Anti-Aging (From the Outside In and Inside Out)
How Your Skin Ages and Wrinkles
Before you spend another dime on products claiming to get rid of wrinkles and firm your skin, it’s crucial to know what causes the signs of aging to show and to know how skincare products can either help or make matters worse. Just hoping the next product you buy will finally be the answer is a gamble for skin that can waste your time and money.
Dark spots, wrinkles, sagging skin, and other signs of aging are caused by a variety of factors, some of which can be treated by skincare products, while others cannot. The primary factors are as follows:
With this information, you can get a better handle on what you can realistically expect from skincare products to make the biggest difference in your skin. And you’ll more easily be able to spot cosmetics claims that are beyond the capability of even the best (or most expensive) skincare products.
Can Antiwrinkle Products Help?
The answer is yes, antiwrinkle products absolutely can help, but only if you use the right products in a consistent, synergistic skincare routine. For many people, the results can be miraculous, or at least as close to a miracle as you can get without medical treatments such as lasers, Botox, dermal fillers, or cosmetic surgery.
Achieving such results is never about any one product or one ingredient (however much it’s hyped), just like a healthy diet isn’t about eating only one food or one nutrient. Skin is far more complicated than any one ingredient or one product can address. The fundamental ways to fight aging require a combination of the following types of ingredients, which should always make an appearance in your skincare routine!
Antioxidants
Without question, topically applied antioxidants are essential for skin, and the more included in your skincare products, the better. [5,6,7] There are a wide variety of antioxidants, including different forms of vitamins A, C, and E, superoxide dismutase, beta carotene, glutathione, selenium, green tea, soy extract, grape extract, pomegranate extract, and dozens of others. Antioxidants help your skin by:
Important note: As powerful as antioxidants are, they’re also delicate! Therefore, as we state throughout this book, they must be protected from exposure to air and light to remain effective in a skincare product. When antioxidants are packaged in a jar, they’re exposed to air the second the jar is opened, causing them to deteriorate. [5,6,15] Likewise, an antioxidant-rich product housed in clear packaging that exposes the formula to UV light will lose its potency, so it’s imperative to seek opaque packaging. Keeping antioxidants as potent as possible before they contact your skin is critically important.
Skin-Identical/Skin-Repairing Ingredients
Healthy young skin naturally contains skin-identical (repairing) ingredients in abundance—these help keep the skin smooth, retain moisture, protect itself from the environment, fight infection, and repair its outer and inner barrier structure. [16,17] When skin’s barrier is maintained, it can go about repairing some of the damage that leads to the telltale signs of aging. Used regularly, these ingredients will make signs of aging and skin sensitivity (how reactive it is) less apparent.
Skin-identical ingredients range from ceramides to lecithin, glycerin, fatty acids, polysaccharides, hyaluronic acid, sodium hyaluronate, sodium PCA, collagen, elastin, proteins, amino acids, cholesterol, glycosaminoglycans, triglycerides, and many more. Skin-identical ingredients are critical to skin health, and (especially) if you have dry skin or the skin disorder rosacea, you should look for them in abundance in your moisturizers, toners, and serums.
Cell-Communicating Ingredients
Factors such as sun damage, age, and hormone fluctuations damage skin cells—subsequently, those damaged cells regenerate irregular, mutated, rough, and defective cells. [5,6] These “defective” cells are responsible for all manner of skin concerns—from wrinkles and uneven texture to irritation and more. As these damaged cells reproduce more copies of themselves, the health and appearance of your skin suffers. [5,6] Essentially, skin can get to a point where you have more damaged irregular cells than healthy cells—and you’ll see this degradation in the mirror!
