The benefits of healthy eating — such as lowered risk of heart disease, obesity, type-2 diabetes, and certain cancers — are well known.
But did you know that eating right is essential for healthy skin?
How Food Can Keep You Looking Young — Or Age You Prematurely
Food delivers nutrients to your body. Some of these nutrients protect your skin cells from the sun’s rays, some keep your skin hydrated, and some limit skin damage from harmful molecules known as free radicals.
Other nutrients increase cell turnover to reveal healthier skin underneath. And still others build strong cell walls for smooth, firm, supple-looking skin.
On the other hand, fast and ultra-processed foods, such as frozen entrees, soda, French fries, processed meats, and most commercial baked goods, are less nutrient-dense and typically high in salt, sugar, unhealthy fats, and artificial additives.
Processed, refined, and manufactured foods and snacks add to inflammation in your body, and also fuel inflammation on your skin. Skin inflammation can cause redness, acne, and a breakdown of structure that leads to sagging.
Processed foods can also spike your blood sugar, fueling acne and wrinkles through a process called glycation, which also causes the formation of free radicals.
Free Radicals and Your Skin
Free radicals are molecules that have an odd number of electrons on their outer layer. A free radical has a negative charge and wants to have a balanced charge, so it steals an electron from a balanced atom, making another free radical.
Free radical damage (also known as oxidative stress) occurs when there is more free radical creation than there is antioxidant activity in your body.
Free radicals are a key driver of the aging process. They can contribute to cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and many other forms of chronic illness. They can also damage skin by grabbing electrons from atoms in the skin.
