Non-inflammatory diet helps skin

Q: My skin is getting drier, duller and wrinklier. Could my nutrition — not the best, I confess — be affecting my skin quality?

A: Your skin is the body’s largest organ and helps fend off infection, regulate temperature and produce vitamin D. But it’s easy to damage.

You may know that you should wear an SPF 35 sunscreen for all but about 30 minutes of sun exposure daily, not smoke anything, use moisturizer daily, stay hydrated, and never sleep in your makeup. But you may not understand how much inf luence what you eat has on the quality of your skin.

A non-inflammatory diet is the foundation of healthy skin — that means no added sugars, red or processed meats or ultra-processed foods. And specific vitamins and polyphenols in food can provide added benefits.

— Beta carotene (it’s converted into vitamin A in your body) protects skin from free radicals (they cause fine lines, wrinkles and sagging). Beta carotene comes from leafy green and orange and yellow vegetables, fruits like papaya, tomato products, and some vegetable oils. You can get vitamin A from herring, salmon, and fortified milk and cereal.

— Foods loaded with omega-3s promote heart health and help preserve your collagen — a protein in skin that keeps it firm and resilient.

Get omega-3s from walnuts, avocados, chia seeds, salmon, herring and canola oil.

— Vitamin C also helps maintain collagen. You can get a dose of C from citrus fruits.

— Vitamin E is an antioxidant that prevents cell damage. You can get E from almonds and sunf lower seeds.

— Polyphenols are antioxidants that show up in coffee, tea, grapes and dark chocolate (70% cacao) to help protect you from sun-caused skin aging.

TIP: If you use skin lotions/creams with vitamin A or C in them, apply them only at night. Sunlight will oxidize the vitamins and trigger inflammation.