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Which proteins should you be eating to benefit your skin?

None and all.

Should you be ingesting collagen and elastin? No need, you will make your skin proteins out of the amino acids that you make. True, there are a few amino acids, called essential, that you need to ingest because your body does not have the enzymes required to synthesize them from scratch. The essential amino acids are phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, and histidine.  And this list presents a problem for vegetarians: cereal crops don’t have enough lysine to satisfy human needs.

When people tell you to take collagen pills in order to provide for your skin needs, don’t listen. Chicken soup is more satisfying than collagen pills, cheaper, and will help you with winter colds.

What about elastin? Same thing: your skin will make it.

Topical proteins? Both elastin and collagen are insoluble, they wouldn’t work. If you wish to provide nutrition to your skin or scalp (or your nails) you will better off with an amino acid mix like those we use in Skin Actives in hour hair serum, containing all the amino acids your skin and scalp require. If your skin is shortchanged by your body, something that happens more often when we age or when we are on a diet, that is what you will need: a nice topical mix of amino acids. But look at my post on antioxidant proteins and growth factors to learn more about which proteins will be used if applied topically.

Remember:

  • It does not matter which proteins make up your skin, you will make those out of the food you ingest.
  • Insoluble proteins applied to the skin will not solve your problem
  • Vegetarians will need extra lysine
  • Our Skin Actives collagen serums have everything you need to help you make skin proteins

Claims on this page have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent any disease.