Those expensive supplements promising you better skin might not actually be doing anything. (iStock)
Ladies, we’ve got some bad news — your costly skin supplements are a “waste of money” and won’t make you look young.
The billion dollar industry may tell you that the supplements will give you younger, firmer, glowing skin but the reality is a healthy diet, sunscreen and ditching cigarettes will bring better results, according to new research.
Experts at the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) analyzed the supplements, which often contain vitamins A, C, B2, B3, B7, zinc and iodine as well as other ingredients like collagen and co-enzyme Q10.
While the BNF found there were some benefits to the vitamins and minerals there was little evidence that suggested exotic ingredients did anything for the skin.
Some of these ingredients included green tea or pomegranate extract, fish oil, collagen and co-enzyme Q10.
However, these ingredients could be beneficial as part of a healthy diet, their research found.
In the review, experts said some results from lab experiments suggested these ingredients could have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory or collagen enhancing effects.
But it could not be assumed that these results would be relevant beyond studies on skin cells in a dish.
Experts were only able to identify a few well-conducted human trials and said the findings of these were inconsistent.
Ayela Spiro, nutrition science manager at the foundation, said: “As consumers can spend hundreds of pounds a year on oral beauty supplements, we felt it was important to investigate the association between the ingredients in these products and the signs that we associate with skin ageing, such as wrinkles, loss of elasticity and moisture.”
“While there is a body of research on the science of skin aging, evidence for the benefit of nutraceuticals to skin appearance is currently not strong enough to draw firm conclusions.”
The beauty supplements industry is expected to become a $7 billion industry by 2023.
