Features

Nutrients to Fight Aging & Boost Skin Health

Help Yourself Look and Feel Younger with Support

By The Taste for Life Staff

In partnership with Solgar

When you’re young, you can’t imagine ever looking older—you just assume that the face looking back from the mirror at 25 will look the same when you’re 45.

Ingredients to Nourish Aging Skin

Sad to say, no matter how youthful we feel inside, at some point the passing of time will start to show on the outside. The good news is that there are many natural ingredients that nourish your skin inside and out and work to slow and even reverse the signs of aging.

  • Fight Skin Damage with Antioxidants

    Sun exposure can result in the creation of free radicals and lead to skin damage. Examples of skin-protective antioxidants include vitamins C and E, as well as polyphenols found in green tea.

  • Use Black Seed Oil to Soothe Skin Conditions

    A staple of Ayurvedic medicine, black seed oil (also known as black cumin oil) is typically used to treat psoriasis and painful skin eruptions. Black seed oil may inhibit the bacteria associated with eczema.

  • Improve Skin with Collagen

    Several studies have found that regular supplementation with hydrolysed collagen stimulates collagen regeneration, improves skin’s elasticity and firmness, and reduces the appearance of dryness, wrinkles, and even cellulite.

  • Hyaluronic Acid to Smooth Skin

    Known as “nature’s moisture magnet,” hyaluronic acid occurs naturally in the skin and is also found in many beauty products. It traps moisture, giving skin a smooth, firm appearance. Hyaluronic supplements have been shown to increase moisture in dry skin.

  • Repair Sun Damage with Silicon

    Sun-damaged skin can get a boost from silicon. Studies show that women supplementing with silicon see significant improvements in skin roughness and elasticity.

  • Resveratrol to Boost Skin Hydration

    Found in grapes and other plants, resveratrol is an antioxidant that can help limit damage caused by sun exposure. Studies show it can decrease the appearance of wrinkles, improve skin’s texture, and boost hydration.

Additional Help for Healthy Skin

There are many herbs, nutrients, and other natural ingredients that may boost skin health and fight the signs of aging, including:

  • alpha lipoic acid
  • argan oil
  • calendula
  • ellagic acid
  • nut and plant oils
  • vitamin A

“Anti-aging properties of resveratrol...” by R.A. Baxter, Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology

“Dietary supplementation with specific collagen peptides has a body mass index-dependent beneficial effect on cellulite morphology” by M. Schunk et al., Journal of Medicinal Food, 12/1/15

"Ingested hyaluronan moisturizes dry skin" by C. Kawada et al., Nutrition Journal, 7/11/14

“Oral supplementation of specific collagen peptides has beneficial effects on human skin physiology...” by E. Proksch et al., Skin Pharmacology and Physiology, 8/14

"An overview of the beneficial effects of hydrolysed collagen intake on . . . skin ageing" by T.F. Juher and E.B. Perez, Nutricion Hospitalaria, 7/18/15

“A review on therapeutic potential of Nigella sativa: A miracle herb” by A. Ahmad et al., Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine

ADVERTISEMENT

Solgar Collagen Hyaluronic Acid Complex combines Hydrolyzed BioCell Collagen type 2 peptides, chondroitin sulfate, and hyaluronic acid to nourish skin from within.

https://www.solgar.com/

DIY Moisturizer Recipes!

Try Your Hand at Making These Marvelous Moisturizers at Home!

Contributor

The Taste for Life Staff

The Taste for Life staff come from a wide variety of backgrounds and specialties. We believe learning is a life-long process, and love to share the knowledge we gain.

You might also like...

How to Read and Interpret Health Studies

Find and Assess Studies On Your Own

By Maria Noël Groves, RH (AHG)

Increasingly, scientific study summaries (called abstracts) and often the entire study (full text) are available for free and easily searchable and downloadable on the internet. PubMed is a free, searchable database of study abstracts provided by the National Institutes of Health. It’s incredibly useful but can be overwhelming for a newbie.

