Vitamins For Healthy Skin and Clearing Up Acne

Vitamins are important and essential ingredients for a healthy body and radiant skin. Many people don’t realize that they aren’t getting enough vitamins and minerals in their everyday lives, but they’re not to blame; today is a busy world for anyone no matter who you are or how old you are. Many people just don’t have getting enough vitamins and minerals at the top of their lists of important things to do; especially today when getting a full meal at a fast-food joint or gas station is cheap, easy, and time efficient. There are ways to easily get all of your necessary and essential vitamins each day, by taking daily supplements that can be found at just about any supermarket, grocery store, or health food store. I recommend that you go to a store that specializes in vitamins and supplements and tell them that you’re looking for things that will better the skin and acne. This way they will be able to explain to you more in depth about a certain vitamins and what they do for the body, whereas a regular employee at Wal-Mart may not know what to tell you. Here is some of article that I found on About.com, it talks about some essential vitamins for healthy skin…


Vitamin Treatments for Acne

Healthy and radiant skin requires proper nutrition. However, according to a 2007 report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 39.5 percent of Americans eat less than the recommended three to five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Deficiencies in vitamins and minerals can affect the body's ability to function optimally. Vitamins and minerals can be taken to supplement our diets when our nutritional needs are lacking through food consumption alone.

However, multivitamins should not be taken as a substitute for eating healthy foods. Taking too much of any vitamin or mineral can be toxic and extremely dangerous. Please consult with a doctor or other trained healthcare professional before taking any dietary supplements.

• Vitamin A - Retinoids, derivatives of vitamin A, are used to treat acne and other skin disorders. Retinoids are prescribed by dermatologists both topically and orally. A common type of retinoid used in the oral treatment of acne is isotretinoin.

• Omega-3 Fatty Acids - Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil, chromium, zinc, and selenium are nutrients that may have both anti-acne and mood regulating properties according to an acne study conducted at the Lasky Skin Clinic in 2008.

• Zinc - The National Library of Science recognizes that zinc may be effective in the treatment of acne based on available science evidence. The Department of Dermatology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York also recognizes zinc, along with vitamin A, and tea tree oil (also ayurvedic therapies) as over-the-counter remedies available for treating acne. However, its position on these remedies is that additional and better studies are needed to clarify the benefits.

Essential Vitamins for Skin Care in General

• Vitamin A - According to Dr. Eugene S. Bereston "the therapeutic use of Vitamin A began almost with the discovery of the vitamin." Bereston also noted that the first property of vitamin A is its ability to stimulate growth. The American Academy of Dermatology reports that vitamin A is vital to the health of both your skin and your eyes. The academy recommends a daily dose of vitamin A. Examples of vitamin A enriched foods include citrus fruits, carrots, tomatoes, yellow squash, and pumpkin. Vitamin A can also be applied to the skin topically with creams to promote cell growth.

• Vitamin B - The Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institute of Health states that inflammation of the skin is one sign of B6 deficiency. Clinical signs of vitamin B6 deficiency are rarely seen in the United States. Alcoholics and aging adults are at the highest risk for B6 deficiencies due to poor dietary habits.

• Vitamins C and E - The American Academy of Dermatology recommends daily oral dosages of vitamins C and E to protect the body and for its antioxidant properties that are important for healthy skin.

• Zinc - A study conducted at Duke University provides evidence that Zinc is an important antioxidant supporting healthy skin. Among the findings: "Zinc protects against UV radiation, enhances wound healing, contributes to immune and neuropsychiatric functions, and decreases the relative risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease." So, in addition to the antioxidant benefits zinc offers to our skin, zinc is also important for the proper functioning of the immune system.

You can find the rest of the article here: http://healing.about.com/od/acne/a/acnevitamins.htm

So think a minute about what you usually eat everyday; you might not have noticed before that you aren’t eating really anything healthy. I used to eat whatever I could find in the fridge for breakfast which was usually pizza, or pasta, or sugary cereal, and I would rarely eat something healthy, but I didn’t know, I thought it was good enough that I was eating breakfast. At School for lunch the food was not healthy at all, and I usually ordered a couple of supreme burritos. For dinner I would just usually snack on all kinds of junk food, or sometimes we would go out to eat, but I was rarely eating anything healthy. I never noticed any of this though and I used to consider myself a healthy person (Yeah Right!). I started taking vitamins when I moved to New York with my mom, and I must say that I feel a lot more focused throughout the day, my skin cleared up a lot, and I can exercise a lot easier without dragging ass! I take a basic multi-vitamin, an Omega-3 pill, a calcium pill, and a vitamin-D pill. I want to start taking vitamin-B, and vitamin-A, and definitely more Zinc, as I hear these things help acne out a lot! So take a little time and see what your diet is possible lacking in terms of vitamins and nutrients and go and get some healthy daily vitamins!

                 -Jpc