A colorful diet may brighten your skin
Cold Blizzard/Getty Images
This article is part of a special issue that explores important questions about skin care. Check out the entire series here.
Your skin is under constant attack. Exhaust gas, tobacco smoke, particulate pollution, heavy metals, and ozone can generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) that attack DNA, destroy cell membranes, and degrade proteins essential to life. Perhaps the most harmful is UV radiation, which not only generates ROS but also directly destroys DNA.
The human body is able to remove and neutralize ROS, but it requires molecules found in fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens to do so.
Carotenoids are one of the nutrients most extensively studied for these benefits. These are the pigments that give pumpkins and other plants their bright colors. “They are very good antioxidants, especially at neutralizing singlet oxygen (a type of ROS),” says Jan Kurtmann of the Leibniz Institute for Environmental Medicine in Düsseldorf, Germany. He recently analyzed 50 years of data from human clinical trials. Carotenoid supplements are involved. “Carotenoids trap them and neutralize them before they can do any damage.”
These substances provide the best protection from the long wavelengths found in UVA light. UVA penetrates the deepest layers of the skin and produces ROS, which cause skin aging, wrinkles, and cancer. However, carotenoids cannot prevent direct DNA damage caused by the rays themselves, so they are not considered a replacement for sunscreen.
Good sources of nutrients include carrots and tomatoes. To get the most benefits…
(Tag translation) skin