How to Search for Medical Studies

Start with simple key words, such as one common name or the Latin name. Then try adding a single word for the health concern. (So, ginkgo anxiety, for example.) Change it up to see what gets you the right kind of “hits.”

  • Limit The Results

    Once you’ve begun your search, you can use NCBI filters to narrow it down to the more useful studies. I like to click on any or all of the following.

    • Clinical Trial (Good)

      Typically a human clinical trial where an intervention is introduced to assess whether or not it has an effect and what kind of a direct effect it has (this shows or suggests causation).

    • Randomized Controlled Trial (Better)

      Typically a human clinical trial in which one group receives an intervention and the other group gets no intervention or a placebo.

    • Meta-Analysis (Best)

      A review of multiple clinical trials, typically for a specific health concern.

    • Systematic Review (Best)

      Another type of review of clinical trials, similar to a meta-analysis.

    • Review (OK)

      Includes all reviews including “literature reviews” that are broader and include traditional literature, lower quality lab and animal studies, population epidemiological studies, and the aforementioned higher quality studies. These are often funded by product companies.

  • Get The Full Text

    Some abstracts are better than others in terms of the level of detail provided.

    Getting access to the free full text (whole study) for any intriguing studies will help you get more data such as useful charts, tables, and figures, greater detail on the type of extract used, etc. This is especially true for review studies, for which the extracts might be vague.

    • Check Free Resources

      You can often find the full text for free. More than half the time, I can get the free full text via PubMed, Google Scholar, or the medical journal where it was published.

      First see if PubMed will link you through to the full text for free via PubMed Central (PMC) or the journal link in the upper righthand corner of the abstract page.

      But even if PubMed does not provide you a free full text link, you might still be able to get the full text elsewhere. Check Google Scholar and copy/paste the study title. Sometimes a PDF will show up in the right column of the search results in [PDF] format.

    • Contact The Researcher

      If you’re not in a rush, you may be able to email the scientists directly (via ResearchGate.net or the contact info listed on the abstract) and ask them to send you a copy.

    • Check The Library

      Check out your alma mater or a medical library. If it’s a popular medical journal, you may have access through your alumni association/college/university or be able to walk into a nearby medical library.

    • Pay For It

      If it’s not free and you’re really interested in reading the full text, you can pay a fee to gain access via the medical journal.

How to Read and Interpret Medical Studies

Science can sometimes feel like a whole other language! It helps to look at human studies, which are more clinically relevant to real life, more scientifically valid, and easier to read and understand.

Skim first, to get a vibe on the study, versus trying to understand every word. Read deeper into the aspects that seem of greatest interest.

I like to know what form, duration, and dose was used; what the placebo/control group received; what population was studied; and what kind of results they saw.

The “results” section usually has raw data summaries, charts, tables, and figures.

  • Be aware that the +/- is simply the standard deviation in numbers (so just look at the number in front of the +/- for the average).
  • Statistical terms like P Value and Relative Risk can take a little more education to understand.
  • On your computer, use the “find” feature to search for specific key words and to determine what various abbreviations stand for.
  • Do a Google search for medical terminology you don’t understand that seems important.

Additional Resources

If all this seems overwhelming, you can try services that collect and summarize the data for you. Here are some of the best-known ones for natural medicine studies.

  • Memorial Sloan Kettering

    Their “Search About Herbs” database provides profiles of many herbs and dietary supplements that are detailed, even-keeled, and fully annotated with the data/study source. It’s one of my favorites!

  • Aisle7 / HealthNotes

    They offer more simplified, basic, and herb-friendly summaries. It will be biased toward herbs and dietary supplements due to the way in which it’s funded.

  • A.D.A.M.

    They have nicely detailed profiles organized by health concern, by herb, or by dietary supplement. It can be conservative and overly cautious on risks, but the level of depth on medicinal uses and science summaries is nice.

  • Medline / NCCIH

    The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health is run by the US National Institutes of Health, but it and Medline are not my favorite because it tends to be highly biased against herbs and supplements, overemphasizing the risks and de-emphasizing even strong research to support them.

