Age well with foods and supplements for inside-out beauty
🕒 5 min read
Creams, serums, cleansers and face masks might help to make your skin look fresh and smooth, but what you put inside your body often has a bigger impact.
In fact, the foods on your plate can either help or hinder your skin, hair and nails. Nutrient-dense foods provide the vitamins and minerals to keep you looking healthy, while processed, high-sugar foods, can often leave your skin depleted and your hair and nails weak and thin.
As you age, supporting beauty from within becomes even more important. Naturally your skin, hair and nails do change over time, however busy lives and hectic schedules can make healthy eating a little more challenging and it’s not always possible to get enough of the necessary nutrients that your body needs to maintain healthy skin, hair and nails.
This is where a supplement can help, filling nutritional gaps and supporting your beauty regime from the inside out….
Why beauty changes as we age
As you get older, natural biological changes begin to affect your skin, hair and nails.
The gradual decline in collagen - the protein that gives skin its firmness and elasticity - is one of the most noticeable changes. In fact, collagen is like the ‘glue’, holding everything together, supporting not just skin, hair and nails, but bones and joints too.
So, when collagen production starts to decline, from around your mid-twenties, you might start to notice fine lines, wrinkles and skin that feels less supple and ‘bouncy’ than it used to. Your nails might also start to feel more brittle.
The hormonal changes that occur during menopause accelerates this collagen decline even further as does sun exposure, smoking and stress.
As well as collagen, lower levels of elastin, another structural protein, can gradually cause skin to feel saggier, while slower cell turnover, which is just another natural part of ageing, means skin loses that youthful radiancy.
Hair can become thinner with age too, often due to hormonal changes but also due to a slower production of important structural proteins.
What are beauty supplements?
Ageing is a natural part of life, and while you can do things to try and slow it down, it is inevitable that skin, hair and nails change over time.
But, supporting your body with the right nutrients can help to maintain their health.
Beauty supplements typically contain one or several nutrients aimed at helping to support normal biological processes in the body. Unfortunately, they won’t reverse signs of ageing, but alongside a balanced diet, they can offer an extra helping hand.
Plus, nutrient metabolism, aka your body’s ability to break down, absorb and use nutrients, can also decline with age. So even if your diet ticks every box, your body may not be absorbing nutrients effectively, which could make a supplement even more useful.
Key nutrients for skin, hair and nails
Collagen
As we’ve mentioned, collagen plays a huge role in the look and feel of skin. As the most abundant protein in your body, the decline in collagen can be noticeable.
So it’s perhaps no surprise then that collagen supplements have soared in popularity over recent years.
Although collagen can be found naturally in foods such as bone broth, chicken skin and fish, a collagen supplement can further help to replenish stores in the body. For vegans and vegetarians or anyone who follows a predominantly plant-based diet, getting collagen from foods is harder, so a supplement could offer extra support.
Of the 28 types of collagen, type I is the most abundant in the body, and often the type most commonly found in supplements.
Healthspan Marine Collagen for example, comprises type I hydrolysed collagen and comes with added vitamin C, which helps to further support collagen formation.
A research review in the International Journal of Dermatology, found that hydrolysed collagen supplements - collagen broken down into smaller peptides for easier absorption - helped improve the firmness, suppleness and moisture content of skin, even helping to reduce the look of wrinkles.
Vitamin C
There's a good reason why the use of vitamin C in topical skincare products has surged. While this essential vitamin is famous for helping support your immune health, it also contributes to normal collagen formation. So much so, that without vitamin C, collagen simply isn’t as effective.
In a past study, researchers found vitamin C increased the amount of type I collagen produced by skin cells, and helped organise the extracellular matrix, which is the supportive scaffold that essentially holds skin cells together. As the dose of vitamin C increased, so did the effect.
Fruit, particularly citrus fruits, blackcurrants, strawberries and kiwis, as well as leafy greens, broccoli, peppers and tomatoes, all contain lots of vitamin C. While you should be able to get enough vitamin C from your diet, if you aren’t eating enough of these fruits and vegetables, a supplement can help to fill any gaps.
Biotin (vitamin B7)
It’s not known as the beauty B vitamin for nothing; biotin contributes to the maintenance of normal hair and skin and also supports healthy nails. Although rare, a deficiency in biotin can lead to thinning hair, rough skin and brittle nails.
Like all the other seven B vitamins, biotin is water soluble, which means your body can’t store it for long, so consuming enough, regularly, is important to keep levels topped up.
Beef liver, egg yolks, salmon, nuts and seeds pack in lots of biotin, although supplements can help to support your intake if needed.
Supplements such as Healthspan Biotin help to support healthy looking hair and skin, as well as supporting macronutrient and energy-yielding metabolism, normal psychological function and the nervous system.
The advanced formula in Healthspan Replenish Hair & Nail 50 Plus is specially formulated for peri and post menopausal women, containing not just biotin but also key minerals including selenium, copper, manganese and zinc, among others.
Selenium helps maintain normal skin and nails while copper helps with skin elasticity and even hair colour.
Meanwhile, the antioxidant manganese, protects your body from free radicals, which are unstable molecules that build up from UV exposure, pollution and even from drinking alcohol. Free radicals can damage skin cells, leading to wrinkles and sagging skin.
Zinc
Zinc is a beauty mineral that serves up a triple whammy offering as it’s known to help maintain normal hair, skin and nails.
You can find zinc naturally in a huge array of foods including meat, chicken, turkey, cheese, some shellfish, pumpkin seeds and wholegrains, however vegetarians, vegans or anyone with digestive issues that affects nutrient absorption, a zinc supplement might help to fill nutritional gaps.
Beauty support as part of a healthy lifestyle
A supplement is exactly that: a supplement to your life. They work best when they’re part of a bigger picture of healthy habits.
For example, a balanced diet filled with fruit, vegetables, healthy fats and protein (such as chicken, beef, fish, eggs and tofu) provides many of the nutrients your skin, hair and nails rely on. Staying hydrated can help to keep skin looking plump, while consistently good quality sleep gives your body time to repair and regenerate and avoids that tired-eyes look!
Staying active and managing stress are also important elements in a healthy lifestyle.
Summary
We’re all going to age, however, minimising the impact of natural ageing processes can be done by living a healthy, balanced life.
It’s not realistic though to avoid all stress, sleep soundly every night or eat a ‘perfect’ diet every day. Plus, as we age, our bodies may not absorb and utilise nutrients the same way anyway. That’s where beauty supplements can help, filling nutrient gaps and offering extra support for hair, skin and nails. Healthspan’s range of supplements offer the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients needed to help maintain healthy-looking skin, support strong hair and contribute to normal nail health, helping you to achieve beauty from within.
