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Vitamins and Minerals for Flawless Skin

Vitamins and Minerals for Flawless Skin

Taking care of your skin is important for overall health. After all, your skin is your body’s largest organ. One of the keys to having healthy skin is getting the right amount of crucial vitamins and minerals.

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As you’ll learn, healthy skin isn’t just about getting vitamins and minerals in your body.

It’s about getting the RIGHT amounts of the right vitamins and minerals in your body.

This is the key to achieving flawless skin.

Below, we’ll detail the best vitamins and minerals for healthy skin. We’ll also talk about the best ways to get these needed nutrients, whether through diet or supplementation.

Best Vitamins for Healthy Skin

There are a whole host of skin problems that can be caused by not getting the optimal amounts of vitamins

According to Dr. Kristina Hoffman, this can lead to skin problems such as

  • dry, flaky skin
  • wrinkles
  • sensitivity to sunlight
  • roughly textured skin

To combat this, there are three important vitamins that will help to increase your skin health.

Vitamin B3

Vitamin B3 (also known as Niacin), benefits your dermal health by protecting your skin cells from sun damage. This makes Vitamin B3 a great option if you struggle with sensitivity to sunlight.

You should aim to get 14-16mg of vitamin B3 per day. Major niacin deficiencies tend to be rare, especially if you eat a balanced diet.

Vitamin B3 can be found in the following foods

  • mushrooms
  • eggs
  • meat
  • green vegetables
  • nuts

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is often called the “sunshine vitamin” because it is produced in your skin in response to sunlight. It is a fat-soluble vitamin, which simply means that your body stores it in your fat.

Vitamin D is an important nutrient for skin health. In particular, it helps to keep your skin from becoming dry and flaky. In addition to this, a study done in 2011 showed that Vitamin D helped to increase skin health by building out your body’s immune system (source).

According to the Mayo Clinic, it is recommended that you get 600 IU’s of vitamin D per day. This equates to getting about 10 minutes of the sun per day as well as eating a balanced diet.

Vitamin D is prevalent in many foods, including:

  • cheese
  • egg yolks
  • tuna

Vitamin C

Last, but not least, we have Vitamin C. It is found in high concentrations in both the dermis (inner) and epidermis (outer) layers of your skin. According to the University of Oregon State, vitamin C’s role in collagen synthesis makes it an important molecule for overall skin health.

In fact, vitamin C is often the “secret ingredient” used in anti-aging skincare creams and lotions. And to good effect, because it works to reduce wrinkling, improves dry skin, and helps your body to heal faster from cuts and scrapes.

The Recommended Dietary Intake (RDA) of vitamin C is 90mg per day for men and 80mg per day for women.

Food rich in vitamin C include:

  • citrus fruits (such as oranges, grapefruits, and lemons)
  • leafy greens (spinach and kale)
  • bell peppers
  • cauliflower


Best Minerals for Healthy Skin

While vitamin intake is important for healthy skin, don’t forget about the benefits of minerals! Minerals are known as micronutrients, in that your body only needs a small amount of them. That being said, minerals are needed by your body to function normally.

Mineral deficiency can lead to the following skin related problems:

  • dark circles under your eyes
  • sun damage
  • dry patches
  • pale coloring of the skin

Minerals play an essential role in normal skin development and function. There are many different kinds of minerals. In general, they are broken up into two groups, major minerals, and trace minerals.

Major minerals include:

  • sodium
  • potassium
  • calcium
  • magnesium
  • chloride
  • phosphorus

The trace minerals are::

  • zinc
  • selenium
  • molybdenum
  • chromium
  • copper
  • iodine
  • iron
  • manganese
  • fluorine

Though there are many different types of minerals, the two best minerals for skin health are zinc and iron.

Zinc

According to the Journal of Nutrition, 6% of the zinc in your body is found in your skin. A significant amount! Specifically, the majority of zinc is found in the epidermis (the outer layer) of your skin.

Zinc impacts your skin health by protecting it from sun damage. It does this by reflecting and absorbing ultraviolet radiation. This reduces the amount of radiation that penetrates your skin.

You can think of zinc as bouncing negative sunlight particles off your skin and keeping your skin healthy.

The current RDA per day for zinc is 11mg per day for males and 8mg per day for females.

Foods rich in zinc include:

  • Beef
  • Kidney beans
  • Flax Seeds
  • Pumpkin Seeds
  • Oysters

Iron

Iron is a major mineral that is crucial for the proper functioning of your body. It works in your body in many different ways.

One of the best-known ways that iron benefits your body is by being one of the main building blocks of hemoglobin, a protein that is responsible for transporting oxygen throughout your body. Low iron levels can impair the transfer of oxygen to important tissues and organs within the body

In addition to that, iron deficiency can lead to pale skin and dark circles under your eyes.

It is recommended that females get 18mg of iron per day. For adult males, it is recommended that they get 8mg per day.

The following foods are good sources of iron:

  • legumes
  • beef liver
  • lentils
  • soy beans
  • spinach

Conclusion

Getting enough vitamins and minerals is crucial for skin health. If you want flawless skin, make sure that you get optimal amounts. While getting needed nutrients through a balanced diet is great, sometimes you need a little extra boost.

Consider taking a high quality daily multi-vitamin.

Multi-vitamins help to guarantee that you are getting enough of the vital minerals and vitamins that your body needs.

if you are looking to go even further in an effort to optimize your skin health, consider getting better sleep. Sleep is crucial for your body, as it is the time when your body is physically restored. Make sure to get optimal sleep. If you have troubles getting good sleep, consider natural sleep aids as a way to help you sleep better.