Beauty is Not just Skin Deep.However Skin Care is Important.
Because an increasing number of people are living to a greater age and are more active, it is not unreasonable to want to continue looking youthful for as long as possible. It makes up about a quarter of the total protein content of structural protein found in skin. Collagen is related to other anti-ageing substances in the body called anti-oxidants.
Vitamin C is arguably one of the more widely used anti-oxidants being used today but the recommended daily intake is still undergoing some debate. Unfortunately all skin care treatments that use vitamin C have the problem of atmospheric oxidization to contend with once the product is exposed to the air.
More stable skin care treatments are now available that are almost as efficient and actually cost less to manufacture. These new anti-oxidant products are not quite as good as vitamin C although other naturally occurring compounds, vitamin E and lipoic acid can achieve the same effect.
Our body uses vitamin E as an anti-oxidant and increases our bodies natural defense against disease, which does include many forms of cancer, and is a fat-soluble vitamin found in our blood. On the other hand, lipoic acid or alpha-lipoic acid is necessary for energy production which keeps us alive; it is in every human cell and another function is to repair skin damage caused by the normal ageing process.
Phyto-chemicals form another major category of anti-ageing skin care products which consist of unique chemicals that are derived from a wide variety of plants that are used in skin care today. A secondary but more important use of phytochemicals is the effect they have on the prevention of breast, prostate and colon cancers.
Some B-vitamins like B5, B6 and B12 are also in use for anti-ageing skin care products. This just goes to highlight just how complex and far reaching the whole field of anti-ageing skin care products is and why so much more research is required.
In time new discoveries will be made advancing our understanding of the ageing process and products that can reduce or reverse the effects more successfully. With the research that is now taking place, many people are confident that in time, more effective, cheaper anti-ageing skin care products will be discovered.
Fortunately there are a number of natural anti-ageing regimes that can be carried out that do not rely on science. These are exercise activities, calm and restful sleep, keeping to good eating habits and drastically lowering stress from your life.