Nutrition
The 4 Best Vitamins for Healthy Skin
BY
Anjali Tiscia
Aug 16, 2024
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The health and appearance of our skin is something that we can impact quite significantly. The foods we eat, our hydration levels, sun exposure and whether we smoke or drink alcohol can all play a role. Regarding the foods we eat, the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) found within are a major component that can impact our skin health. Of course many of these vitamins and minerals can be found in supplemental form, however we definitely recommend a food first approach and would venture down the supplement pathway only if required and if advised by your health professional.
There are many vitamins that play a role in ensuring healthy skin and overall health, however here we touch on some of the key vitamins that have been shown to have a significant positive impact on the health and appearance of our skin. We outline why and how they benefit the skin, the impacts of deficiencies on the skin, as well as which foods you can incorporate to increase your intake of these essential vitamins.
Vitamin A
Overview:
Foods contain two different types of vitamin A - preformed vitamin A, retinol and retinyl and provitamin A carotenoids (e.g. beta-carotene). Beta-carotene and other provitamin A carotenoids are converted into vitamin A by the body. The different forms of vitamin A are often called retinoids. One of the main roles of vitamin A is in the maintenance of healthy vision and eyes. It also plays a role in our immune system health, reproduction, cell growth, skin cell health and is an important antioxidant in the body.
Impacts on the Skin:
In the skin, vitamin A has a few key roles. It modulates the production and growth of different skin cells, it performs an antioxidant function helping to protect against sun damage and premature ageing resulting from harmful oxidation, and it plays an important role in the prevention and management of psoriasis, dermatitis and acne.
Vitamin A helps to maintain healthy skin by promoting the production and differentiation of keratinocytes (skin cells that produce keratin). Keratinocyte differentiation is vital for the healthy and normal development of the epidermis (outermost layer of skin). Abnormal keratinocyte differentiation is linked with skin conditions like atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. When skin is wounded or damaged, vitamin A promotes the turnover of skin cells and assists with skin repair. It does this by stimulating the production of the important skin proteins, collagen and fibronectin, by fibroblasts and also by triggering the growth of skin keratinocytes to restore the skin’s epidermis. At the same time, it also inhibits the expression of enzymes that break down collagen and elastin, called matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs).
Provitamin A carotenoids like beta-carotene have an important antioxidant function in the skin and body in general. Sun damaged and prematurely aged skin arises due to a process called oxidation. Harmful molecules known as free radicals damage the skin, causing the breakdown of our vital collagen and elastin proteins. Beta-carotene helps to neutralise these free radicals and minimise skin damage. Interestingly though, in excess (likely through supplementation), carotenoids can have a pro-oxidant effect where it contributes to skin damage. For this reason, obtaining vitamin A and carotenoids through whole foods instead of supplements is preferable, unless otherwise indicated.
Psoriasis is characterised by an overproduction of skin cells. Vitamin A modulates this overproduction through its anti-proliferation capabilities. In the skin of patients with atopic dermatitis, there is a significantly reduced retinoid concentration, suggesting this inadequacy might contribute to the condition. Moreover, vitamin A (or retinol) is commonly used topically for the management of these conditions, in particular acne. We discuss more about topical vitamin A here.
Deficiency:
Vitamin A deficiency is mainly linked with eye health issues, with severe vitamin A deficiency contributing to blindness. It is far more common in poorer countries, however inadequate vitamin A can occur as a result of certain diseases like coeliacs disease, liver cirrhosis and Crohn’s disease, where absorption is impacted. In addition, a deficiency in vitamin A can impact the immune system, cause infertility, stunt growth and development in children and negatively impact skin health, causing dry, scaly, thickened skin and has even been linked with atopic dermatitis.
