Along with protecting your skin from the sun and practicing an appropriate skin care routine, eating healthy and getting the proper nutrition is essential to maintaining the healthy glow of young looking skin. Other lifestyle habits, such as exercise, smoking and alcohol intake, will also affect the health of your skin.

For example, no matter how healthy you eat, excessive smoking and alcohol consumption will damage your skin. Getting and keeping healthy skin requires that you take a holistic approach that effectively combats the internal physiological elements, as well as the external factors, that damage and age skin.

Vitamins Essential to Skin Health

Here is a list of the vitamins that promote healthy skin, along with an explanation of the particular function of each:

• Vitamin A: This vitamin is key to the skin cell lifecycle. In other words, ingesting sufficient Vitamin A ensures that our skin cells reproduce normally and are able to repair themselves should we get injured.Similarly, topical creams that contain Vitamin A prevent wrinkling, premature aging and help reduce the symptoms of psoriasis, for those affected by this skin condition.
• Vitamin B: Biotin, a specific type of Vitamin B, is one of the basic components of our hair, skin and nail cells. In fact, Vitamin B deficiencies can cause hair loss, flaky skin and brittle nails. While medical experts have long known that taking Vitamin B is essential to the health of our skin, recently researchers have found that using topical creams that contain Vitamin B can hydrate and moisturize our skin, producing a healthy, youthful glow.
  
  Additionally, creams and lotions that contain Vitamin B have been proven to neutralize discolored skin and act as anti-inflammatory agents for tender, raised areas of skin.
• Vitamins C, E: Both of these vitamins are effective at preventing sun damage by protecting us from the sun's harmful UVA and UVB rays. While topical creams that contain either Vitamin C or Vitamin E (or, better, both!) protect the skin from the sun, studies have proven that taking a multivitamin supplement with each of these vitamins reduces the amount and severity of sunburns people get over a lifetime.
  
  Also, both of these vitamins have been proven to decrease the amount of skin cell DNA damage the sun causes.
• Vitamin K: While taking Vitamin K is key to helping our blood clot normally, ingesting this particular vitamin doesn't directly improve the health of the skin. However, when Vitamin K is an ingredient in topical creams, it effectively reduces bruising, minimizes dark under-eye circles and decreases the signs of aging, namely wrinkles.

How to Get Proper Nutrition for Healthy Skin

Ideally, eating a balanced, healthy diet means that you get sufficient vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat. The following table outlines the types of food that provide you with each of the vitamins essential to maintaining healthy skin. These recommendations are for adults between 18 and 60:

However, with the fast-paced nature of modern-day life, few of us have the time or energy to prepare healthy meals each day.

As a result, taking a daily multivitamin is a good way to ensure that you are getting the nutrients you need to maintain healthy skin, as well as your overall health.

Resources

Bouchez, Colette (n.d.). Vitamins and Minerals for Your Skin. Retrieved November 2, 2007 from the WebMD Web site: http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/features/skin-nutrition.

CNN.com (n.d.). Vitamin Guide. Retrieved November 2, 2007 from the CNN.com Web site: http://www.cnn.com/FOOD/resources/food.for.thought/vitamins.minerals/faqs/vitamins.html#vita.