• Home
  • Politics
  • Health
  • World
  • Business
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • More
    • Sports
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
What's Hot

How Smart Mattresses Improve Sleep Quality For Couples

May 9, 2025

OpenAI CEO Warns: ‘Not A Huge Amount Of Time’ Until China Overpowers American AI

May 9, 2025

Short and Funny Sayings for a Happy Summer with Friends

May 9, 2025
Facebook Twitter Instagram
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
Friday, May 9
Patriot Now NewsPatriot Now News
  • Home
  • Politics

    Security video shows brazen sexual assault of California woman by homeless man

    October 24, 2023

    Woman makes disturbing discovery after her boyfriend chases away home intruder who stabbed him

    October 24, 2023

    Poll finds Americans overwhelmingly support Israel’s war on Hamas, but younger Americans defend Hamas

    October 24, 2023

    Off-duty pilot charged with 83 counts of attempted murder after allegedly trying to shut off engines midflight on Alaska Airlines

    October 23, 2023

    Leaked audio of Shelia Jackson Lee abusively cursing staffer

    October 22, 2023
  • Health

    Disparities In Cataract Care Are A Sorry Sight

    October 16, 2023

    Vaccine Stocks—Including Pfizer, Moderna, BioNTech And Novavax—Slide Amid Plummeting Demand

    October 16, 2023

    Long-term steroid use should be a last resort

    October 16, 2023

    Rite Aid Files For Bankruptcy With More ‘Underperforming Stores’ To Close

    October 16, 2023

    Who’s Still Dying From Complications Related To Covid-19?

    October 16, 2023
  • World

    New York Democrat Dan Goldman Accuses ‘Conservatives in the South’ of Holding Rallies with ‘Swastikas’

    October 13, 2023

    IDF Ret. Major General Describes Rushing to Save Son, Granddaughter During Hamas Invasion

    October 13, 2023

    Black Lives Matter Group Deletes Tweet Showing Support for Hamas 

    October 13, 2023

    AOC Denounces NYC Rally Cheering Hamas Terrorism: ‘Unacceptable’

    October 13, 2023

    L.A. Prosecutors Call Out Soros-Backed Gascón for Silence on Israel

    October 13, 2023
  • Business

    OpenAI CEO Warns: ‘Not A Huge Amount Of Time’ Until China Overpowers American AI

    May 9, 2025

    Trump Announces First Post-Tariff Trade Deal

    May 8, 2025

    Electric Vehicle Sales Nosedive As GOP Takes Buzzsaw To Biden’s Mandate

    May 7, 2025

    Tyson Foods Announces It Will Bend The Knee To Trump Admin’s New Rules

    May 7, 2025

    Federal Reserve Holds Interest Rates Steady Despite Pressure From Trump

    May 7, 2025
  • Finance

    Ending China’s De Minimis Exception Brings 3 Benefits for Americans

    April 17, 2025

    The Trump Tariff Shock Should Push Indonesia to Reform Its Economy

    April 17, 2025

    Tariff Talks an Opportunity to Reinvigorate the Japan-US Alliance

    April 17, 2025

    How China’s Companies Are Responding to the US Trade War

    April 16, 2025

    The US Flip-flop Over H20 Chip Restrictions 

    April 16, 2025
  • Tech

    Cruz Confronts Zuckerberg on Pointless Warning for Child Porn Searches

    February 2, 2024

    FTX Abandons Plans to Relaunch Crypto Exchange, Commits to Full Repayment of Customers and Creditors

    February 2, 2024

    Elon Musk Proposes Tesla Reincorporates in Texas After Delaware Judge Voids Pay Package

    February 2, 2024

    Tesla’s Elon Musk Tops Disney’s Bob Iger as Most Overrated Chief Executive

    February 2, 2024

    Mark Zuckerberg’s Wealth Grew $84 Billion in 2023 as Pedophiles Target Children on Facebook, Instagram

    February 2, 2024
  • More
    • Sports
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
Patriot Now NewsPatriot Now News
Home»Lifestyle»The Benefits of Carotenoids for Skin
Lifestyle

The Benefits of Carotenoids for Skin

October 28, 2023No Comments7 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email
With the Well+Good SHOP, our editors put their years of know-how to work in order to pick products (from skin care to self care and beyond) they’re betting you’ll love. While our editors independently select these products, making a purchase through our links may earn Well+Good a commission. Happy shopping! Explore the SHOP

While a solid skin-care routine rich in hero ingredients like vitamin C and retinoids can keep your complexion healthy (and glowing!), it’s only one piece of a much larger puzzle. What you eat and drink can have a major impact on your skin, and studies show1 certain nutrients can improve hydration, elasticity, firmness, and brightness.

