The use of anti-aging skin care products has grown enormously over the last two decades; reducing the visible signs of ageing is the goal for many people as they grow older, and why shouldn’t it be? This is done using skin care products that encourage the growth of the protein collagen which happens to be the main source of the protein used in the connective tissue of skin; with around a quarter of our skin protein being collagen, the importance of this substance has not gone unnoticed. Collagen is related to other natural substances which help to slow down the ageing process; 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.
One of the best known anti-oxidants is vitamin C and despite continual research, nobody involved can decide just exactly how much our body should consume on a daily basis. The problem with vitamin C derived skin care treatments is they can become oxidized when exposed to the atmosphere, often even before they are used.
Other skin care treatments which mimic the effects of vitamin C are being tried all the time which are hoped to be more stable in the atmosphere and also cheaper to produce. Unfortunately the anti-oxidant products used to replace vitamin C are not as effective but as vitamin E and lipoic acid can both have the same effect; this is not too much of a problem.
The body uses vitamin E as an antioxidant and is also used to increase the natural defense we have against disease, including many types of cancer, it is a fat soluble vitamin in people’s blood. Lipoic acid is found in every single human cell; it’s function is to provide energy and reverse much of the damage caused to the skin by aging.
Another group of products used to reduce the visible signs of aging are phytochemicals which are compounds extracted from various plants and used in many anti-aging skin care products. A further benefit of these phytochemicals is their ability to prevent the onset of breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer all of which are on the increase globally.
Some B-vitamins like B5, B6 and B12 are also in use for anti-aging skin care products. This just goes to highlight just how complex and far reaching the whole field of anti-aging skin care products is and why so much more research is required.
In time new discoveries will be made advancing our understanding of the aging process and products that can reduce or reverse the effects more successfully. The amount of research going on in this field will undoubtedly bring results in time, hopefully bringing down the cost of these anti-aging skin care products in addition to increasing their reliability.
Fortunately there is a number of natural anti-aging regimes that can be carried out that do not rely on science. You know all these things but how many do you practice? Regular exercise, restful sleep, drinking plenty of water, eating a healthy diet and keeping your stress levels low are all necessary.
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