Cell-communicating ingredients are substances that “communicate” with the defective cells, helping reverse the damage by signaling the skin to produce healthier, younger cells. [5,6] The defective cells receive a message to stop making bad cells and start making better ones! It’s an exciting, fascinating area of skincare! The key players in this group include niacinamide, retinol, synthetic peptides, lecithin, ceramides, and adenosine triphosphate. [5,14,18,19,20]
Sunscreen
Unprotected exposure to UV light, i.e., daylight (and UV light is there whether the sun is shining or not), ages skin and causes skin cancer—in fact, UV exposure is one of the most potent natural carcinogens around! [8,9] About 80% of what we think of as aging is caused by unprotected UV exposure. [37] This damage begins within the first minute of skin’s exposure to daylight. [43,44]
Other than sun-smart behavior, using a daily sunscreen is vital—even on days when the sun isn’t shining, as UV damage occurs on cloudy days, too![8,9] See Chapter 6, Sun Damage and Sunscreen Questions Answered, for the full scoop on this critical topic.
Note: The only real difference between a daytime moisturizer and a nighttime moisturizer should be that the daytime moisturizer contains sunscreen. A product labeled day cream or day lotion that doesn’t provide sun protection is an invitation to more wrinkles and other unwanted signs of aging! Also, research has demonstrated that beneficial antioxidants added to a sunscreen boost its ability to defend your skin against the damaging effects of UV exposure. [13,14] Don’t bother with sun protection products that omit antioxidants; you won’t be getting your money’s worth!
Leave-On Exfoliants
One major aspect of skin aging and sun damage is that the outer layers of skin become thick and rough, while the inner layers become thin and collagen breaks down. [32,36] Alpha hydroxy acids (AHA) such as glycolic and lactic acids, and beta hydroxy acid (BHA, also called salicylic acid) each have unique properties to address these concerns.
When these types of exfoliating products are well-formulated, they gently exfoliate the surface layers of skin, providing a smoother, less wrinkled appearance. Both AHAs and BHA also reduce skin discolorations and can aid your skin in producing collagen to increase the support in the lower layers of skin:
For more on the benefits of AHA and BHA exfoliants, see Chapter 4, Which Skincare Products You Need—and Which Ones to Avoid.
If the products you use contain a combination of the beneficial ingredients listed above (and come in opaque, air-restrictive packaging), then you’re doing exactly what research indicates you can do to fight the signs of aging with skincare products. The result? You’ll help your skin look and act younger and keep it that way for as long as possible. It’s never too late to get the best skin of your life!
Do Firming and Lifting Creams Really Work?
The truth is: While you can help create healthier, firmer skin, the results aren’t going to replace a cosmetic procedure—this is a fine line of distinction that’s often (OK, endlessly) exploited by the majority of cosmetics companies churning out treatments with “works like Botox” or all manner of “lifting” or “re-contouring” claims. We’re asked time and time again, “but what about this product,” or “what about that new cream I read about in _____ magazine?”
Reality check: No matter what tempting claims or blatantly retouched before-and-after photos you see in advertisements, no firming or tightening products can provide results even remotely similar to what you can get from procedures such as dermal fillers, lasers, and cosmetic surgery. If a product could work that way, it certainly wouldn’t be for sale over-the-counter, it would be available only with a prescription (with good reason), and only then after a great deal of safety and efficacy testing.
Knowing the truth about how skin elasticity works and what can and can’t affect its structure is the only way to be sure that what you buy can actually make a difference. Wasting money on products that don’t work is never pretty!
Some products claim that the collagen or elastin they include has been “bioengineered” so it’s small enough to be absorbed into the skin. As helpful as that sounds, it’s completely useless. No matter how small these ingredients are engineered to become, they still will not fuse with the collagen and elastin in your skin. Claims to the contrary are not supported by independent, peer-reviewed research.
Even if there were some remote possibility that the collagen and elastin in skincare products could reinforce those elements in your skin, how would the collagen and elastin you applied all over your face know which collagen and elastin to attach to in your skin, and which to leave alone so the wrong parts of your face don’t start puffing out or becoming lumpy?
Many times when you buy a product claiming to tighten sagging skin, its effects, if any, are due to high amounts of ingredients such as film-forming agents. Just like the name states, film-forming agents form a film on the skin, and, as they set, they can make the skin “feel” tighter—think of the sensation when hairspray (which uses film-forming ingredients to create hold) is sprayed onto skin.
