Beauty q: can you eat your way to great skin?

They say what you put on your skin is only half the story, and ingestible beauty products are huge right now. Part of that is due to the endless flogging of them on Instagram by Women In Stretchy Pants, and part is due to the fact that for some people, they really do work.

In 2014 Elle Macpherson launched The Super Elixir, a supplement produced by WelleCo, the wellness company she co-founded. Taking two teaspoonfuls a day of the green powder is supposed to increase vitality, aid digestion, and ostensibly, give you Macpherson's bod, all thanks to the fact that it keeps your body running at an alkaline level. Alkalinity basically means that everything is working optimally, so in theory, you should expect better skin as an added bonus. Many I know have applauded its ability to control bloating, but at $169 for a 300g caddy it’s somewhat of an investment. 

The Beauty Chef is an Australian company created by Carla Oates, a woman who has been writing and teaching about organic beauty and healthy living for over a decade, and their GLOW Inner Beauty Powder has been designed to deliver exactly that. Common ingredients in there include chickpeas, lentils, chia seeds, ginger, turmeric, quinoa, and more "fermented foods and probiotics". There is real evidence that probiotics alone can be good for the skin, with researchers saying that good bacteria in the gut can help eliminate the toxins and free radicals that can damage skin and cause early signs of ageing.

Closer to home, Bestow Beauty Oil is an “edible cosmetic” that really does put your skin on the fast track to a makeup free summer and a happily “plump” winter. Flaxseed oil – which is what Bestow is made up of - can help with the skin’s condition because it allows your body to build healthy new skin cells, healing from the inside and strengthening the membranes surrounding the cells. Conditions such as eczema, acne and psoriasis have been known to respond well to a regular dose of Flaxseed oil, and when you take it in liquid form it’s the much more potent than your average capsule.

One think to avoid if you’re aiming for optimum skin health is sugar. When you have sugar molecules in your system, they bombard the body's cells and attach onto fats and proteins in a process known as glycation. The proteins in skin most prone to glycation are the same ones that make a youthful complexion so good: collagen and elastin. When those proteins meet sugars, they become less supple, showing up on the skin's surface as wrinkles and a loss of radiance. 

Resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red grapes, shows promise in both skin cancer prevention and anti ageing, and other skin-friendly foods with increasing results to back them up include:

Olive Oil: A higher consumption of olive oil (2 teaspoons a day) has been associated with 31 per cent fewer signs of aging compared to people who ate less than one teaspoon. 

Kiwifruit: This little fruit packs a wallop of vitamin C – as in, nearly 120 per cent of your daily needs – and this stimulates collagen synthesis, which keeps skin taught and smoothes fine lines.

Eggs: these offer up a hefty dose of protein without tons of fat, and less fat is a good thing for your skin. According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a 17g increase in fat intake increased your odds of developing wrinkles by 28 per cent.