Though no single superfood promises to be a cure-all for your varying skin concerns, there’s one antioxidant currently gaining fame in the beauty world that’s capable of helping out with a whole lot of them.

Carotenoids, which are found in many plant-based foods, have begun to emerge in skin supplements and topicals thanks to their ability to defend against visible signs of aging. Read on to find out why they’re worth adding to your routine.

What are carotenoids?

“Carotenoids are the colored pigments found in nature that produce the bright yellow, red, and orange colors we see in certain fruits, vegetables, and other plants,” explains Jessica Shapiro, RD, a certified diabetes educator and the associate wellness and nutrition manager at Montefiore Medical Center in Westchester, New York. “These pigments are made by plants and cannot be made by the body, but act as powerful antioxidants when we eat them,” adds Kylie Amanda, RD, a certified surgical dietitian and nutritionist.

There are currently around 750 carotenoids that occur in nature, but Shapiro says we mainly come into contact with a select few found in fruits and vegetables that we commonly eat:

Related Stories

1. Alpha and beta-carotene

Found in pumpkin, plantains, carrots, sweet potato, winter squash, and green foods like spinach and collards (the chlorophyll in these greens hides the yellow-orange pigments).

See also  Hilarious Humor for Your Best Friend

2. Beta-cryptoxanthin

Found in orange and red fruit and vegetables, such as sweet red peppers and oranges.

3. Lycopene

Found in red fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon, and guava, but more bioavailable and easily absorbed from processed foods like tomato sauce, tomato paste, and ketchup.

4. Lutein

Found in dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale, as well as egg yolks and avocados (which Shapiro says have low levels of lutein, but are highly bioavailable).

5. Zeaxanthin

Found in yellow corn (and corn-based products), bell peppers, and egg yolk.

How carotenoids affect the skin

Before we get into the specifics and wide-ranging benefits of carotenoids, it’s important to understand skin health, how your skin shows signs of aging, and how the ingestion of carotenoids helps to slow down or reverse this process.

Skin aging occurs as a result of both intrinsic (or internal) and extrinsic (or external) factors.“Intrinsic factors are related to your age and genetics, while extrinsic factors include lifestyle factors such as sun exposure, cigarette smoking, air pollution, [and] nutrition,” says Carmen Castilla, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City.

Unlike your internal organs, your skin is directly exposed to the elements, which makes it highly vulnerable to the aging effects of environmental stressors. “Most of what we recognize as aging of the skin results from the deleterious effects of UV radiation from sun exposure,” says Richard Granstein, MD, chair of the department of dermatology at Weill Cornell Medicine and a scientific advisory board member at Elysium, a supplements brand.

UV damage causes inflammation, which leads to the formation of radical oxygen species (ROS) that disrupt the naturally occurring chemical reactions that your skin cells need to function properly. This, in turn, causes the breakdown of collagen and elastin in the skin and stimulates the production of melanin, which results in visible signs of skin aging like fine lines and wrinkles, skin laxity, and hyperpigmentation.

See also  The Power of Elevating Others: Steps to Change Your Life for the Better

Adding carotenoids to your routine can help combat these effects from the inside out thanks to their antioxidant activity, which essentially allows them to gobble up those ROS’s before they can cause damage. “Carotenoids can prevent some the UV-induced damage through the absorption of UV rays and function as a free radical scavenger,” says Dr. Castilla.

Dr. Grandstein explains that ingesting carotenoids can chemically neutralize—or, stop—the effects of UV radiation on the skin, staving off signs of aging. What’s more, because carotenoids are converted to vitamin A within the body (the same vitamin that good ol’ retinol derives from), they can aid in the formation of new collagen.

How to reap the benefits of carotenoids for skin in your own routine

1. Orally

“Consuming a wide variety of brightly colored fruits and vegetables will help you naturally increase your carotenoid intake,” says Dr. Castilla.

Shapiro’s best advice is to “eat the rainbow”—specifically red, orange, and yellow varieties of plant-based foods—in both raw and cooked form. “The type of processing will affect the bioavailability of the carotenoids,” she explains, meaning that certain preparations allow for better carotenoid absorption within the body.

Additionally, because carotenoids are fat soluble, they’re most effective when taken with a meal that contains fat. “This is true for both food and supplement sources,” adds Shapiro.

Speaking of supplements, you can also get your carotenoids in capsule form “Generally, supplements contain higher concentrations of carotenoids than are consumed from a normal diet,” says Dr. Granstein. “The amount in supplements is geared towards specific endpoints.”

Shapiro recommends 2-3 servings of dietary carotenoids per day (or 20-50mg per day) for 3-6 weeks to see visible changes in the skin. “It’s difficult to consume too much with dietary sources, but be careful with supplements because it’s easy to overdo it,” she adds.

