Secrets to Beautiful Skin and Hair
Introduction
When people start juicing, some say one of the first things they notice is how their skin looks and feels.
For this month’s feature, I am joined by Dr. Jennifer Reichel, a board-certified dermatologist, and cosmetic expert featured in news sources like New Beauty, Allure, Skin & Aging, and MedEsthetics. We discuss what healthy skin and hair physiologically looks and feels like, how juice can fit into your hair and skincare routines, as well as our favorite skin and hair-healthy foods and juice recipes. We will share insight on what we have learned through our careers in two different medical fields in the hopes of providing you a well-rounded view on the topic of skin and hair health.
In This Edition
- What you need to know about the physiology of the skin
- The impact of food and good nutrition on skin health
- How can juice and phytonutrients support healthy skin and hair?
- Juice recipes to add to your current hair and skincare routine
- Aging skin and hair
What You Need to Know About the Physiology of the Skin
The skin is the largest organ of the human body. It makes up the integumentary system that provides a protective barrier for your body. This barrier doesn’t just keep the bad things out, it also helps retain what’s important within.
Skin includes the top layer, called the epidermis, (“your epidermis is showing!”), and the deeper layer, the dermis. The epidermis and dermis contain different types of cells, all with different functions. These include keratinocytes, fibroblasts, melanocytes, mast cells, stem cells, and more.
The complex anatomy has many functions including connecting the skin with muscles and bones, balancing the internal milieu of the skin, enhancing wound healing, maintaining internal temperature homeostasis, secreting hormones, protecting the body from invasion, and more. In addition, as there is much dialogue today regarding the gut microbiome, the skin maintains its own microbiome.
The skin and the gut are closely connected, which is one reason skin rashes can show up with food allergies. What we choose to eat plays a role in the health of our skin.
The skin relies on what the body provides it to do its job…hydration, enzymes for multiple functions, vitamins, minerals, and more. We know that topical treatments for all of these can make a difference in the health of our skin, but there is a key role that our internal body has. This is why food and good nutrition are fundamentals when it comes to skin and hair health.
The Impact of Food and Good Nutrition on Skin Health
Nutrition has an impact on numerous biochemical processes in the skin, including oxidation, inflammation, proliferation (cell production), and glycation (excess sugar molecules in the skin which lead to loss of firmness and elasticity).
Extreme examples of how poor nutrition affects the skin occur in people with true vitamin deficiencies. For example, severe vitamin C deficiency (Scurvy) leads to easy bruising, abnormal hair growth, and poor wound healing.
Poor nutrition, environmental exposures, and lack of sleep are all linked to inflammation, which can affect structural proteins in the skin such as collagen and elastin.
How Can Juice and Phytonutrients Support Healthy Skin and Hair?
Skin and hair rely on the nutrients found in fruits and vegetables, and drinking juice is one of the easiest (and tastiest) ways to get them.
Polyphenols are widely distributed in fruits and vegetables and have antioxidant activity. Juices high in polyphenols include those with berries, especially blueberries, grapes, and carrots.
Flavonoids are naturally occurring compounds with a phenolic structure. They are found in a variety of fruits and vegetables and are the most common polyphenols found in nature. Find flavonoids in abundance in citrus fruits and kale.
Luteolin is a flavonoid found in flowering plants, and it is abundant in cantaloupe, citrus fruits, bell peppers, and celery. Quercetin is another flavonoid that researchers have studied; it is found in red apples and red grapes.
Another important flavonoid group is anthocyanins, naturally occurring pigments that give color to many fruits and vegetables, such as purple cauliflower, purple potatoes, red cabbage, and pomegranate. Beets contain nitrates, which the body can convert into nitric oxide, and they are a great vegetable to juice.
Staying hydrated matters for your skin, and so do copper, zinc, iron, and selenium and vitamins such as A, B, C, and E, which all play a role in normal skin function. Skin changes are among the signs seen when the body is low on nutrients such as vitamin A, B vitamins, and zinc.
Juice your parsley for iron, your peas for copper, garlic for selenium, and nut or seed milk for zinc. For vitamin A go crazy with carotenoids which is the natural precursor to vitamin A by consuming dark green leafy vegetables, green and yellow fruits, broccoli, carrots, kale, parsley, spinach, sweet potatoes, watercress, and squash. Get your Bs from kale, broccoli, peas, bananas, and seeds. Load up on vitamin C from cherries, red bell pepper, blackberries, papaya, dandelion, mangoes, asparagus, radishes, and cabbage. And don’t forget your vitamin E from carrots and spinach.
Finally, sulfur and silicon. Sulfur, an abundant element in your body, is important for skin health and collagen stability. Sulfur is found in watercress and mustard greens as well as pineapple, peaches, and strawberries. And silicon, another abundant trace element in your body, is involved in collagen and the skin’s structure. Silicon is found in carrots, bananas, and leafy greens.
Juice Recipes to Add to Your Current Hair and Skincare Routine
I regularly share juice recipes with my patients, and very often I hear (and see!) about changes in their skin – whether it be the texture or appearance.
Recipes I love:
- Beets Above: Carrot, beets, lemon – This has a nice sweet flavor balanced by the tartness of the lemon. Beets are high in nitrates and anthocyanins.
- Sparkly Skin: Cabbage, jicama, parsley – This juice is crisp and refreshing.
- Quenched: Peach, nectarine, dandelion greens – Quench your thirst with a juice rich in minerals and vitamins.
- Spicy Summer – Carrot, turmeric, ginger, blackberry – My favorite juice for its perfect balance of sweet, spicy, and savory, plus a good dose of phytonutrients and vitamins.
- Kale’d It! – Apple, kale, broccoli, watercress – Bursting with flavonoids, this is a bright, leafy green juice.
Aging Skin and Hair
Many factors shape how our skin and hair age, including genetics, medical history, medications, exposures, and lifestyle. Despite having little control over factors like genetics and medical history, we DO have control over lifestyle choices like diet and exercise. Filling your plate and your glass with colorful fruits and vegetables, like the ones I have sprinkled throughout this article, is a tasty place to start.
Summary
While the skincare fridges to store your powerful topicals are all the rage, today I encourage adding a new kind of skincare fridge into your life – one full of antioxidant-rich fruits and veggies and potent and delicious cold-pressed juices.
About Jennifer Reichel, MD
Dr. Reichel is on faculty at the University of Washington and is the primary teacher of cosmetic procedures for dermatology residents and fellows. She is active on a national level and is a regular speaker at skin surgery meetings. She has been featured on television and in numerous magazines including New Beauty, Spa Magazine, Allure, Skin & Aging, and MedEsthetics. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS), The American College of Mohs Surgery (ACMS), the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS) the Women’s Dermatologic Society (WDS), and the Seattle and Washington Dermatologic Societies.
References
Kanda N, Hoashi T, Saeki H. Nutrition and psoriasis. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 July 29;21(15):5405.
Ogawa Y, Kinoshita M, Shimada S, et al. Zinc and skin disorders. Nutrients. 2018 Feb 11;10(2):199.
Panche AN, Diwan AD, Chandra SR. Flavonoids: an overview. J Nutr Sci. 2016 Dec 29;5:e47.
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This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before changing your diet, especially if you have a health condition or take medication.