The “tightening” effect of products that contains a high amount of film-forming ingredients is temporary and you won’t see a noticeable lifting of sagging skin. However, the sensation is often enough to convince users that the product is working, and we want so desperately to believe that it really will lift skin. Skin “feeling” tighter is not the same as making a real change for the better in the tone or laxity of your skin. However, with the right products (and, yes, this must include sun protection), you can create healthier, younger-looking skin. That won’t give you Botox- or surgery-like results, but the difference healthier skin can make is absolutely dramatic in and of itself! Here’s the game plan:
Drinking Collagen?
What about drinking collagen? Can it shore up damaged collagen from the inside out? The collagen-drinking trend is big business, especially in parts of Asia and in the United Kingdom, but it’s not one we recommend, regardless of where you live. Here’s what happens: When you drink collagen (and the commercial preparations usually contain fish collagen), the body’s digestive system breaks it down just like it does any other protein, so it can’t reach your skin as intact collagen.
There’s no scientific research proving that drinking collagen can affect one wrinkle, spot, or pore on your face, although drinking fluids that don’t dehydrate the body—that means not too much alcohol or too much coffee—will have a positive impact on anyone’s skin.
Drinking Hyaluronic Acid?
Hyaluronic acid is a substance in our skin that is abundant in the epidermis (skin’s uppermost layers) when we’re young, but diminishes with the passage of time. [20] This ingredient has been modified in laboratories to be used as dermal fillers (an example would be the Juvéderm brand) to plump out wrinkles and restore lost facial volume that occur with age. It also has impressive properties for skin, including hydration, wound healing, and skin repair, because it is so naturally compatible with skin. [93] This has made hyaluronic acid a very popular skincare ingredient. Often the claims about it are overblown, but the attention it gets isn’t without merit.
Another use for hyaluronic acid in medicine is to inject a form of it into arthritic or injured joints, especially knees, as a fluid to cushion the painful area. All of these varied uses and the fact that it’s a natural component of the body has led some to believe that drinking the stuff might be a way to prevent dryness, maintain hydration from the inside out, and improve aching bones. It turns out there’s a small amount of research suggesting this may be valid and better for the skin than for the body. While the research is limited, most of it performed on animals or in petri dishes, what may be true is that when you drink hyaluronic acid it does congregate in the skin and improve hydration. [94]
Just to be clear, applying hyaluronic acid topically or drinking the stuff won’t work like the injectable hyaluronic acid–based fillers doctors use to plump out wrinkles and restore lost volume to an aging face. The diffuse benefit in skin isn’t the same as targeted injections benefiting deep wrinkles and folds. It will definitely help skin a great deal, but it won’t replace in any way what medical cosmetic corrective procedures provide.
Retinol: The Anti-Aging (and Anti-Acne) Hero
There are dozens and dozens of remarkable “heroic” skincare ingredients, but in some ways retinol stands out from the rest. Retinol is another name for the entire vitamin A molecule, and vitamin A—in all its forms—works as a cell-communicating ingredient.
By “cell-communicating,” we mean retinol can actually tell a skin cell to behave, and even to look like a more normal, healthy, younger skin cell. When you have sun-damaged or breakout-prone skin (and many people have both, especially in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond), this communication is incredibly beneficial because improved skin-cell health means an improvement in the condition of sun-damaged and breakout-prone skin—even pore size can be improved with retinol! [95]
The term “retinol” is used most often to refer to the non-prescription version that you can find in many products, with varying strengths—you’ll see this ingredient referred to by name on a product’s label.
When dermatologists talk about “prescription retinol” or “retinoids,” they’re referring to various forms of vitamin A that appear only in prescription medications due to their potency. The technical names for the prescription forms of retinol are typically tretinoin (found in Renova or Retin-A), adapalene (found in Differin®), and tazarotene (found in Tazorac®).
