that protect skin cells against UV rays and from free radicals made when the body breaks down certain types of foods.

Vitamin A

Both layers of our skin (upper and lower) need a steady supply of vitamin A. Studies suggest that vitamin A helps to prevent sun damage by disrupting the process that causes collagen cells to breakdown. Since vitamin A is also an antioxidant, it may even give your skin some protection against sunburn (though not enough you can stop wearing sunscreen).

Vitamin A also enables oil glands around hair follicles to work more efficiently and may also help scrapes and cuts to heal more quickly, especially for patients who take steroids to reduce inflammation.

Without a sufficient supply of vitamin A, your skin may start to feel dry, itchy, or bumpy. Considering all of the potential advantages provided by vitamin A, you’ll want to make sure to eat plenty of fish, fortified cereals, carrots, broccoli, and squash.

Vitamin C

When it comes to helping the body build collagen, vitamin C definitely deserves an A. This valuable vitamin enables the collagen to better hold its shape. It’s also a powerful antioxidant that works to protect the body from free radicals. Some preliminary research has even suggested that vitamin C can help to lower an individual’s risk of skin cancer.

When the body doesn’t receive enough vitamin C, it can cause easy bruising and bleeding gums. The body will also heal more slowly, especially cuts and sores. Fortunately, you can load up on vitamin C by eating citrus fruits, tomatoes, and potatoes.

Vitamin E

An anti-inflammatory and an anti-oxidant, vitamin E can also absorb the energy emitted by UV light, which can damage skin and lead to sagging, wrinkles, and skin cancer. Vitamin E also works well in conjuncture with vitamin C to strengthen cell walls.

Zinc

The outer layers of your skin features five times as many minerals than even the layer immediately underneath. Zinc enables the skin to heal more quickly after experiencing an injury. The body also needs zinc to keep cell walls stable and for cells to divide as they grow.

Zinc may even protect the body from UV damage due to the unique way it acts in relation to other metals in the body, such as copper and iron. Zinc also works like an antioxidant.

Too little zinc in a diet can cause the skin to look like eczema, but the itchy rash won’t improve when applying moisturizers or steroid creams.

 

Great-looking skin requires a body balanced with needed nutrients. The more you add the nutrients listed above to your diet, the better you’ll start to look and feel.

If you have any questions about the best nutrients for your skin, ask our skin specialists in Wilsonville during your next visit to Valley View Dermatology.