Skin Care Antioxidant Science

When talking about skin health and skin care, it seems that fads are the rule. Pick up any magazine or newspaper and browse down to the skin care section and you are sure to find advertisements for skin care products and vitamins to enhance skin health.

Currently, the skin care antioxidant fad is natural and holistic. It seems that the general belief is that the more natural the skin care antioxidant product is, the more effective it's going to be. This belief is not without its historical basis since several centuries ago, our ancestors have been using plants and natural oils to beautify the skin and keep it healthy. Now, when you open your medicine cabinet, you will probably find several bottles, tubes, and glistening plastic dispensers that contain labels identifying all the main ingredients in the skin care products - ingredients that are more like a litany of all flora and the fauna of the rain forest rather than compounds developed in a sophisticated research laboratory.

The world has created a term for these. Nutriceuticals, a word developed from the combination of "nutrients" and "pharmaceuticals." When it comes to the world of nutrition and skin care, a familiar term readily pops up. Antioxidants. What are they?

It seems that for every skin care product that we buy, we always find that most of the ingredients contain antioxidants. Antioxidants have several beneficial effects for the skin. An antioxidant is a compound that can neutralize the destructive oxygen molecules, called free radicals that result from normal metabolism or oxidation. Free radicals may also be stimulated by external factors, such as the ultraviolet rays of the sun.

The idea of free radicals is so complicated that it is hard to explain it in one article alone. Just to be brief though, one of the harmful effects of free radicals is mutation in genes which could lead to skin cancer and affect the ability of the skin to repair itself.

With the introduction of antioxidants, free radicals may be greatly reduced and controlled. Antioxidants are said to complement skin care nutrients, one keeping harmful substances from destroying the skin while the other keeping the skin healthy and strong.

Aging skin is a primary skin of anyone who is concerned about skin health. Signs include fine lines and wrinkles, brown spots and light spots, tiny rough precancerous growths (called actinic keratoses), prominent jowl lines, sagging skin, and a general increase in roughness and dryness of the skin.

Most skin care antioxidant products that claim to reverse or stall aging skin moisturize the top layer of the skin. Through re-hydration, the appearance of fine lines.