In the world of skincare products, retinol stands alone because it can function similarly, and some researchers say identically, to the prescription versions. [95,96] Generally, pure retinol is considered more effective than retinol derivatives, but retinyl palmitate (a natural substance found in skin) and retinaldehyde are acceptable and helpful in skincare formulations.
Why does the pure retinol found in the cosmetics world work like the prescription versions? It’s because once it absorbs into the skin, enzymes break it down into the active form (all-trans retinoic acid) that’s found in prescription vitamin A products in ingredients like tretinoin. [19,95]
So how do you choose? Keep the following facts in mind to help you determine which form is best for your needs:
A common misperception about retinol is that it exfoliates your skin. That is not true: Vitamin A/retinol, in any of its forms, does NOT do the same thing as AHAs or BHA. Vitamin A/retinol, whether in an over-the-counter or prescription product, is a cell-communicating ingredient that works from the deeper layers up, helping skin cells make healthier, younger cells and enhancing the production and proliferation of new skin cells. [19,95,99]
This confusion about thinking retinol exfoliates might be because retinol, in both over-the-counter and prescription products, can cause flaking, which you see on the surface. [95] Because of this side effect, people assume it’s also exfoliating their skin. Flaking skin is not exfoliation. As described above, AHAs and BHA are exfoliants because they help skin shed naturally, and skin’s natural, healthy exfoliation never includes seeing flakes or dryness. You never see healthy skin cells being shed. Instead, you just see a smooth, renewed skin surface and a healthy glow. That’s the goal when it comes to exfoliation. Retinol works in a completely different manner; it’s only the potential irritation it causes that results in flaking skin.
For the best anti-aging, antiwrinkle benefit, it is ideal to use both an exfoliant and a vitamin A/retinol product. If you’ve heard that you can’t use retinol along with vitamin C (or with AHA and BHA exfoliants) because the ingredients deactivate one another, don’t believe it; this isn’t accurate in the least and there’s no research supporting it. Below we explain the reasons why you absolutely can and should consider using both, depending on your skincare concerns.
Important note: Whether you choose an over-the-counter or prescription retinol product, daily use of a well-formulated sunscreen rated SPF 30+ is critical! Even the most effective, research-proven anti-aging ingredients won’t work like you want them to if you’re not diligent about sun protection. After all, it was sun damage that created most of the problems you’re now using the anti-aging products to improve!
For best results, you should use any form of vitamin A/retinol with other anti-aging products containing rejuvenating ingredients such as antioxidants, skin-repairing ingredients, and cell-communicating ingredients. [100,101] Despite retinol’s superstar status, treating signs of aging is far more complex than any one ingredient—however good it may be—can address!
Five Retinol Myths Busted!
Given retinol’s popularity and benefits, we’re often asked about the claim that AHA and BHA exfoliants “deactivate” or reduce the effectiveness of retinol. We’ve also read similar cautionary statements in beauty magazines that retinol works better without AHA or BHA exfoliants—or that, gasp, it shouldn’t ever be paired with vitamin C, lest your skin face certain doom.
If smoother, younger-looking skin is your goal, what should you do given all this misinformation? The confusion ends here—as always, we turn to the research to bring you the myth-busting facts.
Myth #1: You can’t use retinol with an AHA or BHA exfoliant. False! No research anywhere (we repeat, anywhere) demonstrates or concludes that AHA or BHA exfoliants deactivate retinol or make it any less effective when used in the same skincare routine—even if these ingredients are applied at the same time.
In fact, whenever we see a comment or recommendation about not using retinol with AHA or BHA exfoliants, the statement is never supported by research that demonstrates such an incompatibility. It’s one of those falsehoods that gets repeated so often that people (even dermatologists) tend to believe it rather than question it. After all, doctors are supposed to have our best interests at heart, right?
It turns out that the claim of retinol not working with AHA or BHA exfoliants involves a misunderstanding about how skincare ingredients work together, and how each affects the structure of the skin. We discuss how wrong this claim is in our next myth….
