Flavonoids, substances that give fruits and vegetables their coloring, have been found to be especially beneficial to skin.
If you eat a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables, you’re probably consuming a good amount of flavonoids. Flavonoids are antioxidant rich, which helps to protect them from environmental stress. When we consume them, we get to reap the health benefits as well. Some flavonoids also have anti-allergic, anti-carcinogenic, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties.
Two classes of flavonoids have been found to be especially beneficial to skin: proanthocyanidins (found in grapes and pine bark) and polyphenols (found in green tea). These antioxidants work to strengthen blood vessels and stabilize elastin and collagen, two proteins that form part of the skin’s supporting network.
The flavonoids in pine bark have been shown to contain more than 20x the antioxidants of vitamin C and 50x the antioxidants of vitamin E, leading to speculation that they may help to prevent some cancers and heart disease. And although the research isn’t conclusive, you certainly won’t do yourself any harm by incorporating into your diet good sources of flavonoids such as citrus fruits, berries, ginkgo biloba, red onion, parsley, pulses, white and green tea, red wine, seabuckthorn oil, and dark chocolate.
Want your skin to get some flavonoid love? Try new La Roche Posay Derm AOX . Formulated with potent antioxidant Vitamin C, it is also packed with pycnogenol (a flavonoid derived from pine bark) and carnosine (which fights skin glycation) leading to more radiant, smoother skin. Reversa Antioxidant Booster Serum features green tea, Vitamin E and Beta glucan to fight against free radical damage and help prevent the appearance of wrinkles.
