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Skin Health Center
Skin Aging |
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| Alpha Nutrition Health Education | ||
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Order Skin Rescue Starter Pack
Alpha Nutrition |
Skin aging can be attributed to intrinsic and environmental factors. The intrinsic
factors begin with an aging program in DNA that we cannot avoid. Some people are blessed
with good genes that allow them to look younger longer as long as they pursue a healthy
lifestyle. Others are not so lucky and develop gray hair and skin wrinkling earlier in
life. Sex hormones play an important role in maintaining a youthful skin conditions
and skin aging accelerates with decreased hormone production.
The health and endurance of skin is a universal cosmetic concern. While topical skin products get most of the attention, more basic biological determinants play and overwhelming role in determining skin appearance. Many skin problems come from the inside and often show dietary problems with dramatic displays of pimples, rashes, flushing, bumps, hives, blisters and swellings. Eight major causes of poor skin condition, premature aging and disease are considered:
Nutritional Rescue from several chronic and severe skin disorders involves complete diet revision and nutritional supplements. Alpha Nutrition is recommended as a versatile method of diet revision. The two worst environmental aging factors are smoking and sunlight. The third large factor is nutrition; bad food choices over a lifetime can accelerate skin aging and add a variety of disease conditions that spoil skin appearance. Photoaging is becoming more important as people live longer with increased sun exposure associated with leisure time, outdoor recreational sports, sun bathing and holes in the ozone layer. Photodamage begins in infancy - 50% of an individual's ultraviolet light exposure occurs before the age of 18 years. An epidemic of the most dangerous skin cancer, malignant melanoma is already underway. Some predict that skin cancer will become the most common type of cancer and malignant melanoma will become the leading cause of death from skin cancer. PhotoagingRepeated exposure to UV radiation from the sun causes premature skin aging. This photoaging is characterized by wrinkles, mottled pigmentation, dry and rough skin, and loss of skin tone. A deficiency of superficial dermal collagen is one cause of photoaging. In one study, the degradation of endogenous type I collagen fibrils was increased by 58 percent in irradiated skin, as compared with nonirradiated skin. Collagenase and gelatinase activity remained maximally elevated (4.4 and 2.3 times, respectively) for seven days with four exposures to ultraviolet irradiation, delivered at two-day intervals, as compared with base-line levels. Multiple exposures to ultraviolet irradiation lead to sustained elevations of matrix metalloproteinases that degrade skin collagen and may contribute to photoaging. Treatment with topical Tretinoin inhibits irradiation-induced proteinases but not their endogenous inhibitor. HormonesEstrogen deficiency is a skin-aging factor in peri and post-menopausal women. Estrogen treatment with estradiol and the estriol for 6 months improved elasticity and firmness of the skin and the wrinkle depth and pore sizes had decreased up to 100%. Skin moisture increased along with significant increases in the numbers of collagen fibers at the end of the treatment period. RetinoidsVitamin A analogues have many effects on skin growth and some have been used to reduce wrinkling. Retin-A was the first popular agent intended for acne treatment but widely sought as a cosmetic agent. The alpha hydroxy acids came next - these are acids common in many plants that peel the surface layers of the skin. Vitamin C, collagen, beta hydroxy acids, vitamin E, elastin and liposome have appeared in numerous skin products with claims that are not readily substantiated. The net effect of most surface treatment with agents of any type is that little or nothing changes. The rejuvenating cream has not yet been discovered. Vitamin C and E have great promise for long-term antiaging effects but they are best taken orally rather than applied to the surface, although there is room for both to be added to sunscreen lotions to reduce photo-damage |
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