Myth #2: The pH of AHA and BHA exfoliants reduces retinol’s effectiveness. The confusion about using retinol with AHA or BHA products has to do with concern over the exfoliant’s acidity lowering the skin’s pH, and by doing so (as the claim goes), disrupting the retinol’s ability to work its anti-aging, skin-smoothing magic.
The reasoning behind this claim is that if the pH of skin is below 5.5 to 6 (which is typical), an enzyme in your skin won’t be able to convert the retinol into retinoic acid (a form of vitamin A), which is the active form of retinol. This is all based on the assumption that these acidic exfoliant ingredients lower the pH of skin, thus destabilizing the retinol and/or deactivating the enzyme in skin that converts retinol to its prescription strength. But, that’s not what happens.
Just like most skincare rumors, this one sprang from a misunderstanding about the research. Only one study mentions the pH range and skin enzyme issue described above. However, that 1990 study was performed on a blend of animal and human proteins, and the pH relationship issue developed only when a fatty acid by-product was added to the mix; in other words, it was not on normal human proteins and not on healthy, intact skin. [102]
To further demonstrate how misguided the assumption of retinol’s incompatibility with AHAs or BHA is, the study in question clearly stated, “no clear optimal pH range was seen when the assay was run without fatty acid by-product.”
In the end, this single study was used only to compare how animal and human skin metabolize the form of vitamin A naturally present in skin, not about how topical vitamin A benefits (or functions in) skin. The study’s conclusions were not intended to be used to make decisions about skincare.
In short, low-pH products do not prevent retinol in any way from converting into its active form when applied to skin. Retinol even remains stable in low-pH formulations.
It’s worth noting that no research has replicated the pH limitations of the 1990 study. Yet, despite the lack of follow-up supporting research and the reams of other research concerning retinol, that study is still cited (solely) to support the inaccurate claim that retinol cannot be used with AHAs, BHA, or, as you’ll see in myth #5, with vitamin C.
Myth #3: Retinol works better without AHA or BHA exfoliants. You may be surprised to find out that research has shown just the opposite to be true and that retinol, when combined with exfoliants like AHAs, helps fade hyperpigmentation in skin and improve the results you get from both ingredients on the skin. [103,104]
Extensive research has shown that retinol works when applied to skin regardless of these other factors.
Myth #4: You can’t use retinol during the daytime. Research has shown that retinol works well under SPF-rated products to protect skin from UV light, and that vitamins A, C, and E, even when in combination, also remain stable and effective under an SPF-rated product. [101,105]
Research also has shown that a vitamin A and E combination remains stable under UV exposure plus sunscreen, and so does pure vitamin A when used alone. [106,107] That’s excellent proof of retinol’s stability when paired with a sunscreen.
Antioxidants plus sunscreen are a formidable defense against wrinkles, uneven skin tone, loss of firmness, and brown spots. Vitamin A also is an antioxidant and cell-communicating ingredient, another reason why it is such a special, unique ingredient. For best results, be sure to apply antioxidant-rich skincare products morning and evening.
Myth #5: You shouldn’t combine retinol with vitamin C. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid and its derivatives) is another ingredient often cited as a problem when combined with retinol. As with the AHA and BHA myth, this one is also based on the pH/acidity issue because most forms of vitamin C, especially the pure form (ascorbic acid), are naturally acidic.
Here are the facts: Vitamin C (depending on the form) requires a low pH to remain stable. We know that retinol works in an acidic environment, as mentioned above, and that skin’s pH is naturally acidic. So, from what the research has shown us, using vitamin C+ retinol makes sense.
So why would you want to use both vitamin C and retinol? Research has shown that a combination of vitamins in cosmetics is the way to achieve the best results, including the combination of vitamins A, C, and E. [100] In a double-whammy myth-buster, not only did retinol prove to be effective when paired with vitamin C, but also the two worked beautifully to defend skin against free radicals when applied under a sunscreen! [101] That wouldn’t be the case if retinol made vitamin C ineffective, or vice versa.
Vitamin C actually helps retinol work better because it fights the free radicals that can destabilize the retinol as it penetrates into skin; thus, it increases retinol’s anti-aging benefits!
