I look well

Because an increasing number of people are living to a greater age and are more active, it is not unreasonable to want to continue looking youthful for as long as possible. It makes up about a quarter of the total protein content of structural protein found in skin. Collagen is related to other anti-ageing substances in the body called anti-oxidants.

Vitamin C is probably one of the better known anti-oxidants in use today but the debate about the daily quota required is ongoing. The problem with vitamin C derived skin care treatments, is they can become oxidized when exposed to the atmosphere, often even before they are used.

More stable skin care treatments are now available that are almost as efficient and actually cost less to manufacture. These new anti-oxidant products are not quite as good as vitamin C although other naturally occurring compounds, vitamin E and lipoic acid can achieve the same effect.

The body uses vitamin E as an anti-oxidant and is also used to increase the natural defense we have against disease, including many types of cancer, it is a fat soluble vitamin in people’s blood. It’s function is to provide energy and reverse much of the damage caused to the skin by ageing.

Phyto-chemicals form another major category of anti-ageing skin care products which consist of unique chemicals that are derived from a wide variety of plants that are used in skin care today. A secondary but more important use of phytochemicals is the effect they have on the prevention of breast, prostate and colon cancers.

For some time now it has also been known that the vitamins B5, B6 and B12 also have anti-ageing skin care properties. This is a vast area that has the potential for many new anti-ageing skin care products and services in the future but research needs to continue.

While a great deal has been learned about this subject, it is only the tip of the iceberg and more long term effective methods need to be discovered to reverse or slow down the effects of time. Hopefully, these challenges will get resolved in due course and better and cheaper anti-ageing skin care products will be produced.

Fortunately there are a number of natural anti-ageing regimes that can be carried out that do not rely on science. These are exercise activities, calm and restful sleep, keeping to good eating habits and drastically lowering stress from your life.