To look its young, healthy, and well-nourished best, your skin needs to retain plenty of water.
It's when it's well hydrated that your skin looks plump and fresh.
However, this isn't easy because your skin is exposed to many outside conditions that want to suck the water out of it.
Dry air is a big one, and we all know the air is a lot drier during the cold months than the rest of the year.
When your moisture barrier thins, you lose precious hydration. That makes your skin dry, thin, wrinkled, and rough.
That loss of moisture in older skin is the difference between it and a baby's soft, fresh and unwrinkled skin.
What Protects Your Skin's Moisture?
If you think of the cells of your skin as bricks in a wall, natural oils known as ceramides are the mortar that holds them together, forming a tight barrier against the outside world. This layer of ceramides fat not only keeps harmful stuff out, but also retains moisture and other healthy components in the deeper layers of your skin.
Ceramides are a form of long-chain fatty acids called sphingolipids. They make up about 50% of your outer layer of skin, the epidermis.
Your skin contains nine different types of ceramides - with differences in the length of their carbon chains.
Although there is no documented cause/effect relationship between low levels of ceramides and medical problems of your skin, it is known that people who have eczema or psoriasis have fewer than average ceramides.
And ceramides certainly go down with age. By your 40's, you've lost about 60% of your skin ceramides.
That's a major reason older people have skin that looks drier, more wrinkled, and lined. It IS drier, thanks to having fewer ceramides.
Factors that Reduce the Amount of Ceramides in Your Skin
Of course, as mentioned above, aging is a major factor in reducing your ceramides.
But we also know the outside world contains many threats besides dry air.
Pollutants, smoke, and other toxic particles also degrade your skin's structural integrity.
So does excess UV radiation of sunlight.
These induce oxidative stress, meaning they wear away the protective layer of your skin with free radicals. They also cause inflammation, making your skin red, itchy, and irritated.
Pollution causes overexpression of the protein known as aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). AhR overactivation triggers genes which express themselves through causing oxidative stress inflammation, dark spots, suppression of your immune system, premature skin aging and even skin cancer.
Ceramides are anti-inflammatory. They help reduce the irritation some skin care ingredients cause.
Can You Put Ceramides on Your Skin?
Ceramides have been added to skin formulas since the early 1990s. However, they don't penetrate to reach the deeper layers of skin wrinkling.
Researchers have also developed ceramides derived from modified rice extract.
Ceramides in skincare products are safe, including when used with other common ingredients. Experts generally recommend you apply themm twice per day.
They work best when used in conjunction with the other two major lipids: cholesterol and fatty acids.
Because ceramides are moisturizing, experts suggest putting them on after you take a shower or bath, and right before bed.
What Foods Contain Ceramides?
Ceramides are found in wheat germ, soybeans, sweet potatoes, cow's milk, eggs, brown rice, and corn.
However, none of these is a significant source. Plus, just eating something doesn't mean your body uses it the way you want. I couldn't find any scientific documentation that eating any of those foods particularly helps your skin because of the ceramides.
However, some herbal extracts appear to stimulate your body to produce more ceramides in your skin.
Some Potential Contenders for a Ceramides-Producing Supplement Include:
* Rosemary extract
* Olive extract
* Lippia citriodora extract
* Sophora japonica extract
* Japanese white peach
In one study, participants given a jelly made from Japanese white peach demonstrated 20-30% increased water retention in their skin, improving their skin texture. However, the study lasted only 20 days.
In a study of 100 women aged 35-65 years old, the treatment group took 250 mg of a blend of Rosemary, Olive, Lippia citriodora, and Sophora japonica extracts daily for 12 weeks.
The researchers measured the women on many factors, including skin radiance, skin moisture, and skin smoothness.
Beginning in just 15 days, the treatment group had smoother, softer skin, reduced depth of wrinkles, and greater skin elasticity.
More than 90% of the treatment group experienced significant improvement in all of those measured criteria.
After the full 12 weeks, the treatment group demonstrated highly significant improvements over the control group.
They had ten times the decrease in wrinkle depth.
And a three times increase in skin moisture.
Skin smoothness increased by a factor of eighteen.
They had two and a half times the lightening of dark spots.
The scientists running the study believe these results followed from the increase in moisture in the skin of the treatment group over the control group.
None of These Sources of Ceramides Appear Harmful
Therefore, experiment all you like both with taking ceramides or herbal extracts orally and with applying ceramides lotions and other products onto your skin.
This year, don't let the cold, dry air of winter suck the moisture out of your skin.
https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/ceramide#who-can-benefit
https://www.lifeextension.com/news/aging/ceramide-supplement-reduces-wrinkles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOHL7Lvy-pI
https://www.byrdie.com/ceramides-4693671
Guillo, S. The moisturizing effect of a wheat extract supplement on women's skin: a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial. International Journal of Cosmetic Science. April, 2011. doi 10.1111/j.1468-2494.2010.00600.x.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20646083/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5740493/pdf/IEMAMC-17-56.pdf