How to Keep Your Skin Looking Young

It is not surprising that one of the
largest markets in the world of health and beauty is anti-ageing skin
care products; this is due primarily to the fact we are all living
longer and want to continue looking younger as we age. The skin care
industry uses beauty products that increase the synthesis of the
protein collagen, the main protein in skin which becomes less elastic
as we age; almost 25 percent of the protein in skin is actually
collagen. This area of anti-ageing treatments is connected to another
group of products that help people to look young; known as
antioxidants, they are the body’s method of slowing down the ageing
process.

Vitamin C is probably one of the better
known anti-oxidants in use today but the debate about the daily quota
required is ongoing. The main problem when using any skin care
treatments which use vitamin C is that oxidization can occur as soon as
they have contact with the air.

To get around this some skin care
treatments are based on derivatives of vitamin C, which are more stable
and less expensive. Although these products are good, they cannot
actually compare with vitamin C but fortunately vitamin E and
alpha-lipoic acid are also anti-oxidants so can be used to gain the
same effect.

Vitamin E has many functions including
inhibiting the formation of cancer cells. It is found in the blood it
is an antioxidant that is also used to increase the body’s defenses
against other diseases. Lipoic acid is found in every single human
cell; it’s function is to provide energy and reverse much of the damage
caused to the skin by ageing.

Phytochemicals aren’t produced by the
body but are extracted from a number of plants and used in many
anti-ageing skin care products to combat the signs of ageing. Another
benefit, like that of alpha-lipoic acid, is their ability to reduce the
prevalence of certain cancers like prostate, colon and breast cancer.

For some time now it has also been known
that the vitamins B5, B6 and B12 also have anti-ageing skin care
properties. Although the area of anti-ageing skin care products is
huge, more is being learnt about the whole ageing process and about
natural products that can reduce the effects it has on our bodies as
well as our skin.

Whilst a great deal has been learned
about this subject, it is only the tip of the iceberg and more long
term effective methods need to be discovered to reverse or slow down
the effects of time. Hopefully, these challenges will get resolved in
due course and better and cheaper anti-ageing skin care products will
be produced.

Fortunately there is a number of natural
anti-ageing regimes that can be carried out that do not rely on
science. Natural methods are known, but few people actually follow
them; what proportion of the population actually eats healthily, takes
plenty of exercise, drink sufficient water and obtain restful and
regular sleep?

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