What foods help against wrinkles?
The reason why skin wrinkles and sags is because collagen and elastin fibres decrease with age. These fibres give the skin strength and flexibility. Sunlight and smoking are major contributors to skin damage or age-related changes and wrinkles. The skin’s melanin protects to a certain extent from the sun’s rays. For this reason, light-skinned people, whose skin contains less melanin, suffer more skin damage and age-related changes from the sun. Oxygen free radicals cause damage to skin cells, wrinkles and skin cancer. The sun’s ultraviolet rays are one of the most important causes of increased production of oxygen free radicals in the skin.
A balanced diet is anti-aging
Research shows that diet can affect the skin and help it fight wrinkles. It can even help against premature aging, cancer and skin damage caused by the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Antioxidant substances contained in various foods neutralize oxygen free radicals created by the body’s normal metabolism and by skin exposure to the sun, while monounsaturated fatty substances also protect against wrinkles.
In addition, foods containing zinc and omega-3 fatty acids such as seafood, milk, nuts and lean meat neutralize free oxygen radicals that damage the skin. Thus, they contribute to the health of the skin. Conversely, fat, especially saturated fat, contributes to wrinkles.
That is why it is important to consider the main foods that help against wrinkles and those that help to create them.
The main foods that help against wrinkles are:
- Olives and olive oil.
- Fish (especially fatty fish such as sardines and salmon).
- Dairy products (milk, yogurt), with reduced fat content.
- Eggs.
- Nuts and legumes (beans and broad beans).
- Vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables, spinach, eggplant, asparagus, celery, onions, leeks and garlic.
- Whole grain.
- Fruits and their derivatives (plums, cherries, apples and jam)
- Tea.
- Avocadoes.
- Water.
Foods that contribute to the formation of wrinkles are the following:
- Fatty meat, as well as processed meats (sausages).
- Full-fat dairy products and high-fat ice cream.
- Soft drinks, liqueurs and tonic drinks.
- Pastries, cakes, desserts.
- Potatoes.
- Butter, margarine and cream.