Can good nutrition help aging skin? Perhaps a little.
Your skin is genetically programmed to age. The rate depends on your genes, as well as your lifestyle and health. With age, you lose some fat padding under your skin’s epidermis (top layer), and skin cells replace themselves more slowly. Less collagen and connective tissue in your dermis (next layer down) means less skin elasticity (more wrinkles).
Good nutrition can help a little. Vitamin C, in many fruits and vegetables, helps form collagen in the skin and connective tissue. Zinc, from whole grains, meat, and legumes, is part of collagen-maintaining enzymes and helps keep cell membranes healthy. Protein, from legumes, fish, poultry, meat, and dairy foods, helps replace all cells, including skin cells. And antioxidants, in fruits and vegetables, may help protect your skin from some changes caused by aging and sunlight.
Slow skin aging with these tactics:
- Protect your skin from sun. Ultraviolet rays cause photo aging, which permanently damages the epidermis and the dermis (and increases skin cancer risk).
- Moisturize your skin well.
- If you smoke, quit.
- Eat smart, with enough food variety to provide the nutrients and the antioxidants that promote healthy skin.
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