  • American Botanical Council HerbalGram

    Their website provides a wealth of free and paywalled info, HerbalGram journal articles, Herb Clip summaries of herbal studies, HerbMed Pro plant profiles (those via Adopt-An-Herb are free), and more.

    It will be more pro-herb because of the way in which it’s funded.

    Its mailing list is free and great to keep tabs on the latest pop and medical herb news as well as new studies and free articles.

Personal Practice

Science is far from perfect—it’s just one tool in the toolkit, highly myopic, and generally unable to look at individual and customized care based on nuanced variables such as genetic variations, ancestry, energetics, and constitution that might play a role in what does or doesn’t work for the individual.

While scientific studies aim to be less biased, bias and fraudulence can still exist.

Also value the expertise of skilled clinicians, herbalists, and naturopathic doctors, history of use, traditional use, and your personal experience when learning and evaluating what might work best for you.

Even though science seeks to weed out bias and fraudulence, plenty of low-quality biased studies still exist with agendas to prove that something does or doesn’t work.

Further Reading...

Now you're armed with insight and information, learn how and why "bad science" can happen.

Contributor

You might also like...

Studies Link Taste to Personality

By Pamela Bump
A place setting.A white plate with an outline drawing of a brain, the outer plate edges drawings of brain foods.

When planning a dinner party, catering to the food preferences of many people can be taxing. But recent psychological research could make it easier to gauge taste buds and personalities at the same time.

When Does Taste Start?

Research suggests that humans can sense taste before birth. In the womb, a baby could experience flavor through amniotic fluid, while newborns are exposed to the taste of breast milk.

How Does Taste Develop?

As humans are drawn to familiar flavors, research suggests that early exposure to different tastes, specifically in childhood, is important in preventing picky eaters.

What Do Your Taste Buds Say About You?

Although your taste preference may come as a result of the environment you grew up in, your psyche could also play an important role. In fact, studies have positively linked personality traits to many major eating habits.

“9 Ways Personality Influences Your Taste Preferences” by Gina Roberts-Grey, MSN Lifestyle, msn.com, 8/14/15

“Individual Differences in Bitter Taste Preferences Are Associated with Antisocial Personality Traits” by Christina Sagioglou and Tobias Greitemeyer, Appetite, 9/25/15

"Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Broccoli-Haters" by Lisa Bramen, Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian.com, 5/7/10

“Sweet Taste Preferences and Experiences Predict Prosocial Inferences, Personalities, and Behaviors,” Department of Psychology, Gettysburg College, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8/29/11

“Your Love of Spicy Foods Means You're a Risk-taker, New Study Says” by Diane Mapes, NBC News, NBCNews.com, 8/6/13

Salt and Strength

Although salty or crunchy foods, like potato chips, might often be eaten on the couch, science suggests those who enjoy salt are actually ambitious and motivated. They may find themselves overworked, but they always aim high.

Those who enjoy salt may be a part of the supertaster population. It is estimated that one in four people, supertasters, have more taste buds than the average person. Supertasters show more sensitivity to bitter, sour, or spicy foods, but enjoy saltier flavors.

Got a Sweet Tooth?

If you enjoy dessert more than dinner, you may be more willing to help others. A 2012 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that those who enjoy sweets tend to be more agreeable and compassionate than average. But while chocoholics are thought to follow their hearts, they may also be seen as vulnerable or emotional.

Spice Up Life

As many would guess, those who prefer hot, spicy foods enjoy adventure. A study presented at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists associated spice preference to the willingness to take risks, noting that “high sensation seeking” people enjoyed spicy food and adventure, while those who sought “low sensations” were not interested in either.

If a person also likes exotic foods, they could be more easygoing, or willing to try new things.

Care for Citrus?

Careful citrus lovers, or those who enjoy tangy flavors, always think before they act, according to research. Although this opens the door for overthinking, anxiousness, and, occasionally, anti-social behavior, they are very creative.

When Bitter Tastes Better

Guests who enjoy bitter food may be excellent at expressing their opinions. However, two 2015 studies, published in the journal Appetite, positively associated this preference with antisocial and narcissistic behaviors. The good news? Those who can handle strong bitterness may be more likely to try new foods and flavors.

