Bring The Potent Detoxifying Power of Vitamin C To Your Skin
What comes to mind when you think about Vitamin C? A potent antioxidant? Colds and flus? Allergies and impaired immune function? All these answers are relevant. Vitamin C, a universal antioxidant beloved by Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, appears helpful for many conditions.[1]Just this year, Vitamin C was even been shown to help reverse deadly sepsis—a potentially fatal immune response to a serious infection.[2]
But one of Vitamin C's most under-appreciated benefits is to nourish the skin and help promote a glowing, vibrant appearance. We wear our skin every day—and as the years pass, accumulated toxins, sun damage, and stress can actually wear it out. Utilized both internally and topically, Vitamin C can help beautify the skin, support collagen, benefit wound healing, and prevent oxidative damage and inflammation associated with exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun.[3],[4]
How Does Vitamin Help The Skin?
Vitamin C is essential to skin health. Vitamin C is found in the skin's epidermis (top layer) and dermis (deeper layer).[5] Aging causes a decline in vitamin C content in both layers. In laboratory studies, vitamin C reduces UV-related damage and lipid peroxidation, decreases pro-inflammatory cytokines, and protects against cell death.[6] It increases collagen protein synthesis and stimulates DNA repair in skin cells.[7]
In actual human studies, higher intakes of dietary vitamin C are linked with improved skin appearance and a significant decrease in wrinkling.[8] It has been demonstrated to reverse age-related structural changes in the interface between the dermis and the epidermis as well. Vitamin C quenches inflammation, which can be effective in helping to speed up healing of sunburns. Skin will appear brighter and smoother.
Collagen Is Key
Vitamin C offers powerful support of collagen, which is key to keeping skin youthful, resilient and wrinkle-free. Collagen is an essential protein that provides elasticity to the skin. As we age, collagen production declines, leading to wrinkles and sagging, loose skin. Two double-blind, placebo controlled studies conducted in 2014 found that a collagen supplement improved skin elasticity in four weeks, and significantly reduced wrinkles in just eight weeks. Topical vitamin C also increases collagen production, and decreases wrinkling and apparent roughness of skin.[9]
Liposomal Vitamin C Offers Enhanced Efficacy
Vitamin C can be provided to the skin through topical application, and in liposomal form it is highly effective. There are many Vitamin C serums for the skin. Liposomal formulations have special potency. When applied topically, liposomes containing vitamin C have been shown to deliver their contents right into the dermis, the deeper layer of the skin, and to prevent oxidative damage and inflammation associated with exposure to UVA and UVB light.[10] It is possible to blend the potency of liposomal Vitamin C taken orally as a supplement, and at the same time, apply a liposomal vitamin C topically to the face or other areas of concern.
Vitamin C's antioxidant effect is enhanced by the addition of R-Lipoic acid, which also has an exceptionally well-documented ability to provide antioxidant support. Both Vitamin C and R-Lipoic acid upregulate glutathione production within the cell.[11] Glutathione's impact on healthy skin is also well known.[12]
In summary, a liposomal formulation of Vitamin C enhanced by R-Lipoic Acid, offers powerful antioxidant support and encourages a more radiant and youthful-looking complexion.
