Anti Aging

People's preoccupation with anti-ageing skin car products that claim to make you look younger, is not surprising when most of us can expect to live longer and have fuller more active lives. It makes up about a quarter of the total protein content of structural protein found in skin. Collagen is related to other Substances called anti-oxidants which help reduce the anti-ageing process.

Probably the best known of these anti-oxidants is vitamin C although no-one really knows just how much we should have each day. Unfortunately all skin care treatments that use vitamin C have the problem of atmospheric oxidization to contend with once the product is exposed to the air.

Manufacturers are trying alternative skin care treatments to vitamin C that do not have this oxidization problem or cost as much to produce. However, these anti-ageing skin care treatments are not as effective vitamin C based products, although vitamin E and lipoic acid are also anti-oxidants and have similar effects.

Found in human blood, vitamin E is not only an anti-oxidant but is designed to increase the immune system's resistance to disease and can also help ward off cancer. It is known to combat the signs of ageing very effectively by reversing skin damage caused by the ageing process.

Another group of products used to reduce the visible signs of ageing are phytochemicals which are compounds extracted from various plants and used in many anti-ageing skin care products. 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. 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.

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.

They cannot replace natural skin care remedies. These are physical activities, restful sleep, maintaining good dietary habits and removing stress from your life.