advanced skin care
shine on Karen Deehan explores themany benefits of vitamin D
Vitamin A is vital for healthy skin, but did you know that it has a perfect partner which makes it evenmore effective?
Therapists now have a new weapon in the battle against ageing skin – vitamin
D.This powerful nutrient works particularly well with vitaminA and has attracted a lot ofmedia attention recently. Scientists are also interested – over 18,500 studies have been conducted in the past ten years, that’s a 60% increase on the previous decade. It’s important for strong bones and overall well- being, but whatmost people don’t realise is that it’s essential for healthy, beautiful skin
the benefits
Vitamin D benefits the skin in three key
ways.The first is its ability to help skin rejuvenate itself.We lose around 30,000 cells everyminute and they are replaced by an ongoing renewal process in the keratinocytes. This process of rejuvenation is dependent on vitamin D, which ensures that a constant supply of new cells are being produced to replace the ones that are lost. If your clients are deficient, itmeans that their cells won’t proliferate as well as they should, which can result in thin, sagging skin.
The second way vitamin D benefits the skin is by boosting its immunity. In addition to our ‘adaptive’ immune system, which defends us against diseases and viruses, we also have an ‘innate’ immunity which is located partially in the skin. Its purpose is to repel ‘invaders’ and is our first line of defence against harmful organisms, so it’s excellent at protecting against infection.
Within the skin, vitamin D and its receptors help to forma barrier which prevents foreign bodies entering the blood stream. Research has even shown that it speeds up skin healing and helps to prevent wounds against infection by promoting antimicrobial agents.
Vitamin D is a powerful antioxidant, so the third way it benefits the skin is by fighting free
radicals.These are unstablemolecules that can cause the skin to age prematurely. Stress plays a big part, but so does pollution,
Due to the lack of sunny weather in the UK and coupled with the use of sunscreens, means that we are severely deficient in vitamin D.
smoking and alcohol consumption. Cell membranes aremade fromfat and free radicals damage these in a process called lipid
peroxidisation.Vitamin D is fat soluble, whichmeans that it’s particularly good at protectingmembranes fromthis kind of attack, and has been shown to be evenmore effective than vitamin E.
Our bodies can produce vitamin D when we’re exposed to sunlight, whichmakes it unique. However, very few of us get enough. In theory, we canmake 10,000 IUs in 20-30 minutes of sun exposure but the lack of sunny weather in the UK, coupled with the use of sunscreens,means that we are severely
deficient.The problemhas become such a pressing issue that the government have even been debating whether to give free vitamin D supplements to children to prevent themfrom getting rickets.
Studies show that in Summer andAutumn around 60%of the population don’t get enough vitamin D and this rises to around
86%inWinter and Spring. On top of this, our bodies lose 75%of their ability to produce vitamin D between the ages of 20 and 70. Food sources such as oily fish and egg yolks can help, but to be sure of getting the right amount it’s best to take a supplement.
“The European Union RDA for vitamin D is 200 International Units (IUs)”, says Lorraine Perretta, Head of Nutrition at theAdvanced Nutrition Programme. “However, in light of recent research there are calls to review these levels and the USA has already revised the RDA upwards to 600 IUs a day. But bear in mind that’s theminimumrequirement.”
skin deep
To get themost out of vitamin D, you need to combine it with
vitaminA.These powerful nutrients work in synergy for healthy skin and bones. “We always knew how important vitaminA was for the skin”, explains Lorraine. “For this reason we produced a
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