Nutrition And Beauty: Fats Create Skin Radiance

By: Rebecca Prescott

Fat free has almost become a cornerstone in many households. It
is certainly something of a fixture on modern restaurant menus.
And industries have catered to the fat free preoccupation by
supplying foods labeled fat free and low fat, as well as herbal
and medical products that block fat metabolism. But the bottom
line on the beauty and health fronts, is that if you want
beautiful skin with fewer wrinkles, or to speed up your
metabolism, you need to eat the right kind of fats.

The benefits to your skin of eating the right fats daily are
many. Beneficial fats stimulate the production of collagen,
improves the blood flow in the layer below the skin that
supplies nutrients for the creation of new, healthy skin cells.
Poor quality blood flow here means under performing new skin
cells. Fats keep the skin moist, from the inside. Fats are
crucial for the absorption of the fat soluble vitamin - A, D, E,
and K. And the beneficial phytonutrients like carotene, lycopene
and lutein need fat to be absorbed also.

For example, eating salad with a dressing containing fats
increases the absorption of these phytonutrients. A study,
published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition
(and referenced in Gorgeous Skin by E Angyal) found that those
who ate a salad with a low fat dressing had very little
alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lycopene in blood tests taken
afterwards. Those who had a full fat dressing with the salad had
noticeably higher levels of these carotenes and lycopene
metabolites in their blood.

Fats also help produce and regulate hormones, reduce
inflammation (the right fats anyway), and prevent eczema,
psoriasis, and hair loss.

According to Erica Angyal, you need about 2tbsp, or 20 grams of
fats per day so the skin can lubricate itself, and so enough
vitamin A can be absorbed. Vitamin A prevents premature aging.

Erica Angyal recommends olive oil, flaxseed oil, walnut oil,
pumpkin seed oil, coconut oil, mustard seed oil, avocado oil,
soy oil, macadamia oil, and canola oil. She suggests using extra
virgin, virgin, cold pressed oils where they are available, as
these are always much better quality, and the way they are
processed means unhealthy chemical changes to the oils are
avoided. Of the oils here, the mono unsaturated oils are olive
oil, avocado oil, macadamia oil, as well as the oil from cold
water fish, like swordfish, mackerel and salmon. Mono
unsaturated oils can reduce wrinkles. The polyunsaturated oils
are flaxseed, walnut, pumpkin seed, and canola oil. For the
reasons outlined below, I would not personally use these to gain
the bulk of needed daily fats. Coconut oil is a saturated fat,
but extremely good for you.

Coconut Oil

I love this stuff. Not only does it have a beautiful aroma when
it is good quality, cold pressed coconut oil, but it has amazing
health benefits that go beyond great looking skin. Aging,
including aging of the brain and skin, is associated with a
process called 'peroxidation'. This simply means that free
radicals remove an oxygen electron from the fats (lipids) in our
cellular membranes. Ultraviolet light, from the sun, causes
peroxidation in unsaturated fats, both in the laboratory and in
your skin. This increases the rate at which wrinkles form.

And unsaturated fats, like regular vegetable oils, decrease the
metabolic rate. Unsaturated fats suppress the response of the
body's tissues to thyroid hormone. Unsaturated fats inhibit the
protein digestive enzyme that forms thyroid hormone, as well as
damaging the mitochondria in cells, which relates to cellular
energy production. Coconut oil counteracts these unwelcome
effects of unsaturated fats.

Coconut oil is incredibly versatile. Because it is so stable, it
can be used in cooking without becoming hydrogenated. And it
doesn't change the flavor of the food, despite its strong aroma.
Coconut oil contains medium chain fatty acids. These are not
stored in the cells like other fats but go directly to the liver
which converts them into energy. The shorter chain length allows
them to bypass the metabolic pathway that other longer chain
fats need to use. Coconut oil is the only saturated fat that is
good for the body.

Interestingly, Dr Mercola's website quotes an article by Dr Ray
Peat in which he mentions that when so called essential fatty
acids were used in patients fed intravenously, their immune
systems were suppressed. Consequently, coconut oil is used
instead. The only exceptions are in cases where
immunosuppression is needed, such as in organ transplant
patients. The essential fatty acids are the omega 3 and omega 6
polyunsaturated fatty acids. Examples are flaxseed oil, the oils
of cold water fish like salmon, evening primrose oil, and
sunflower oil.



References:

1. http://www.mercola.com/2001/mar/24/coconut_oil.htm

2. Erica Angyal, Gorgeous Skin In 30 Days (Lothian Books, 2005)

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