This may come as a shock, but "it's a good general rule that you don�t need supplements, if you just focus on getting your fruits and veggies in," says Canfield. Plus, you'll get more nutrients and benefits from eating the antioxidants in their natural form, while avoiding an overdose. "When you try to extract something out of a food and put it in to a pill, you take it out of its natural environment, and there are other substances in the foods that help your body utilize the antioxidant better," she says.
That's why she recommends increasing your fruit and veggie consumption to eight or nine servings a day. One way to make sure you're getting variety is to "eat something that's from a [different] color of the rainbow every day." So have something white (cauliflower, onion, potato), and red (tomato, watermelon) and so forth. "Then, you'll get a nice mix of phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals."
Simpson agrees saying, "the biggest myth is how people think they can supplement with antioxidants and not have to follow a balanced eating plan. [Good health] is really about synergy." Simpson personally looks at supplementation to "complement diet," not replace it.
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The truth about ingesting vs. applying antioxidants
"When you're talking about nutricosmetics, people think they're replacing a topical product or regimen, but that isn't the case," says Simpson. "When you're applying [the antioxidant] topically, you're putting it on the acute area. When you're taking an ingestible, that's going to go through the body, and works systemically." The primary difference between topical and oral applications of nutricosmetics is that topical products directly the area it's applied to (such as your under eye area), but consuming the nutrients will improve your skin from head to toe.
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The truth about results
Simpson says a prevalent misconception many women have is that you'll see instant results from taking ingestibles. But the truth is, it takes three to five weeks for new skin cells to grow, so regardless of whether you apply antioxidant-rich products topically or consume the nutrients, it'll take at least that much time for results to show.
Antioxidants. We hear this word every day as it relates to maintaining a healthy skin diet and we assume we also need them in our skin care regimen. But what are these antioxidants exactly and what do they do?
Warring camps in the dermatology world are having ongoing debates about the importance of antioxidants. In fact, the Journal of the American Medical Association conducted a study that shows that ingesting too many antioxidants may cause harmful toxin levels in our bodies to rise, which may, in turn, cause cancer. A scary thought indeed.
But we do also know that antioxidants are the nutrients that protect our bodies from nasty little free radicals, which attack cell membranes and cause accelerated aging and chronic disease. In essence, antioxidants act as a shield, taking the hits these free radicals fire and neutralizing them before they can attack healthy cells.
Because of their protective properties, antioxidants are said to reduce signs of aging and prevent certain cancers. But the question must be asked -- are the superpowers these nutrients seem to have too good to be true? And could they really be causing more harm than good?
To figure out the answer we went to Gayl Canfield, Director of Nutrition at Pritikin Longevity Center + Spa in Miami and celebrity nutritionists Paula Simpson and Joy Bauer. Here they boil down the conflicting chatter you've likely heard about the antioxidants contained in the nutricosmetics and nutritional supplements that claim to support your skin's youthful image. You'll find that while some are necessary for healthy skin, others may actually wreak havoc.