Additionally, Amanda points to research2 that shows that the carotenoids stored in our skin degrade after having a cold or virus. “Levels also drop in the winter, likely due to our lower consumption of fruits and veggies, and perhaps the quality is slightly subpar due to being out of season,” she says. “For this reason, it’s important to up your dosage in the cooler months to sustain the benefits of carotenoids.”

See also  Rewiring Your Brain for Success: Quick Techniques to Shift Your Mindset Today

2. Topically

A 2021 study3 found that applying carotenoids topically is an effective way to defend against oxidative stress… just not as effective as consuming them orally.

Dr. Castilla explains that both methods increase the levels of the nutrient in the skin, but the results tend to last longer when you ingest them. “Topical carotenoids are typically stored in the stratum corneum which is the outermost layer of the skin,” she explains. “This layer is constantly renewed and shed which likely explains why the levels fall faster than [with] oral ingestion where carotenoids are stored in fat and are slowly released into the skin.”

So though ingesting carotenoids is the best way to reap their anti-aging benefits, there’s something to be said about supplementing the practice with a topical serum.


Well+Good articles reference scientific, reliable, recent, robust studies to back up the information we share. You can trust us along your wellness journey.

  1. Fam, V. W., Charoenwoodhipong, P., Sivamani, R. K., Holt, R. R., Keen, C. L., & Hackman, R. M. (2022). Plant-Based Foods for Skin Health: A Narrative Review. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 122(3), 614-629. Published on October 30, 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.jand.2021.10.024.
  2. Darvin ME, Sterry W, Lademann J, Vergou T. The Role of Carotenoids in Human Skin. Molecules. 2011 Dec 16;16(12):10491–506. doi: 10.3390/molecules161210491. PMCID: PMC6264659.
  3. de Souza Guedes L, Martinez RM, Bou-Chacra NA, Velasco MVR, Rosado C, Baby AR. An Overview on Topical Administration of Carotenoids and Coenzyme Q10 Loaded in Lipid Nanoparticles. Antioxidants (Basel). 2021 Jun 26;10(7):1034. doi: 10.3390/antiox10071034. PMID: 34206935; PMCID: PMC8300771.


Our editors independently select these products. Making a purchase through our links may earn Well+Good a commission.

Benefits Carotenoids skin
Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Posts

How Smart Mattresses Improve Sleep Quality For Couples

May 9, 2025

Short and Funny Sayings for a Happy Summer with Friends

May 9, 2025

100 Funny Father’s Day Quotes for Hilariously Relatable Humor (and Plenty of Love Too)

May 8, 2025

Top 10 Benefits Of Acupuncture

May 8, 2025
Add A Comment

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Top Posts

CNN anchor admits Durham report is ‘devastating’ for FBI — but still finds a way to blame Trump: ‘There was a lot of smoke’

May 16, 2023

Aussie Cattle Breeders Set New Record

July 31, 2023

New Details Emerge In Stetson Bennett’s Arrest

March 1, 2023

U.S. stocks mixed, dollar strengthens as Powell hints at two more rate hikes

June 28, 2023
Don't Miss

How Smart Mattresses Improve Sleep Quality For Couples

Lifestyle May 9, 2025

Sharing a bed with your partner can be romantic… until it’s not. One of you…

OpenAI CEO Warns: ‘Not A Huge Amount Of Time’ Until China Overpowers American AI

May 9, 2025

Short and Funny Sayings for a Happy Summer with Friends

May 9, 2025

Trump Announces First Post-Tariff Trade Deal

May 8, 2025
About
About

This is your World, Tech, Health, Entertainment and Sports website. We provide the latest breaking news straight from the News industry.

We're social. Connect with us:

Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest
Categories
  • Business (4,111)
  • Entertainment (4,220)
  • Finance (3,202)
  • Health (1,938)
  • Lifestyle (1,628)
  • Politics (3,084)
  • Sports (4,036)
  • Tech (2,006)
  • Uncategorized (4)
  • World (3,944)
Our Picks

Just a Little Tax Spat? Russia Asks Kyrgyzstan to Stop Pressure on Companies

February 4, 2025

Indonesia Submits Plan on How it Will Spend $20 Billion on Clean Energy Transition

August 17, 2023

‘If He C*ms, I Guess I Gotta Be a Mother’

June 26, 2023
Popular Posts

How Smart Mattresses Improve Sleep Quality For Couples

May 9, 2025

OpenAI CEO Warns: ‘Not A Huge Amount Of Time’ Until China Overpowers American AI

May 9, 2025

Short and Funny Sayings for a Happy Summer with Friends

May 9, 2025
© 2025 Patriotnownews.com - All rights reserved.
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.