The skin care industry uses beauty products that increase the synthesis of the protein collagen, the main protein in skin which becomes less elastic as we age; almost 25 percent of the protein in our connective tissue and skin is actually collagen.

This category of skin products is in fact related to another group of everyday products that help reduce the signs of aging; this group is called antioxidants and apart from their cell repairing ability, they may be able to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.

Vitamin C is probably one of the better known anti-oxidants in use today but the debate about the daily quota required is ongoing. Skin care treatments that are based on vitamin C, pose the problem of becoming oxidized themselves as they come into contact with air during their usage.

To overcome this problem, manufacturers use alternative skin care treatments that still provide the same benefits but not the high manufacturing costs. However, these anti-ageing skin care treatments are not as effective vitamin C based products, although vitamin E and lipoic acid are also anti-oxidants and have similar effects.

Found in human blood, vitamin E is not only an antioxidant but is designed to increase the immune system’s resistance to disease and can also help ward off cancer. 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.

Another group of products used to reduce the visible signs of ageing are phytochemicals which are compounds extracted from various plants and used in many anti-ageing skin care products. Phytochemicals prevent occurrence of certain types of cancer; these include prostate cancer, breast cancer and colon cancers.

Other vitamins from the B group are also used in anti-ageing skin care like vitamins B5, B6 and B12 for example. And they are having positive results.But the field of anti-ageing skin care products is vast and needs a great deal more research.

A great deal about the ageing process has already been learned and the products available today are already far more advanced than ten years ago but there is still a long way to go. Hopefully, these challenges will get resolved in due course and better and cheaper anti-ageing skin care products will be produced.

We must not forget however, that there are many more natural methods we can all use to reduce the signs of ageing on a regular basis. Natural methods are known, but few people actually follow them; what proportion of the population actually eats healthily, takes plenty of exercise, drink sufficient water and obtain restful and regular sleep?

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 30th, 2008 at 2:49 am and is filed under Skin Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.