Better Skin from Within

Beauty-enhancing nutrients help improve your skin in so many ways—no matter your age or sex.

Boost your balanced diet with supplements for clearer, brighter, and younger-looking skin. Bonus: these same nutrients also help strengthen hair and nails. Here are a few of the best, along with our top product picks.

1. Ceramides

These natural lipids (fats) support skin structure and help skin retain moisture more effectively. Over time, your skin produces fewer and fewer ceramides, which can lead to the formation of wrinkles. In addition to using ceramides topically from a moisturizer, you can take ceramides in supplement form too. Some clinical research has shown that oral ceramides work within weeks to boost the skin’s moisture.

2. Silicon

This trace mineral is necessary for the formation of collagen and bone. Supplementing with silica, the dietary form of silicon, or the herb horsetail, which is rich in silica, can help smooth lines and wrinkles and also help strengthen brittle hair and nails. BioSil, a proprietary form of silicon and the B vitamin choline, has been shown to reduce fine lines and wrinkles and grow thicker hair.

3. Collagen

This face-plumping protein starts to diminish after age 30, which causes the skin to decrease in thickness by about seven percent every 10 years. Collagen strengthens hair and nails, and is also essential for strong, healthy bones and joints. Although collagen provides the framework, elastin gives skin its stretch, and keratin is the protein that makes up 97 percent of your hair and strengthens nails.

4. Fish Oil

Other crucial nutrients for skin health are EPA and DHA, the omega-3 essential fatty acids in fish oil, as well as GLA, the essential fatty acid in borage and evening primrose oils. Essential fatty acids reside in the membranes that surround skin cells, where they transport nutrients into the cell and waste out of the cell. They also regulate inflammation, retain moisture, promote cell turnover, distribute melanin, and prevent free radical and oxidative damage that causes skin aging.

Studies show that supplementing with EPA and DHA from fish oil inhibits the UV-related damage that causes premature aging and wrinkles. Research also shows that GLA from borage or evening primrose oils reduces skin water loss and improves skin function.

5. 

Trace Minerals

Trace minerals—including boron, calcium, chromium, copper, selenium, silicon, and zinc—are vital for healthy skin, as well as strong hair and nails. Dry skin, acne, poor wound healing, split ends, hair loss, and soft, peeling nails are signs of a mineral deficiency.

The Beauty of biotin

Lackluster skin? Thin nails? Hair loss? Tap into the power of biotin. This B vitamin is often overshadowed by newer, trendier beauty supplements. But don’t be fooled by its unassuming stature—this water-soluble nutrient contains mega beauty benefits. A few biotin essentials:

Dosage: Biotin products vary widely in terms of dosage, from 1,000 to 10,000 mcg daily. Many experts maintain that higher doses are needed to see results. It is safe to take up to 10,000 mcg per day.

• Skin and Other Beauty Benefits:
• Healthier, thicker, and longer hair
• Fuller eyebrows
• Smoother, clearer skin with fewer wrinkles
• Stronger nails (less splitting and breaking)
• Treatment for seborrheic dermatitis (when combined with other B vitamins)

Did You Know?

Biotin plays a key role in the body’s production of collagen. It has also been shown to help treat type 2 diabetes, diabetic neuropathy, and some types of depression.

Food Sources:

• Peanuts
• Almonds
• Oats
• Eggs
• Sweet Potato
• Onions

See Recipe: Orange-Cranberry Collagen Gelatin Squares