Anti Aging
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Friday, June 18th, 2010
Dermatologists often compare the effectiveness of over-the-counter anti aging skin care products to the effectiveness of Retin-A, the only prescription anti-wrinkle cream. Until recently, there was no comparison.
Nothing worked as well as Retin-A for people who could get beyond the unwanted side effects. Those include redness, itching and irritation. Burning is yet another side effect many people experience. The burning is usually the hardest for people to deal with.
They may be able to deal with a little redness or even some itching, but burning is another issue entirely. It’s painful. The natural reaction is to want to rinse it off as quickly as possible.
No one is sure why Retin-A causes people so many problems. Of course, they aren’t sure why it works, either. Most of us believe that most of the benefits would be due to the antioxidant activity.
While Retin-A is a synthetic compound, it was derived from naturally occurring vitamin A, an antioxidant. Vitamin A is known to be important to the skin’s health and appearance, although no one knows exactly why that is the case, either.
It is known that anti aging skin care products should contain antioxidants, because they address one of the causes of cellular aging. That cause is free radical damage. Antioxidants can prevent and reverse free radical damage. They are a part of the body’s natural defense system.
The reason that Retin-A burns, causes redness, itching and irritation is understood. The synthetic form is the acidic version of vitamin A. Naturally occurring sources of vitamin A are non-acidic, although they can be toxic.
The vitamin A found in animals is toxic to humans in large amounts. It can cause illness and even death.
Most of the vitamin A in our bodies is made within our bodies through the conversion of beta-carotene. The best anti aging skin care products on the market today contain plant extracts rich in beta-carotene. The extracts provide the same benefits as Retin-A, but without the side effects.
Then there is coenzyme Q10, another antioxidant. Judging from the latest studies, it is even more effective than Retin-A. It can be used on sun-damaged skin to reverse wrinkles and other types of damage.
But, antioxidants are not the only things that we need to fight the visible signs of age. That’s why antioxidants are not the only compounds you will find in the best anti aging skin care products.
The skin’s moisture balance must be maintained in order to prevent wrinkles. Excessive dryness is one of the causes of wrinkles and sagging.
The average moisturizer contains petroleum-based oils that cannot be absorbed by the skin’s cells. The companies should not be allowed to call them moisturizers, because they are not moisturizing.
The best moisturizers are plant-based oils, nearly identical on a molecular level to those produced by the human body.
Maybe in time, dermatologists will be able to judge over-the-counter anti aging skin care products by evaluating the ingredients they contain. Luckily, you and I don’t have to wait. We can do our own evaluations.
Anti Aging Foods and Anti Aging Skin Care Products
Saturday, June 12th, 2010
Anti aging foods are those that fight free radical damage, keep inflammation to a minimum, keep blood sugar levels stable, support the body’s natural reparative processes and promote methylation. Is there any single food that will do all of those things?
No. It is the combination of nutrients in your diet that makes the difference. In order to ensure that you are getting all of the nutrients you need every day, taking a good multi-nutritional supplement could be a good idea. But, there is nothing that replaces a proper healthy diet.
There are a lot of different opinions about which diets are the healthiest. When you are comparing dietary recommendations, one of the first things you should look at is the source of the information.
The Dairy Council will say that you need milk, cheese and other dairy products. The Wheat Foods Council will say that you need bread. The food industry in general will say whatever it takes to increase their company profits.
A case in point is the recent news about Kellogg’s. The FTC has imposed advertising restrictions because the company claimed that one of their breakfast cereals would help support your child’s immunity, a claim not supported by scientific evidence.
There is one thing for certain. You will not find anti aging foods in a box. Packaged food is put through many different processes. Because of that, it retains very little nutritive value.
To compensate, manufacturers “fortify” the product; meaning they add vitamins and minerals to make up for the lack of nourishment provided by it. If the product were actually nourishing…if it contained real food, there would be no need to fortify.
One of the problems with fortification is that food manufacturers use synthetic nutrients. Practically all vitamin-E on the market is synthetically created using petrochemicals. Basically, they are plastic vitamins.
None of the real anti aging foods are processed. They are as close as possible to the way that nature made them.
Your diet has an effect on the visible signs of aging, as well as those things that go on inside of the body. But, never fail to recognize the importance of using good skincare products, if you are concerned about your skin’s health and appearance.
Like processed food, most of the mass-produced skincare products are devoid of nourishing ingredients. They contain lots of petrochemicals, heavily processed gels and plasticizers. One of the popular ingredients for anti-aging creams is really nothing more than silly putty. Yes, the stuff that you played with as a kid.
In addition to anti aging foods and anti-aging skincare products, there are some specific nutrients that will help maintain the health of your body and your skin according to researchers. Some of them are not commonly found in the foods that we eat. An example is coenzyme Q10.
Coenzyme Q10 is found in minute quantities in many different cells. But, the only significant quantities are found in fish hearts. When was the last time you ate that?
To sum it up, there are many things to consider when choosing a diet rich in anti aging foods. And a healthy diet is not the only thing you should consider if you want to look and feel your best for life.
What is Rigin?
Sunday, June 6th, 2010What is Rigin? It is a proprietary formula found in some of the better anti-aging masks. You’ll learn more about it and why you need it here in this post.
There are numerous symptoms of aging skin. Wrinkles are the ones that most people are familiar with. Sagging or lost firmness is another. The lost firmness is actually one of the causes of wrinkling.
There are numerous causes of wrinkles. Free radical damage caused by overexposure to the sun is one big problem. Allowing the skin to become excessively dry is another.
Decreased production of the collagen-containing elastic fibers is one of the causes of sagging or lost firmness. This decreased production seems to normally accompany the aging process.
Yet another cause of wrinkles and sagging is chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation degrades the elastic collagen fibers. Since they are not quickly replaced as we age, the degradation becomes obvious. The skin becomes less firm and less elastic.
If you pull the skin tight, you will see how wrinkles disappear. This is how lost elasticity and firmness contributes to or causes deeper wrinkles. As the skin becomes loose, these creases that would normally be stretched out by the elastic fibers become etched in place.
Understanding the information above will help you understand the answer to; what is Rigin good for. It makes a good ingredient for an anti-aging mask, because of the ingredients it contains.
Each of the ingredients is accompanied by specific benefits to the skin’s health and appearance. Let’s start with glycerin.
Excessive dryness of the skin is one of the biggest problems that people experience as they get older. If a moisturizer is not used on a regular basis, the dryness can lead to more wrinkling.
Glycerin is one of the most effective moisturizers on the market. So, what is Rigin? It is a moisturizing formula.
Steareth-20 is the next ingredient. It is a derivative of palm oil that further enhances the moisturizing benefits. As the skin’s moisture content increases, its firmness increases.
Tetrapeptide-3 is probably the most important ingredient in the formula. It has proven anti-aging benefits that include increased collagen production, reversal of sun damage and reduced wrinkles.
The compound also has natural anti-inflammatory activity. So, it helps to stimulate the production of new elastic fibers and protect them from the degrading effects of chronic inflammation.
Here’s another question. What is Rigin proven to be beneficial for in relation to increasing the skin’s firmness and elasticity?
With continued use, the ingredient has been proven to increase the firmness and elasticity on the cheeks and neck. It is particularly beneficial on the neck. The benefits seen included a 40% improvement in firmness and a 27% improvement in elasticity.
The benefits of the proprietary formula have proven to be greater than those of DHEA, an ingredient found in expensive anti-aging creams. It is often hailed as a youth hormone, although its safety has never been confirmed.
That should answer the questions of what is Rigin and what is it good for. If you want to look younger, you should look for it.