Sunday, March 1, 2009

Slow Down The Aging Process

By Dan da Silva

There is nothing wrong with wanting to look young as you get older, in fact it is perfectly natural,as is the use of anti-aging skin care products to help achieve this effect. We achieve this with anti-aging products that synthesize the production of the protein collagen. Collagen is related to other Substances called anti-oxidants which help reduce the anti-aging process.

Although the benefits of vitamin C (an anti-oxidant) are well documented, it is still debated as to what our daily amount should be. Vitamin C formulated skin care treatments suffer with a particular problem of oxidizing on contact with the air which causes a problem for users and manufacturers.

Manufacturers are trying alternative skin care treatments to vitamin C that do not have this oxidization problem or cost as much to produce. Unfortunately the anti-oxidant products used to replace vitamin C are not as effective but as vitamin E and lipoic acid can both have the same effect; this is not too much of a problem.

It is found in the blood it is an anti-oxidant that is also used to increase the body's defenses against other diseases. On the other hand, lipoic acid or alpha-lipoic acid is necessary for energy production which keeps us alive; it is in every human cell and another function is to repair skin damage caused by the normal aging process.

Another group of products used to reduce the visible signs of aging are phytochemicals which are compounds extracted from various plants and used in many anti-aging skin care products. Another benefit, like that of alpha-lipoic acid, is their ability to reduce the prevalence of certain cancers like prostate, colon and breast cancer.

Some B-vitamins like B5, B6 and B12 are also in use for anti-aging skin care products. This just goes to highlight just how complex and far reaching the whole field of anti-aging skin care products is and why so much more research is required.

In time new discoveries will be made advancing our understanding of the ageing process and products that can reduce or reverse the effects more successfully. There may be many challenges still to overcome but in time scientists believe they will succeed in producing more effective anti-aging skin care products that are less expensive and available to more people.

However, man-made skin care regimes should be used only as a supplement. What proportion of the population actually eat healthily, take plenty of exercise, drink sufficient water and obtain restful and regular sleep? - 15995

About the Author: