While the beauty industry often promises miracles through expensive creams and serums, recent research suggests that the secret to healthier skin might actually be sitting in your fruit bowl.
A study led by researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand suggests that what you eat has a direct, physical impact on how your skin looks and functions.
The findings, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, indicate a strong connection between getting more vitamin C from your diet and having thicker skin and faster skin renewal.
Thicker skin indicates increased collagen production. Faster skin renewal refers to increased generation of new cells in the outer layers of skin.
Lead study author Margreet Vissers — a professor in the University of Otago’s Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine — says in a summary of the findings:
“We are the first to demonstrate that vitamin C in the blood circulation penetrates all layers of the skin and is associated with improved skin function.”
To figure this out, Vissers and fellow researchers conducted an eight-week trial with 24 healthy adults from New Zealand and Germany. These participants were asked to eat two SunGold kiwis every day, which delivered about 250 milligrams of vitamin C per day.
Using ultrasound imaging and skin samples, the team tracked exactly how the vitamin moved from the digestive system into the bloodstream and finally into the skin itself, comparing levels in the blood directly against those found in the skin tissue.
They found that the skin is “highly efficient” at absorbing vitamin C from the blood. In fact, there was an especially strong connection between the levels in a person’s bloodstream and the levels found in their skin — more so than other organs the researchers investigated.
Physically, this meant that consistently consuming a diet high in vitamin C was associated with “a significant increase in the participants’ skin thickness levels, reflecting collagen production and an upsurge in the regeneration of their epidermal cells, in other words skin renewal,” Vissers says.
However, there is a catch: Because your body does not store vitamin C for a long time, you must consistently eat foods high in vitamin C to maintain a high level of vitamin C in your body.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, foods high in vitamin C include:
- Guava: 73 to 247 mg per fruit
- Red bell pepper: Around 135 mg per medium-size pepper
- Strawberries: Around 135 mg per cup
- Kiwi: Around 105 mg per fruit
- Papaya: Around 81 mg per cup
- Grapefruit: 80 to 100 mg per fruit
- Broccoli: 80 mg per cup (chopped)
- Kale: 80 mg per cup (chopped)
- Brussels sprouts: 75 mg per cup
- Orange: 70 to 90 mg per fruit
Keep in mind that the participants in the University of Otago study were asked to eat at least 250 milligrams of vitamin C per day. So aim for that daily threshold if you hope to see benefits similar to those that the study suggests are possible.
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