Do certain drinks deliver beauty benefits -- or is that wishful
thinking? Experts weigh in.
By Liesa Goins
Reviewed
by Emmy M. Graber, MD
"Beauty
beverages" have flooded the market in recent years, promising to transform
humble water into a powerful anti-aging, skin perfecting potion.
According
to market research firm Mintel, nearly 300 new food and drink products with
"functional beauty benefits" launched in 2008, about double the
number in 2007. Products like Borba, Glowelle, Crystal Light Skin Essentials,
BeautyScoop, and Noah's Naturals Anti-Aging Beauty Elixir all claim to improve
appearance and fight the signs of time on your skin.
But
can what you drink really make a difference in how you look?
What
Are Beauty Beverages?
"Just
as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, a beauty drink is in the perspective
of the consumer," says New York nutritionist Keri Glassman, MS, RD, CDN.
"Drinks
with beauty benefits usually contain vitamins, amino acids, or botanicals that
possess antioxidant activities," says New York dermatologist Francesca
Fusco, MD. "A person should usually get enough of these nutrients through
diet. But drinking them is a reasonable way to supplement."
How
Well Do They Work?
There
are nutrients that can improve skin health, but the jury is out on how
effective a beauty beverage can be at shuttling this nutrition straight to your
skin.
Ideally,
everyone would eat a healthy diet packed with fruits and vegetables, lean
protein, good fats, and whole grains, says Los Angeles dermatologist Howard
Murad, MD, who sells supplements as part of his skincare line. He sees
supplements as a good back-up plan.
"I
have tried to put adequate amounts of supplements in drinks, but they aren't
palatable at the levels required to see benefits," Murad says. "Plus,
to make a supplement drinkable, you need to add preservatives, emulsifiers, and
sweeteners -- things that aren't ideal to ingest."
The
makers of beauty drinks say that sometimes eating well isn't enough. "Even
people who eat a healthy diet have problems with their skin, hair, and
nails," says plastic surgeon Michelle Yagoda, MD, creator of BeautyScoop.
"So absorption can be a problem and liquids tend to be more bio-available
to your body."
"A
drinkable supplement can be an effective way to treat skin because it can
contain vitamins that are more bio-available and easier for the body to
absorb," says Scott-Vincent Borba, founder and CEO of the skin product
company Borba.
However,
experts such as New York dermatologist Neal Schultz, MD,
disagree. "Certain nutrients do help the skin, but that doesn't mean
putting them in a drink will have the same effect as eating a well-balanced
diet," Schultz says. "The body is too smart for that.
Your
Diet Affects Your Skin
Good
nutrition, in general, benefits your skin. But just as doing thousands of
crunches won't burn fat from your waistline, adding high levels of vitamins to
your water won't yield increasing returns.
"You
can't load the circuit nutritionally," Schultz says. "If you press on
a light switch harder, it doesn't come on any faster or brighter, and the skin
is the same way." Drinking nutrients to benefit the skin doesn't mean they
will end up there.
"A
bottled beauty drink should be in addition to, not instead of, water,"
Glassman says. She recommends making sure your drink has less than 15
grams of sugar.
How
to Quench Your Skin's Thirst
Staying
hydrated is key to your overall health, including your skin.
Drink
enough water so that you're not thirsty. You can also hydrate your skin and get
nutrients by eating more fruits and vegetables.
If
you're looking for a simple beauty beverage, you might consider tea. In at
least one study, people who drank a minimum of two daily cups of green or black
tea were 20% to 30% less likely to get nonmelanoma skin cancer, the most common
type of skin cancer. Tea contains polyphenols, plant chemicals that help fight
sun damage -- the No. 1 skin ager. Other studies have shown that polyphenols
may help sunscreens reduce UV damage. Polyphenols also ease inflammation,
another skin foe.
What's
on the inside matters to your skin, but it's also important to work on the
skin's surface, too.
Products
you put on your skin "have a much better chance of making improvements
because they have a better chance of getting where you need them," Schultz
says.
Fusco
agrees. "When applied directly to the skin, ingredients like vitamin C,
vitamin A, and peptides show better results and faster," she says.
SOURCES:
Francesca
Fusco, MD, dermatologist; assistant clinical professor of dermatology, Mt.
Sinai School of Medicine, New York.
Keri
Glassman, MS, RD, CDN, nutritionist; author, A Nutritious Life and
the O2 Diet.
Howard
Murad, MD, associate clinical professor of dermatology, University of
California, Los Angeles; founder, Murad Skincare.
Scott-Vincent
Borba, founder and CEO, Borba.
Michelle
Yagoda, MD, plastic surgeon; creator, BeautyScoop.
Neal
Schultz, MD, clinical professor of dermatology, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.
News
release, Mintel.
Djerassi,
D. Inside Cosmeceuticals, September 15, 2009.
Guochang
A. Biological Research Reports from the Universityof Jyvaskyla, 1993.
Podda,
M. Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, October 2001.
Rees,
J. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, May
2007.
Matsui,
M. Journal of Investigative Dermatology Symposium Proceedings,
August 2009.
Nichols,
J. Archives of Dermatological Research; Nov. 7, 2009;
online edition.
Katiyar,
S. Clinical Cancer Research, October 2000.
Reviewed
on December 28, 2012
©
2010 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.
Article
Link: http://www.webmd.com/beauty/the-truth-about-beauty-beverages
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