CAN BEAUTY PILLS REALLY MAKE YOU LOOK YEARS YOUNGER?

From strengthening hair and nails to making you look decades younger, supplements boast a whole host of benefits

APILL that promises to knock decades off your appearance might sound like the stuff of fantasy. However the new generation of skin supplements comes with some dramatic claims and the research to back them up.

Beauty supplements, or nutricosmetics as they are also known, are big business.

In 2015 the beauty supplement market was worth an impressive £2.5billion worldwide with trend forecasters predicting this will reach £5billion by 2020. And earlier this month the best-selling anti-ageing product in Boots wasn’t a cream or serum but the supplement Beauty Beneath.

The capsules, which cost £39.95 for a month’s supply, contain a cocktail of nutrients and minerals that benefit skin, hair and nails such as marine collagen, omega 3 and vitamin C.

From skin to hair to nails, there is a supplement to deal with almost every beauty dilemma.

This month sees the launch of Fountain’s The Super Hyaluronic Molecule, £43 (fountain.co), the hotly anticipated update to its best-selling Hyaluronic Molecule.

Two teaspoons taken daily can help plump and improve skin from the inside out.

“Supplements do exactly what the name suggests, supplement nutritional deficiencies in our diet,” explains Harley Street plastic surgeon and anti-ageing expert Dr. Max Marcellino (drmarcellino.com).

“They can help us top up on the essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals our bodies need.”

Dr Marcellino puts their growing popularity down to both increased consumer knowledge and breakthroughs in technology.

“People today are much more conscious of what they put in their bodies,” he says.

“The sophistication of supplements is improving and greater research is being conducted into their impact, benefits and also drawbacks, enabling clinically-proven formulas to be launched.”

Celebrity facialist and skin health expert at Skin Matters (skin-matters.co.uk) Joanne Evans puts the rise in demand down to our fast-paced lives.

“Our demanding lives put the body under a lot of stress, which boosts our cortisol levels,” she says. “The flight and fight hormone is overused and when that happens the body pulls the extra nutrients and minerals it needs from other resources.

“For example, vitamins D and B are taken from bones.”

Joanne also advises using both topical creams and supplements to achieve the best results. Nourella, £39.95 (nourella.com) is unique in that it combines a cream and supplement that are designed to be used together to boost collagen production.

When taken for four months or longer, Nourella improves the appearance of skin from both inside and outside and research has shown that it can take 20 years off your appearance.

However beauty supplements aren’t just limited to improving skin tone and texture.

Viviscal Maximum Strength Supplements, £49.99 (boots.com), used by Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow, work to boost hair health. The main ingredient AminoMar CTM is a marine protein developed in Finland after scientists found the secret to the Inuits’ healthy hair and skin was their fish and protein-rich diet.

Perfectil Plus Nails supplements, £14.95 (vitabiotics.com) are specifically designed to strengthen nails and prevent breakage. They contain copper and horsetail botanical extract, the vitamins and minerals essential for healthy nail beds. However some skin experts are still sceptical about the effects of beauty supplements.

Dr Ross Perry, a dermatologist and clinical director at Cosmedics skin clinics, says: “While many supplements contain collagen and hyaluronic acid, these are broken down in the gut so can’t work to renew your skin.”

As the demand for supplements continues to grow, the experts remain divided. Only time will tell if this beauty trend has a shelf life.