Ghosts!

Peoples’ preoccupation with anti-ageing skin care products that claim to make you look younger is not surprising; it is not unreasonable to want to continue looking youthful for as long as possible when you consider how much longer most of us are living! We achieve this with beauty products that synthesize the production of the protein collagen; with around a quarter of our skin protein being collagen, the importance of this substance has not gone unnoticed. Collagen is a member of another family of substances that aid in reducing the signs of ageing. called antioxidants, they help flush out toxins from the body and help reduce the signs of aging.

You probably know many anti-oxidants by name, including vitamin C, the use of which is still, even now, hotly debated in the science and nutrition community. Vitamin C formulated skin care treatments suffer with a particular problem of oxidizing on contact with the air which causes a problem for users and manufacturers.

Other skin care treatments which mimic the effects of vitamin C are being tried all the time which are hoped to be more stable in the atmosphere and also cheaper to produce. Although these products are good, they cannot actually compare with vitamin C but fortunately vitamin E and alpha-lipoic acid are also anti-oxidants so can be used to gain the same effect.

Vitamin E is an antioxidant and component of human blood whose purpose is to help increase the body’s immune system against diseases including cancer. On the other hand, lipoic acid or alpha-lipoic acid is necessary for energy production which keeps us alive; it is in every human cell and another function is to repair skin damage caused by the normal ageing process.

Phytochemicals aren’t produced by the body but are extracted from a number of plants and used in many anti-ageing skin care products to combat the signs of ageing. Another benefit, like that of alpha-lipoic acid, is their ability to reduce the prevalence of certain cancers like prostate, colon and breast cancer.

Other vitamins from the B group are also used in anti-ageing skin care like vitamins B5, B6 and B12 for example. Although the area of anti-ageing skin care products is huge, more is being learnt about the whole ageing process and about natural products that can reduce the effects it has on our bodies as well as our skin.

A great deal about the ageing process has already been learned and the products available today are already far more advanced than ten years ago but there is still a long way to go. With the research that is now taking place, many people are confident that in time, more effective, cheaper anti-ageing skin care products will be discovered.

We must not forget however, that there are many more natural methods we can all use to reduce the signs of ageing on a regular basis. Regular sleep patterns, exercise, a good healthy diet and less stress will all contribute to reducing the signs of ageing, for instance!