The Gut-Skin Axis: How What You Eat Affects Skin Health
Melissa Jewell, RD
Food and Nutrition
Do you want healthy, youthful-looking skin? Pay attention to what you’re eating.
A nutrient-rich diet helps support healthy skin texture and provides vitamins, minerals and other compounds your skin requires to build healthy cells and to protect against environmental damage. But some foods — like highly processed foods, refined grains and carbs, and fried or greasy foods — can have a negative or inflammatory impact.
How Vitamin C and Hydration Keep Skin Looking Youthful
Reach for foods with vitamin C, which supports collagen production and is an anti-oxidant. That means it helps protect against environmental stressors and skin damage that can result in skin cancer or premature aging. Choose whole foods specifically for the biggest health boost.
Staying hydrated is also key to healthy skin. You should drink enough water every day and regularly eat water-rich foods like cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, cantaloupe, watermelon and strawberries. Don’t really care for plain water? Adding fresh lemon, cucumber, mint and strawberries is a better way to flavor than added sugars. Look for naturally derived sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit if you want more sweetness.
What Is the Gut-Skin Axis and How Does It Cause Skin Flare-Ups?
A healthy gut microbiome supports the immune system, which regulates inflammation. If there’s an imbalance — meaning an overgrowth of unhealthy, unwanted bacteria — that can contribute to inflammation that worsens many common skin conditions like acne, eczema, rosacea and psoriasis. Dietary triggers can cause skin flare-ups for those with these conditions due to that disruption in the gut microbiome. This is a growing field of study for nutrition scientists, but high sugar intake, processed foods and refined grains are believed to be culprits.
Top Nutrients for Skin Repair, Collagen Production, and Anti-Aging
What can you consume that will promote skin health as well as recovery after injury or trauma? A few ideas (you can also get many of these nutrients just by following the Mediterranean Diet):
Vitamin A. It’s essential for cell growth and regenerating skin tissues, and it may help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Find it in: Carrots, sweet potatoes and leafy greens.
Vitamin C. The collagen associated with vitamin C plays an important role in strengthening skin, wound healing and protection from sun damage. Find it in: Orange, lemons and other citrus, bell peppers, strawberries and broccoli.
Vitamin E. This antioxidant helps protect and maintain moisture in the skin. Find it in: Avocadoes, nuts, seeds and spinach.
Zinc. This mineral helps skin heal itself and repair damage naturally. Find it in: Legumes, lentils, chickpeas and shellfish.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids. This anti-inflammatory helps protect the skin’s lipid barrier, the layer of fats at the top of your skin. A weakened barrier can allow allergens to attack, stimulating our immune response to create a rash. Find it in: Fatty fish such as salmon and tuna, walnuts and chia and flax seeds.
This content is not AI generated.
