Question: I try to eat a balanced diet for the sake of my health, but does what I eat really have an impact on my skin?
Clare’s answer: Diet has a major role in determining the condition of your skin – there are so many vitamins, minerals and nutrients in our food that are essential in maintaining healthy skin. Nuts, seeds and oily fish, for example, are a dietary must-have, as these are all great sources of Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Omega-3 Fatty Acids “provide the starting point for making hormones that regulate blood clotting, contraction and relaxation of artery walls, and inflammation… due to these effects, omega-3 fats have been shown to help prevent heart disease and stroke, may help control lupus, eczema, and rheumatoid arthritis, and may play protective roles in cancer and other conditions”
Here are some other key vitamins and minerals to try and include in your diet for the benefit of your skin:
- Vitamin C – helps in the production of collagen. It can be found in citrus fruit, strawberries, spinach and broccoli.
- Vitamin D – this plays an important role in skin tone, and can be found in fortified breakfast cereals (and by getting out and about – safely – in the sunshine).
- Vitamin E – helps keep skin conditioned and prevents dryness, and you can get more in your diet by eating more nuts and seeds, such as almonds, hazelnuts, and sunflower seeds.
1 https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/omega-3-fats/