Vitamin C also has its own impressive benefits for skin. Research has shown it can lighten skin discolorations, reduce inflammation, help skin heal, and build collagen. Vitamin C is another superhero skincare ingredient. [108]
One other point: Vitamin C is found naturally in the skin, so it’s there whether you apply it topically or not (although your skin loses its vitamin C content over time due to sun damage, which is why applying it topically is so important). Given that vitamin C is always present in skin, it clearly doesn’t block or interfere with the benefit of any brilliant skincare products you apply to your face, including retinol.
Vitamin C: Another Anti-Aging Hero
We repeatedly state that there’s no single ingredient that’s best for skin—just like there’s no single food that is best for your diet—but there are a few standouts and vitamin C is one of them.
Over 20 years ago, a Duke University scholar published a groundbreaking paper that showed how a form of vitamin C called L-ascorbic acid reduced UVB damage when applied to the backs of hairless pigs. [109] This evidence suggested that photodamage or “sun spots” could be repaired with topical use of vitamin C. As you might expect, that was big news for anyone concerned with signs of aging!
That original paper preceded an impressive and conclusive body of research that has since proven the benefits, stability issues, and usage requirements for vitamin C. Further research (lots of research) continued to show vitamin C’s positive effect on skin, and a bona fide, legitimate skincare craze was born!
As widely used as vitamin C is in cosmetics now, it can get confusing because there are many forms, each with its own name and formulated in varying amounts to guarantee effectiveness. Here’s what you need to know:
A well-formulated, stably-packaged product with vitamin C can do all of this for skin:
From its humble beginnings atop the backs of hairless pigs to the countless studies since, vitamin C has definitely been shown to be a powerful antioxidant—one that should be on your short list if you’re dealing with wrinkles, uneven skin tone, loss of firmness, brown spots, and redness and red marks from breakouts (because of its anti-inflammatory properties).
Peptides for Skin
Simply put, peptides are proteins composed of long or short chains of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Peptides may be natural or synthetic; most peptides included in skincare products and cosmetics are synthetic because lab engineering these ingredients gives chemists greater control over their stability and effectiveness in skincare products—one more example of the natural route not always being what’s best for your skin!
In terms of the fuss over peptides, although there are intriguing reasons to consider them, the hype is mostly about the cosmetics industry’s perpetuation that there’s one magic ingredient or group of ingredients that’s, finally, at long last, the anti-aging answer. It’s simply not true. There’s no single solution for all the signs of aging—we admit it would be great if it were really that simple—and it certainly makes for good marketing copy to play up the peptide du jour.
Here’s what you need to know (and we keep repeating it because this is one marketing ploy that always wastes money and cheats your skin): Just like there isn’t one healthy food to eat or supplement to take, there isn’t one best, does-it-all ingredient or group of ingredients for your skin. Skin is the most complex organ of the human body, so as you can imagine, its needs cannot possibly come down to what a single peptide or blend of peptides can provide.
Although peptides aren’t miracle workers, they are good ingredients to see in skincare products, though we still have much to learn about how to maximize their skincare benefits.
Most peptides function as moisture-binding agents and almost all of them have theoretical cell-communicating ability to help skin repair itself and produce healthier cells, potentially even healthier collagen. [18,92] Those are exciting benefits, so long as you don’t rely on peptides alone. Peptides are naturally present throughout our bodies, but even then their action is dependent on several other factors, which is why they don’t work all by themselves. [119]
No peptide works like Botox or dermal fillers to reduce wrinkles. Peptides are definitely not the topical answer for those who fear the needle! The research aiming to prove otherwise typically comes from the company that’s selling the peptide or peptide blend to cosmetics companies eager to make such claims. More often than not, the concentration used in the company-funded study is much greater than what’s present in skincare products, so the benefit simply cannot be realized—yet the claim can still be made (tricky, huh?).
