Can popping a pill help your skin to stay young and beautiful? As simple as it sounds, science has confirmed that certain nutrients in supplemental form can help maintain your skin's tone and resilience.
You’ve heard it time and again from health professionals and beauty experts: Exposure to the sun damages your skin. The damage is caused by the creation of free radicals within the skin’s dermis or supportive layer. Over time, these volatile molecules cause the support structures of the skin - collagen and elastin - to become inflexible. It is this inflexibility that eventually leads to sagging and wrinkling. If you are middle-aged, the natural decline in estrogen production also contributes to a decline in the skin’s elasticity and tone.
So how can an oral supplement help prevent this damage and enhance the skin’s elasticity and appearance?
For some time, researchers have known that applying antioxidants directly to the skin results in improvement to skin tone and texture. (This is why many skin creams contain the antioxidant vitamins, A, C and E.) Less clear was whether taking antioxidants in supplement form would improve the skin from the inside.
Recent studies into the effects of a supplement containing a variety of highly potent free radical scavengers have shown that the skin can most definitely be improved by the ingestion of these nutritional elements.
Help for Aging Skin
New Imedeen® Prime Renewal ™ systemic skin solution with ViTea ™ complex contains a combination of powerful antioxidants, including vitamins C and E, soy isoflavones (a rich source of estrogenic compounds), white tea, grape seed and tomato extracts, as well as Biomarine Complex™ - a proprietary blending of marine-derived polysaccharides (long-chain sugars) that help support and rebuild the structures of the skin.
An independently conducted study i reported in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, May 6, 2006, reviewed the results experienced by 80 post-menopausal women, just under half of whom were taking Prime Renewal. The six-month, fully controlled study used ultrasound to measure skin density, and clinical photographs were taken to assess and grade various aspects of the skin on the face. Ageing of the skin on the hands, and upper chest/neck (décolletage) was also clinically assessed and graded. At the end of the trial, the women were asked if they saw changes in their skin.
The 38 women taking Prime Renewal tablets twice a day for six months reported experiencing a significant improvement in skin firmness and density; reduction in the visibility of fine lines and wrinkles on the forehead and around the eyes and lips; improvement in the overall appearance of skin on the hands and décolletage, and reduction in the visibility of hyperpigmentation and age spots. Regeneration of skin collagen and renewal of skin cells was also noted. The 42 women in the control group (who had taken a placebo for the six month trial) experienced no such benefits.
Preventive Skin Care
Younger women who want to help their skin stay toned and firm (or women who may not wish to take a supplement containing soy isoflavones), may benefit from the use of Imedeen® Time Perfection. ™ This product contains lycopene from tomatoes and grape seed extract, both of which protect the skin from damage by free radicals. Combined in LycophenceGS™ complex - an integral component of Time Perfection - these well recognized antioxidants have a synergistic effect. Time Perfection also contains Biomarine Complex to further support the structures of the skin.
In a 2004, fully-controlled study published in the Journal of the American Dermatology Association, women who took Time Perfection twice daily showed significant improvement in skin tone, depth of fine wrinkles, reduction of dilated capillaries, and age spots. Conducted by Dr. Monya M. Sigler of the global research company, Stephens and Associates, the study lasted 12 weeks. A similar study conducted in France concluded that skin treated with Time Perfection developed a more dense dermis due to the increase in collagen-supporting fibroblast cells.
Imedeen® is available in four formulations: Imedeen® Time Perfection, Imedeen® Prime Renewal, Imedeen® Classic with zinc and Vitamin C, and Imedeen® Tan Optimizer which protects the skin against ultraviolent light and prolongs a tan. All formulations (except Imedeen® Tan Optimizer) contain Biomarine Complex™ which is rich in skin-enhancing polysaccharides (long-chain sugars similar to those found in the skin). You can find Imedeen® products in the Specialty Skincare section of the cosmetics department at London Drugs.