Live Well Vitamins & Lifestyle Guide

Beauty and Skin Care: Vitamins and Antioxidants

Age takes its toll on our skin, just as it does on other parts of our bodies. Exposure to sunlight and oxygen throughout the years produces unstable molecules called free radicals, which cause inflammation, damage skin cells, and can ultimately increase the risk of developing skin cancer.

While no magic pill can make you look 20 years younger, you can help your skin look as young as possible in a variety of ways. You probably already know the three surest ways to ensure youthful skin: protect your skin from the sun, don't smoke, and eat a healthy diet.

Vitamins and Antioxidants for Skin

In addition to lifestyle changes, a variety of vitamins and antioxidants may also improve the health and quality of your skin. While some vitamin and antioxidant treatments work from the outside in, others work from the inside out, targeting the harmful effects of sun damage and free radicals under the skin's surface.

Eileen Ross started taking antioxidants to improve her health but shifted the focus to her skin when she started reading up on their benefits. "I developed a cocktail of vitamins and supplements so that I got the ones that were most beneficial for me," says the 46-year-old preschool director from Smyrna, Ga.

After she started taking her "cocktail," which includes vitamins E, C, B-12, and selenium, Ross noticed that she was getting more comments on her skin. "I've heard that my skin is flawless or it looks very beautiful, very smooth," she says.

Research is finding that some vitamins and antioxidants can reduce the look of fine lines and wrinkles, improve the look of the skin, and protect against further sun damage. Here are a few of the most effective vitamins and antioxidants for the skin:

Vitamins C and E, and Selenium for Your Skin

Research has found that vitamins C and E, as well as selenium, can help protect the skin against sun damage and skin cancer and can actually reverse some of the discoloration and wrinkles associated with aging and sun exposure. These antioxidants work by speeding up the skin's natural repair systems and by directly inhibiting further damage, says Karen E. Burke, MD, PhD, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine's department of dermatology.

Although you can find these nutrients in skin creams, the challenge with applying vitamins E and C to the skin is that the concentration in most creams tends to be low, and they can lose their effectiveness when exposed to air and light.

Burke recommends taking supplements containing 1,000 to 3,000 milligrams of vitamin C, 400 international units of vitamin E (in the D-alpha-tocopherol form), and 100-200 micrograms of selenium (l-selenomethionine) to gain the most benefit.  (Don't give selenium to children until they have all of their adult teeth because it can interfere with the proper formation of tooth enamel).

If you do use a topical form of these antioxidants, the most potent products contain 15% to 20% of vitamin C (non-esterified), 2% to 5% of vitamin E (D-alpha-tocopherol), and .02% to .05% selenium (l-selenomethionine).