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Anti-aging Nutraceuticals
It’s difficult to write about anti-aging nutraceuticals and not come off like you are pushing some sort of skin serum for cosmetic reasons. I’m not plugging either of the two skin care companies discussed below. I’m writing a blog post about the benefit of anti-aging nutraceuticals to your skin- from the standpoint of reducing my increased risk of skin cancer.
If you are a newly diagnosed cancer patient and you undergo chemotherapy, your skin will change. You will age and your risk of skin cancer will increase.
I sat in the sun and burned several times as a kid. I underwent high-dose chemotherapy as a cancer patient. Both damaged my skin and increased my risk of both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer.
What effect does chemotherapy have on your skin?
Some common skin-related side effects of chemotherapy include:
- Dryness and Sensitivity: Chemotherapy can cause dry skin and increased sensitivity. This can make the skin feel rough and look dull.
- Hyperpigmentation or Hypopigmentation: Changes in skin pigmentation may occur, leading to darkening or lightening of the skin in certain areas.
- Increased Vulnerability to Sun Damage: Chemotherapy may make the skin more susceptible to sun damage. Sun exposure can contribute to premature aging of the skin, including wrinkles and age spots.
- Hair and Nail Changes: Chemotherapy can also affect hair and nails, and changes in these areas may contribute to an overall change in appearance.
- Bruising and Easy Bruising: Some chemotherapy drugs can lead to easy bruising or changes in blood clotting, which can affect the appearance of the skin.
The solution? Consider your skin to be an organ. You want to protect this organ the same way you would protect your heart, kidneys, liver or even your bones. The antioxidants, supplements, etc. below are evidence-based non-conventional (not studied and approved by the FDA) therapies shown to enhance the health of your skin.
Have you been diagnosed with cancer? Are you about to or have you already undergone chemotherapy and/or radiation? Let me know- David.PeopleBeatingCancer@gmail.com
Thanks,
David Emerson
- Cancer Survivor
- Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Nutraceuticals for Skin Care: A Comprehensive Review of Human Clinical Studies
“Nutraceuticals represent a promising strategy for preventing, delaying, or minimising premature ageing of the skin and also to alleviate certain skin disorders. Among them, bioactive peptides and oligosaccharides, plant polyphenols, carotenoids, vitamins and polyunsaturated fatty acids are the most widely used ingredients. Supplementation with these products has shown evidence of having an effect on the signs of ageing and protection against UV radiation ageing in several human trials.
In a double-blind and placebo-controlled study, 62 women were treated with two Evelle® tablets twice a day for 6 weeks. One Evelle® tablet contains:
- 10 mg Pycnogenol®,
- 30 mg vitamin C,
- 50 mg vitamin E,
- 75 μg biotin,
- 25 μg selenium,
- 7.5 mg zinc as gluconate,
- 50 mg bio-marine complex,
- 40 mg horsetail herb extract,
- 15 mg blueberry extract and
- 34 mg tomato extract.
At the end of study, skin elasticity was found to be statistically significantly increased compared with placebo group. Skin roughness also was shown to be statistically significantly lower compared with the control group after 12 weeks of supplementation [89]..”
Vitamin Supplementation
Vitamins are organic compounds which are essential nutrients for humans. They are required in limited amounts from diet and belong to different structural families. Vitamins also play a significant role in skin health [108], exerting different actions including antioxidant activity, sebum and keratinisation regulation, collagen synthesis, ECM homeostasis and photoprotection [108]. Several nutraceutical products containing vitamins as their main ingredient have been tested in humans as detailed below.
Supplementation with Evelle improves skin smoothness and elasticity in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study with 62 women
“Results: Skin elasticity, measured using an optical cutometer, was found to be statistically significantly increased by 9% after 6 weeks of treatment compared with placebo (p=0.0351). Skin roughness, as evaluated by three-dimensional microtopography imaging, was found to be statistically significantly lowered by 6% compared with the control group after 12 weeks treatment (p=0.0157).
Conclusion: Evelle can potentially improve visible signs of cutaneous ageing.”
Skin Protective Nutraceuticals: The Current Evidence in Brief
“Nutraceuticals are important for healthy skin maintenance. Probiotics, phenolics, and vitamins are just a few of the nutraceuticals meant to potentially prevent and assist medical management of dermatologic conditions. Among these, probiotics, vitamin E, and green tea catechins may offer the broadest array of skin protective mechanisms with probiotics having the greatest clinical range
In a double-blind placebo-controlled study, 114 subjects received 2.5 g of bioactive collagen peptide (BCP) VERISOL® or placebo per day for 8 weeks, 57 subjects in each treatment group. Skin wrinkles were measured before the treatment and after 4 and 8 weeks.
The intake of BCP promoted a statistically significant reduction of eye wrinkle volume compared to placebo group after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment. In addition, BCP intake showed a statistically significant higher content of procollagen type I and elastin. Moreover, an increased fibrilin content was detected after BCP treatment, however this increase was not statistically significant.
Authors concluded that oral intake of VERISOL® significantly reduced skin wrinkles and had positive effects on skin matrix synthesis (p < 0.05) [72]…”