Eating your way to healthy skin is not a new idea but nutricosmetics is a relatively new term for dietary anti-aging supplements that target the skin. Helping to promote this seemingly easy path to the fountain of youth is the current wave of popularity that Asian beauty and skincare products is enjoying. More specifically, Korean treatments seem to have hit the mainstream and are giving the more traditional French companies a run for our money.
Although nutricosmetics are not formally a part of the legendary 10-step Korean skin care routine, supplements that claim to target the skin can now be found alongside cutting-edge topical treatments. And as much as we have embraced BB creams, oil cleansers and masks of all shapes and forms, beauty supplements haven’t quite taken off in the same way.
Several factors come into play, including the North American attitude of waiting until something is broken before fixing it, whereas in Asia, prevention has long been the norm. The high cost of these supplements may also discourage consumers from jumping on the bandwagon. Many of us hesitate to financially commit long term to yet another vitamin without solid proof.
It’s difficult to know whether these new nutricosmetics are actually effective. In Canada, nutricosmetics fall under the Natural Health Products category and must meet safety, quality and effectiveness standards. Those standards, however, are fluid and can be less stringent when it comes to claims that do not inherently involve high risk to health. A product promoting healthy skin will not necessarily invite the same level of scrutiny by Health Canada as, for example, a supplement that claims to kill cancer cells. In the United States, claims made by nutricosmetics are not regulated by the FDA at all. Evaluating the efficacy of beauty supplements is the sole responsibility of the manufacturers themselves and not all claims are supported by independent, reliable studies.
Before forking over your hard-earned cash, keep in mind that no matter how many supplements you consume, only a small fraction will benefit the skin. Oral collagen supplements, multivitamins, antioxidants like vitamin C and EFA omega-3 oils can increase skin fitness but they also improve overall health of the body. Because nutricosmetics are never directly applied just to the skin, serums and creams may have an advantage over anti-aging pills. Like topical treatments, results from daily nutricosmetics may take one or two months before becoming evident, and effects will wear off if you stop taking them.
Until the science is there, I know where I’ll be putting my money.