Some wonder if a specific group of peptides—copper peptides (also known as copper gluconate)—are finally the anti-aging answer everyone’s been looking for. The synthesis of the skin’s chief support substances—collagen and elastin—is in part related to the presence of copper in the body. [120] There’s also research showing copper can be effective for wound healing. [121] But so far, there’s not much research demonstrating that copper bound with peptides has antiwrinkle or skin-smoothing benefits, and certainly no independent research.
What’s more, the studies that do exist rarely, if ever, compare the allegedly wonderful results of copper peptides with the results of other, more established ingredients. Wouldn’t you like to know if another ingredient (like vitamin C or retinol) performed even better than copper peptides? We sure would!
We’ve also received many questions about whether or not it’s OK to use copper peptides with vitamin C, AHAs, or BHA because of the interaction between copper (a metal) and ascorbic acid. Copper peptides are amino acids and do not have the same properties in skin as the copper metal found in nature, so that’s one concern you needn’t think about! You can cross that off your list of skincare worries.
The Anti-Aging Diet
Similar to how eating the right kinds of foods can ward off disease and maintain a healthy body, a well-rounded diet can help keep skin looking younger, longer. Combined with a good skincare routine and being sun smart, a skin-friendly diet plays a significant role in achieving the best skin of your life!
Inflammation From the Inside Out
In much the same way irritating skincare products and sun damage cause inflammation, eating unhealthy, processed foods can cause chronic inflammation in the body—which eventually shows up on skin. [1,5,15]
Chronic inflammation floods the body with stress hormones, destroys healthy collagen, limits cell renewal, slows your body’s ability to heal itself, and may even trigger acne. [122] Many of the foods people eat on a regular basis worsen chronic inflammation, especially when paired with other unhealthy lifestyle choices such as unprotected sun exposure, smoking, being sedentary, and not getting enough sleep. That’s why using great skincare products is only part of the long-term formula for younger-looking skin.
Perhaps the most tempting, yet pro-aging and possibly pro-acne, food to avoid is sugar. Here’s why sugar isn’t as sweet as you think!
AGEs: the Bitter Side of Sweet!
Sugar in the body triggers a process known as glycation, which is a chemical reaction that occurs when the sugar you eat interacts in a not-so-friendly way with your body’s lipids and proteins. This reaction forms advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), which are destructive, inflammation-producing molecules that contribute to disease and increase free-radical damage, wrinkles, sagging, and, theoretically, acne (acne is an inflammatory skin disorder). [123]
Routinely consuming an excess of sugary sweets causes the rate of glycation to increase, speeding up the “AGE-ing” process. This includes sugary sodas and even fruit juices (whole fruit is preferred because the juices—yes, even the pricey ones juice companies sell—are mostly sugar and water).
Cutting Out AGEs and Chronic Inflammation
Eating the right foods and minimizing how much you eat of those that trigger inflammation and AGEs is an anti-aging MUST. In addition, a nutrient-rich diet helps reduce the risk of multiple diseases and other chronic health issues. Research has demonstrated that the following foods are the worst of the inflammation-promoting and AGEing offenders:
Your Anti-Aging Grocery List
Anti-aging foods are far from flavorless or boring! They’ve been shown to reduce inflammation and the glycation process inside the body. The next time you’re jotting down your grocery list, be sure to add these anti-inflammatory, appearance-boosting foods, and do your best to leave the processed cheese doodles and sugared drinks on the shelf (we won’t begrudge you the occasional cupcake).
An anti-inflammatory diet is one of the more beautiful things you can do for your health and your skin. Routinely eating the right foods can lead to the production of healthier skin cells, reduce dry skin, create a more radiant complexion, reduce the number of breakouts and wrinkles, and give your skin greater resiliency, so you look younger, longer. This dietary approach, combined with state-of-the-art skincare, really can give you the best skin of your life!
RECOMMENDED ANTI-AGING TARGETED TREATMENTS:
The innovative products listed below are those you may want to add to your regular anti-aging skincare routine (which MUST include a daily sun-protection product) to address special or more stubborn concerns like deep wrinkles or more pronounced brown spots. These products are suitable for all skin types: