A new study published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology suggests daily oral consumption of avocado may improve elasticity and firmness in facial skin. But will eating an avocado every day really make you look younger?

Let’s take a closer look.

Hypothesis 

Daily avocado can improve skin aging in healthy overweight adult women. 

Participants

39 women, aged 27-73 years, with Fitzpatrick skin types II-IV. 

Methods

• Randomized, controlled trial experimental design
• Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups:
• Participants in both groups had to:
  • Maintain daily exercise 
  • Avoid sun exposure 
  • Keep a daily food journal

Results

• After 8 weeks:
  • Participants in the control group (daily avocado intake) had significantly improved skin elasticity and firmness in the forehead when compared to the no avocado intake group.
  • Participants of both groups had significantly improved skin elasticity of the under-eye when compared to baseline measures.

Interpretation

The present study suggests that avocado intake may improve the appearance of facial skin and prevent premature aging suggesting daily avocado intake really can make you look younger. However, more studies are needed to confirm their findings. In addition, there are several limitations of this study including:

• the large range of participant characteristics (ages between 27-73, weight between 130 and 270) 
• objective monitoring of sun exposure and skincare routines may have influenced the results

Aging Sucks

We’re all growing older. There’s really no avoiding it. Our body’s cells get tired our our skin begins to droop, thin and wrinkle.

While this is normal, some people can look older than their actual age. This is called premature aging.

Premature Aging

Premature aging is the result of environmental factors such as UV exposure, smoking, and air pollution. All of these factors cause inflammation and damage to cellular DNA, and repeated exposure to these factors not only increases our cancer risk but wreaks havoc on our skin!

Exposure is not always avoidable. Whether we live in a city with air pollution, or our parents smoked when we were little, exposure is or was just part of daily life.

But there are things we can do to combat it or, even better, reverse the damage!

How to Prevent Premature Aging

Wear SunBlock

Sunblock can protect our skin from harmful UV rays that damage our skin’s DNA. Altered DNA can disrupt the cell’s ability to function properly or, worse, turn into cancer.

Exercise REgularly

Keeping active and including regular exercise (both cardiovascular and weight bearing) affect our metabolism, promoteing growth and repair of our cells.

Eat a Balanced Diet

Consuming a variety of foods that contain protective nutrients can slow or prevent premature aging. The study mentioned above examined the effect of avocados on skin health, but the truth is there are many other foods that provide the nutrients needed to prevent premature aging.

Nutrients Proven to Make You Look Younger

If you are sick, you may appear pale or drawn. Or you might get dark circles or bags under your eyes if you didn’t get adequate sleep.

Dietary habits are also reflected in the skin. Research has determined that diets high in specific nutrients can even be used in conjunction with certain treatments like sunblock to prevent damage to the skin (2).

The foods you choose to eat can have a great impact, or at least a greater impact than you might think. Specific nutrients offer different skin protective benefits.

If you’re looking to stay youthful and prevent premature aging you might consider increasing your dietary intake of these nutrients.

• Phytochemicals
• Vitamins/Minerals
• Healthy fats
• Protein and Collagen
• Water

Eat the Rainbow!

Vitamins and Minerals known for their involvement in skin health include:

• Vitamin A
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin C
• Selenium
• Zinc
• Copper
• Silicon

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is involved in are involved in collagen production and has shown its ability to improve the elasticity, hydration, and texture of our skin.

Carotenoids, one of the precursors of Vitamin A, are the only form of vitamin A found in plants. While avocados contain generous amounts of carotenoids, there are many other foods that also provide them. These include: 

• ALL FRUITS AND VEGETABLES!

Yes, eating a variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the day/week can improve the chances that you are getting enough of these skin-protective nutrients. 

TIP! Cooking these foods increases the activity of the nutrients, making them more accessible to us. And combining them with healthy fat sources might just give you the extra dose your skin needs.

Vitamin A is also found in liver, fish liver oils, dairy products, butter, cheese, egg yolk, meat products, and certain saltwater fish.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is known for its role in scavenging free radicals (cancer-inducing things) and its ability to incorporate into the cellular structure of the skin. Theoretically, Vitamin E’s antioxidant properties and placement within the skin cells would make it a key player but the research looking at vitamin E intake, and subsequent improvement in skin appearance, has shown contradictory results.  

What is promising is the use of alpha-tocopherol (one variation of Vitamin E) in reducing facial hyperpigmentation related to aging. 

Vitamin E can be found in wheat germ oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, maize oil, cottonseed oil, palm oil, cereal products, and nuts.

Vitamin C

When ingested, vitamin C is known to aid in skin hydration and collagen synthesis as well as protect against UV damage. The effects are made stronger when paired with Vitamin E. 

Oranges, grapefruits, strawberries, and cruciferous vegetables like brussel sprouts and broccoli contain large amounts of Vitamin C.

Trace Minerals 

Healthy Fats

Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated fatty acids (or their metabolites) are part of the structure of our skin cells. They help regulate water balance, are involved in hormone production, and exert an anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effect on the skin. They also aid in tissue repair and growth. Additionally, Omega 3 incorporated into skin cells may offer a UV-filtering effect protecting us from UV damage.

Protein and Collagen

You might have heard about collagen for skin health and aging because of its involvement in skin elasticity and firmness. Collagen is an abundant protein peptide found in skin, muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments and other connective tissues.

Since we know it’s found in skin, muscles, etc., good sources of collagen come from animal products, like skin on chicken or bone broths.

Theoretically, increasing our intake would make more collagen available to repair or promote the growth of connective tissues throughout the body, including our skin.

But the data is lacking.

Most available studies used a collagen supplement containing additional nutrients like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, coenzyme Q₁₀, and hyaluronic acid, making it difficult to discern its effectiveness. furthermore, few are randomized controlled studies, the type of study necessary to prove a theory.

The couple of controlled studies did give promising results but more data is needed to confirm these findings and to assess the long-term benefits.

Hydration

Adequate hydration is a must and drinking sufficient amounts of water is the number one thing you can do to keep your skin healthy and make you look younger. Research looking at water intake on normal skin pathology found that higher water intake might improve the skin’s hydration and improve the skin’s barrier qualities, especially those with lower water intakes (Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol. 2015; 8: 413–421).

Everybody needs a slightly different amount of water depending on physiological and lifestyle factors. For example, an inactive woman may not need quite as much as an active one, and an amazon woman might need a bit more than a petite woman. In addition, medical conditions affect water needs.

General recommendations to support adequate hydration are in the area of 8 8-ounce cups of water per day (or 64 oz total). It’s best to sip throughout the day and can be a useful tool to aid in overall weight loss/management.

So, CAn Eating Avocados make you look younger?

Avocados are rich in healthy fats, antioxidants, and other key nutrients known to prevent premature aging and may just leave you with a more youthful appearance.

The primary antoxidant found in avocados are carotenoids. Carotenoinds include beta-carotene, lutein, lycopene and zeaxanthin. In addition to neutrolizing free radicals, they also serve as precursors to Vitamin A. They are of particular interest in skin care because of their known ability to accumulate in the skin after consumption. In fact, there have been cases where people’s skin has turned orange due to excessive intake of beta-carotene!

But…

Carotenoids have a secret. Fat must be present in order for them to be absorbed and transported.

And this is why we are talking about avocados.

Avocados are high in antioxidants (such as carotenoids) and monounsaturated fat (to carry those carotenoids to our skin cells), making them the perfect vehicle. Knowing this, we can easily be convinced that eating an avocado each day can make us look younger.

But like everything “nutrition”,” it’s not an all-or-nothing situation. Our bodies are much more complicated that that!

While consuming more avocados might help promote skin health, its the variety of nutrients found in our foods that help ensure our bodies are functioning optimally.

The Bottom Line

Theoretically, avocados’ nutritional composition makes them a good contender in anti-aging strategies, and the benefits they offer far outweigh any harm.

Research looking at this topic shows that while there is some evidence to support daily avocado intake may improve skin appearance, more research is needed to confirm.

Getting Older is Unavoidable. Period.

We cannot control our genetics and the fact that our cells deteriorate over time but there are some things we can do to keep our skin looking younger and us AGEing GRACEFULLY!

To prevent or reverse damage be sure to

• use sunblock regularly
• quit smoking if you smoke
• eat a healthful, antioxidant-rich diet
• stay hydrated.

Key nutrients can be found in a variety of foods including fruits and vegetables and healthful fats. Avocado is only one example.

Eating the Rainbow

…is a simple and fun way to make sure you get all the nutrients your skin needs. And pairing them with a healthful fat source like olive oil will help optimize bioavailability and absorption.

Pro Tip!

Addind a daily multivitamin might help to insure that your body has what it needs but please don’t use these as a replacement for good nutrition!

Could you eat an avocado every day?

After about 4 days I might start to get bored…

Here’s to aging gracefully, Beeches!

References

1. Henning, SM, Guzman, JB, Thames, G, et al. Avocado Consumption Increased Skin Elasticity and Firmness in Women – A Pilot Study. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2022; 21: 4028– 4034. 
2. Michalak M, Pierzak M, Kręcisz B, Suliga E. Bioactive Compounds for Skin Health: A Review. Nutrients. 2021 Jan 12;13(1):203.

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