Though most doctors—and patients—believe that a healthy lifestyle can improve skin texture and tone and reduce the signs of aging, there has not been an abundance of skincare-specific proof. A new study may change that. In “An Encapsulated Fruit and Vegetable Concentrate Increases Skin Microcirculation in Healthy Woman,” which will be published in the Journal of Skin Pharmacology and Physiology (Vol. 25, No. 1, 2012), S De Spirt, et al, found that “ingestion of a fruit- and vegetable-based concentrate increases microcirculation of the skin at 12 weeks of intervention and positively affects skin hydration, density and thickness.” The monocentric, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study followed two groups of 26 healthy, middle-aged women for 12 weeks. At the end of the study, the active group showed a 39% increase in the microcirculation of the superficial plexus as measured by an “oxygen to see” device; a 9% increase in skin hydration; a 6% increase in skin thickness and a 16% increase in skin density as measured by ultrasound. In the placebo group, microcirculation decreased and “a slight increase in skin density was observed.”
photo copyright iStockphoto/Thinkstock