Food Sources:
Preformed Vitamin A is found in foods derived from animal sources, including:
Dairy products, such as milk, cheese and yoghurt
Organ meats, such as liver
Provitamin A, like beta-carotene is found in plant foods, including:
Leafy green vegetables, such as kale, spinach and silverbeet
Orange and yellow vegetables, such as sweet potato, carrot, pumpkin and capsicum
Some fruits, such as rockmelon, grapefruit, mango, papaya, apricot, watermelon and guava
Vitamin C
Overview:
Vitamin C plays a number of different roles in the human body. It is involved in the production of collagen, a vital protein produced by the body that provides structure, strength and support to skin, bones, joints and other tissues. It assists with wound healing and acts as a powerful antioxidant in the body. Vitamin C also aids in the absorption of iron from the diet and has been shown to play a role in immune system health, helping to fight infections. Given that it is a water-soluble vitamin, the body does not store vitamin C so it is essential that we get it regularly from the diet.
Impacts on the Skin:
There are high amounts of vitamin C found in healthy skin. Here it is involved in the formation of collagen, acts as an antioxidant to protect against oxidation and UV-induced damage and can decrease skin hyperpigmentation.
Collagen is the most abundant protein in skin, helping to provide structure, improve skin moisture, hydration and elasticity. It is produced by the body but the rate of production starts to decrease as we age, a process that can start in our mid-20s. However, diet can definitely have an impact on the rate of collagen production and degradation. One of the key nutrients involved in this is vitamin C as it positively impacts collagen production in two ways. Firstly, it acts as a cofactor for the enzymes involved in making and stabilising the collagen protein. Secondly, it promotes the expression of genes involved in collagen production.
Our skin is exposed to a number of environmental stressors, such as UV radiation, which can induce oxidative damage. Oxidation is a process whereby cells and tissues in the body are damaged by molecules called free radicals. These molecules arise from many different sources including radiation, sunlight, environmental pollutants, etc. Oxidation plays a role in a range of different health conditions and can accelerate ageing. Vitamin C from the diet acts as a powerful antioxidant, helping to neutralise this oxidation and therefore minimise the degradation of our skin’s vital collagen and elastin proteins.
Vitamin C has also been shown to play a role in inhibiting the production of melanin which may therefore help with the prevention and management of skin hyperpigmentation conditions like melasma and age spots.
Vitamin C is also often used topically via skincare formulations. We talk more about topical vitamin C, including its benefits on skin health and appearance, here.
Deficiency:
The vitamin C deficiency disease known as scurvy is a severe manifestation of inadequate vitamin C intake through the diet. The visible symptoms of scurvy highlight the importance of dietary vitamin C for skin health, with thin frail skin, bleeding gums, poor wound healing, easy bruising and corkscrew hairs just some of the visible signs.
Food Sources:
Vitamin C is found in many different fruits and vegetables, including:
Citrus fruits, such as orange, mandarin and grapefruit
Berries, such as strawberries, blackberries and raspberries
Vitamin D
Overview:
Unlike the other vitamins which are primarily obtained through the diet, vitamin D is made in the skin following exposure to sunlight, and is not technically a vitamin but a hormone. One of the key functions of vitamin D in the body is to assist with the absorption of calcium from food and help regulate calcium levels in the bloodstream. Together with calcium, vitamin D promotes strong, healthy bones. In addition, vitamin D plays an important role in our immune system health, assists in reducing inflammation and modulates cell growth, differentiation and death.
Impacts on the Skin:
Vitamin D plays a few different roles when it comes to the health of our skin. It plays a role in protecting against harmful microbes by stimulating our antimicrobial defence. Through this pathway, vitamin D also helps to reduce inflammation and promote wound healing. As well as this, vitamin D significantly hinders the excessive generation of new keratinocytes in the skin.
Vitamin D in the skin stimulates an important element of the innate immune system which is essential for barrier defences in the skin. When mice are deficient in this element, they are far more susceptible to skin infections. Vitamin D’s ability to stimulate this pathway is therefore essential for the prevention and management of skin infections and inflammatory skin conditions like psoriasis. Also, through this pathway vitamin D reduces inflammation in the skin and promotes wound healing.
Similar to vitamin A, vitamin D also inhibits the overproduction of keratinocytes (skin cells that produce keratin). As a result, it has been shown to assist in the prevention and management of skin conditions that involve this hyper-proliferation of the keratinocytes, like psoriasis.
Vitamin D can be found in topical skincare products where it has a range of different benefits that we discuss more here.
Deficiency:
Vitamin D deficiency is quite common given how often we spend time indoors and often this is without noticeable symptoms. However, given its varied and important roles in the body, a deficiency in vitamin D has been linked to a number of conditions, including cardiovascular, neurological and autoimmune conditions. Vitamin D deficiency has also been implicated in atopic dermatitis and psoriasis, however the mechanism behind this is not completely understood though it may involve vitamin D’s role in immune health, anti-inflammation and the anti-proliferation of cells. Severe vitamin D deficiency is linked with a condition called osteomalacia (bone softening), which can increase risk of osteoporosis.
Food Sources:
As established above, the main source of vitamin D is sunlight, however some foods also contain vitamin D and these include:
Mushrooms exposed to sunlight
Cheese
Vitamin E
Overview:
Vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin that also has an antioxidant function in the body, protecting against oxidation caused by harmful substances inside and outside the body. There are eight different forms of vitamin E, however the body preferentially uses α-tocopherol as its preferred vitamin E form. In addition to its antioxidant activity, vitamin E plays an important role in the healthy functioning of our immune system and helps to prevent the formation of blood clots.
Impacts on the Skin:
Vitamin E is found in many different tissues throughout the body, including skin where it has antioxidant effects and can therefore minimise cellular damage caused by oxidative stress. It also plays a role in immune system health and has been shown to minimise the breakdown of collagen.
Similar to vitamins A and C, vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant vitamin that prevents the formation of harmful and damaging reactive oxygen species (ROS). These ROS accelerate ageing and promote the breakdown of collagen and elastin proteins in the skin. Due to its antioxidant activity, it also protects the fatty acids that are present in the membrane of skin cells. Vitamin E’s presence in skin from dietary intake therefore has a protective role against accelerated ageing and damage by sun exposure. One study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, found that the concentration of vitamin E (in the form of α-tocopherol) was 56% lower in photoaged and 61% lower in naturally aged epidermal skin than the levels in young epidermal skin.
In addition to its antioxidant function, vitamin E is also anti-inflammatory and plays an important role in the health of our immune system. Interestingly, there have been some studies that demonstrate a link between the levels of vitamin E present in blood serum and the risk of chronic inflammatory skin diseases. A meta-analysis of studies looking at this relationship found that serum vitamin E levels were lower in patients that were experiencing vitiligo, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and acne compared with patients that did not experience these skin concerns. All of these skin conditions also demonstrated higher amounts of pro-oxidative free radicals and pro-inflammatory molecules in the skin compared with the skin of those without these conditions, suggesting that vitamin E’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties may be playing a protective role here. The exact mechanisms for this, however, are not completely known.
Another function of vitamin E in the skin is in the prevention of collagen breakdown. Besides neutralising the free radicals that cause collagen breakdown, vitamin E also works to inhibit the expression of the enzymes that degrade collagen, called collagenase (MMP-1).
Vitamin E can also be used topically and we discuss this in detail here.
Deficiency:
Deficiency of vitamin E is not common, however many people would not be consuming sufficient amounts of vitamin E. Deficiency of vitamin E is associated with cognitive impairment, vision issues, weakened immune system, poor wound healing, and skin concerns like extremely dry skin and skin ulcerations. A lack of vitamin E causes skin changes partly because deficiency impacts collagen-cross linking in the skin (a process that helps to strengthen and stabilise the skin structure).
Food Sources:
Vitamin E is found mainly in foods containing fats and oils and some vegetables, such as:
Wheat germ oil
Oily fish, such as trout and salmon