Test Your Taste Buds!

Want to find out your palate personality? Take our quiz.

Contributor

Pamela Bump

Pamela is the Audience Growth Manager for the HubSpot Blog and holds an M.S. in Media Ventures from Boston University. Before HubSpot, she was Taste for Life’s first Web Editor & Social Media Expert and Harvard Business Review’s first Growth Editor.  In her roles, she’s managed content strategy, social media, and audience growth tactics.

Although her career is focused on digital marketing and editorial innovation, she continues to write for TFL to quench her thirst for food blogging and health journalism.

You might also like...

Make Simple Homemade Gifts with Essential Oils

By Nan Fornal
tying a string bow on a gift wrapped in craft paper.
ID 130862940 © Andreaobzerova | Dreamstime.com

Nothing says love in quite the same way as a gift you’ve made yourself. The time, effort, and thoughtfulness that goes into each present speaks of your caring for each family member or friend who receives it.

Instead of offering sugar-laden cookies or cakes this holiday season, you can present health-enhancing aromatherapy gifts. Turn your kitchen into Santa’s workshop with some of our favorite recipes.

Ready to Try it Out?

Give the gift of healthy skin with these easy and totally awesome DIY essential oil recipes! 

Contributor

Nan Fornal

Nan Fornal has experience with fiction, nonfiction, and technical publications, working closely with book and magazine publishers from first edit to final proofing. She has worked with Exeter Press, Boston magazine, and self-publishers alike.

You might also like...

Bone Broth for Healthy Digestion

By Darren Garnick
bone broth

Toni Sicola, 32, is a California-based holistic health and wellness coach who chronicles her experiences on her “Cultivated Wellbeing” blog. She used to suffer from stomach cramps, bloating after eating, and intermittent constipation and diarrhea—symptoms consistent with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). 

At the suggestion of her naturopathic doctor, she tried a gluten-free and dairy-free diet and experienced a sharp reduction in stomach pain and gas. She credits adding homemade bone broth to her regular diet for allowing her to consume dairy products again.

“Bone broth contains collagen and gelatin that rebuilds the tissue in your intestinal walls and keeps food in your intestines and out of the bloodstream. I can eat ice cream now with no consequences. It used to cause me to double over in pain,” she says. 

Osteopathic Joseph Mercola, MD, author of The No-Grain Diet, calls bone broth “the staple of a gut healing diet.” If you have any kind of autoimmune disease, allergies, asthma, autism, attention deficit disorder (ADD), eczema, psychological disorders, or other signs of gut dysbiosis, IBS, Crohn's, or colitis, you start off with bone broth,” he writes. “Not only is it very easily digested, it also contains profound immune-optimizing components that are foundational building blocks for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.”

“Making Bone Broth a Staple in Your Diet May Be the Key to Improving Your Health” by Joseph Mercola, MD, www.Mercola.com. 9/21/14

Personal interview with Toni Sicola, 11/14

Lose the Can

Try this recipe for soup you can only find at home.

Contributor

Darren Garnick

Darren Garnick was a brilliant writer and talented contributor to Taste for Life. His work continues to inspire and inform our readers. Darren loved and celebrated pop culture and was an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, writer, producer, and photographer. 

You might also like...

Spring Cleansing With Juice and Digestive Strategy

By The Taste for Life Staff
detox juices

In addition to fresh air, exercise, skin brushing to stimulate lymph circulation, sunshine, and water (drinking, bathing, steams, and saunas), healthy fasting includes digestive cleanses and fresh juices.

The two key times for natural cleansing are the times of transition into spring and autumn.

Dr. Gittleman has created a comprehensive program of internal cleansing, outlined in her book The Fast Track One-Day Detox Diet, that begins with organic foods, features a day of juice fasting, and transitions back to organic food.

“What’s the point of getting all those toxins out of your system only to load yourself up again every time you sit down to dinner? All the detoxing in the world won’t keep up with the load of chemicals you’re consuming if you continue to eat conventionally farmed food,” she says.

