Mala McAlpin As we now know, the shift we are seeing throughout the wellness industry is geared towards a more holistic approach to beauty, incorporating more full spectrum solutions with an emphasis on health. Not only are consumers becoming more savvy about what is being used on their bodies topically, but there is now a heightened focus on the role diet can play in relation to skin health.
This focus has led to an explosive new market for ‘inside out beauty’, with countless new ranges of supplements, drinks, protein shakes and snack foods all aiming to deliver internal health benefits that in turn lead to glowing, healthier skin.
Some of the inner-and-outer health options we’ve seen so far include probiotic protein balls, powder supplements designed to induce cellular turnover, vitamin supplements to aid in faster skin healing and antioxidant support, broths and kombuchas to promote gut health, and other naturally derived, sugar-free snacks to assist healthy digestive function and in turn clearer skin – just to name a few.
We asked GP and resident Embarrassing Bodies Australia expert Dr. Ginni Mansberg her thoughts on the new craze. “There’s a very emerging area of neutraceuticals which is eating specific supplements for skin health, particularly around collagen. It’s an emerging area that’s not backed up by very large-scale studies yet, but, I suspect it is coming. The interesting part is that if you eat collagen, in theory, your bowel should break that down into its amino acid components, and then reconstitute it – how does your body know to put those particular amino acids vs the one you got from a steak, back into collagen and synthesise that and put it back into you face? It’s an interesting area that’s emerging.”
“Not enough research has been done to connect specific items in the diet with specific skin conditions, but here’s what we do know – in people that are prone to acne, a high glycaemic index diet, so high amounts of processed carbohydrates, so rice crackers, lollies, cakes, chocolate, is linked to acne breakouts, while most of the studies have been done in younger teenagers it’s probably true across the board.”
“Hydration is really important for both gut health and your skin, if you don’t drink enough, your skin will look worse. Women need around 2.1 litres of fluid a day on top of their food. For men it’s 2.6 and for pregnant or breastfeeding women it’s about 3 litres per day. You do need to increase that if you’re losing a lot of water through sweating, so exercising a lot, if it’s very hot, particularly for women that are going through menopause.”
According to Ginni, the most important contributing factor to beauty from within is a healthy diet – in particular, the Mediterranean variety.
“We do know that people who have a very poor diet, they look a lot older and their skin does often look horrible, and it is really important to have the same Mediterranean diet that is touted for brain health, emotional health, physical health – it’s probably the same thing that’s really good for your skin.
So while the science may not quite have caught up with the trend, here are our top picks that clients are absolutely swearing by:
