Antioxidants On Skin Care: Can These Supervitamins Stop The Clock?

Can taking vitamins, or actually applying them to the skin, help skin look younger longer? Maybe, maybe not. Some research suggests that certain nutrients called antioxidants - first associated with reduced risks of heart disease and cancer - might also be able to slow age-related skin damage.

The antioxidant nutrients include vitamins C and E and beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A. Foods rich in antioxidant nutrients include carrots, broccoli and fatty fish. Some experts believe the minerals selenium, copper and zinc have antioxidant powers as well. Antioxidants appear to delay or prevent aging and disease by destroying free radicals - unstable molecules found in the body and in the environment that attack and damage healthy cells and tissues, including those in the skin.

However, there's no conclusive proof that antioxidants can keep skin from aging. And while some dermatologists are intrigued by antioxidants' seeming ability to prevent disease, they say they aren't yet convinced that these vitamins and minerals can turn back time for the skin.

So should you eat more antioxidant-rich foods, or take antioxidant supplements, to safeguard your skin?

Why Skin Ages: A Radical Theory

It's the cumulative effect of sun exposure - not birthdays - that damages skin most. But more and more researchers are beginning to believe that oxidation, a natural chemical reaction, may play a crucial role in causing the body - including the skin - to age.

Oxidation is the same chemical reaction that causes iron to rust, bananas to turn brown and oil to turn rancid. Oxidation also causes reactions that eventually result in the breakdown of elastin and collagen, the materials that keep skin youthfully firm.

Free radicals - the by-products of oxidation that result from body functions like breathing and muscle activity - harm skin by attacking and damaging skin cells. Toxins in the environment, including pollution, car exhaust, pesticides and cigarette smoke, accelerate production of free radicals.

Sunlight is a potent source of free radicals. While unprotected sun exposure damages skin, it's really the free radicals that result from sun exposure that do the dirty work that we see as sun damage.