Juice fasting, preferably with as much organic produce and pure water as possible, provides fiber and nutrients, while making it easy to transition to and from solid foods.

After fasting, Dr. Haas recommends raw or cooked low-starch (low-glycemic) vegetables, including a little sauerkraut to help stimulate digestive function.

“A laxative-type meal including grapes, cherries, or soaked or stewed prunes can also be used to initiate eating [solid foods once again], as they keep the bowels moving,” he says.

And consume friendly bacteria in fermented foods like yogurt with active and live cultures or take a quality probiotic product, adds Dr. Gittleman.

Dr. Hass recommends that fasting be done only under the care of an experienced physician, usually one who is a naturopathically trained MD, DO, ND, or DC. It’s not recommended for pregnant or lactating women and anyone planning surgery.

In addition, “people with cancer need to be careful about how they detoxify, and often they need regular, quality nourishment,” he adds.

“Some people go to extremes with fasting,” he warns, “and begin to lose essential nutrients. Excessive detoxification can be a concern; finding balance is the key for each of us.”

Live a Toxin-Free Life

Try These Detox Recipes

Contributor

The Taste for Life Staff

The Taste for Life staff come from a wide variety of backgrounds and specialties. We believe learning is a life-long process, and love to share the knowledge we gain.

You might also like...

Hand Cream

By Nan Fornal
Hand cream and almond oil surrounded by natural almonds
ID 140083382 © Monicca249 | Dreamstime.com
Recipe Source
The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood ($26.95, New World Library, 2016) 
Ingredients
  • 1⁄2 oz beeswax
  • 1⁄2 oz cocoa butter
  • 2 tsp sweet almond oil
  • 2 Tbsp jojoba oil
  • 10 drops essential oil (lavender, lemon, patchouli, or rosemary)
Directions
  1. Place the beeswax and cocoa butter in the top of a double boiler over medium heat.
  2. When melted, remove pan from heat and add almond and jojoba oils.
  3. Stir in the essential oil, and pour into jar, leaving lid off until mixture is cool.

Looking for More?

Are you looking for more DIY gift ideas? Check this out!

Contributor

Nan Fornal

Nan Fornal has experience with fiction, nonfiction, and technical publications, working closely with book and magazine publishers from first edit to final proofing. She has worked with Exeter Press, Boston magazine, and self-publishers alike.

You might also like...

Minty Lip Smoother

By Nan Fornal
Minty Lip Smoother in roller bottles with fresh mint leaves.
ID 153931309 © Chernetskaya | Dreamstime.com
Recipe Source
Stephanie Tourles’s Essential Oils: A Beginner’s Guide by Stephanie L. Tourles ($16.95, Storey, 2018)
Ingredients
  • 15 drops peppermint essential oil
  • 8 tsp castor oil
  • 1 tsp vegetable glycerin
Directions
  1. Drop the essential oil into a small applicator bottle (with roller-ball tip).
  2. Add the castor oil and glycerin, screw on the cap, and shake for two minutes.
  3. Let it sit in a cool, dark place for at least one day.

Looking for More?

Are you looking for more DIY gift ideas? Check this out!

Contributor

Nan Fornal

Nan Fornal has experience with fiction, nonfiction, and technical publications, working closely with book and magazine publishers from first edit to final proofing. She has worked with Exeter Press, Boston magazine, and self-publishers alike.

You might also like...

Winter Wonderland Aromatherapy Spray

By Maria Noël Groves, RH (AHG)
Ingredients
  • 1 ounce distilled water
  • 1 ounce vodka
  • 15 drops peppermint essential oil
  • 20 drops spruce, fir, or pine essential oil
Directions
  1. Combine all ingredients in 2-ounce spray bottle. Shake well to combine.
  2. Spray as desired.
Contributor

You might also like...

Don't Miss a Thing!


Get the latest articles, recipes, and more, when you sign up for the tasteforlife.com newsletter.

Sign Up Now

Trending Topics

Hot Product

See More Hot Products