Why Zinc is so beneficial for skin health !
If you have been struggling with skin issues, whether it may be breakouts, redness, rashes, itchiness, dry or sensitised skin, or perhaps you have cleared your skin and are wanting to focus on strengthening and reducing scarring of your skin- you may want to consider zinc!
Zinc is one of most vital (if not the most vital) nutrients for skin health and healing!
Zinc is a mineral which is actually found naturally in skin tissue and is needed to make keratin, which is the building block for our skin cells (called karotincyets).
It is involved in over 300 enzymatic processes within the body, making it a key essential nutrient to support the optimal functioning and processing of many vital organs, including our immune system, hormones, brain function and in particular, our skin!
Its multiple benefits for the skin extend from:
Supporting and reducing hormonal acne
Reducing scarring
Protecting against wound healing
Increasing cell turnover
Improving wound repair and our skin texture.
This is due to its natural antioxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, which is essential for combating and supporting chronic and inflammatory skin issues including dermatitis, acne, and hormonal acne.
This means it helps protect our cell membrane by reducing oxidative stress to the cell and supporting the integrity of the cell. This makes it particularly beneficial if you have been experiencing hormonal breakouts, or ‘rebound’ acne after coming off the pill. This is also key for supporting inflamed breakouts, particularly due to hormonal imbalances, as zinc helps to regulate hormones, and actually reduces androgens (male hormones), which is often a large driver for breakouts in women. This is particularly beneficial to help support healing alongside topical therapies, as it helps to encourage a new cell turnover.
Zinc assists with strengthening the skin cell integrity, and encourages the shedding of dead skin cells. This helps promote new skin cells coming to the surface, as well as prevent the inflammation driven from hormonal breakouts. It is important to ensure you are consuming enough zinc, particularly alongside your topical treatments for your skin, as it will help with the cell renewal, and reduce the bacterial build up in the skin!
Whilst I don’t advocate just supplementing for the sake of it, and don’t believe in taking supplements as a band aid approach (as nutrients are best absorbed coming from whole food), and each and every body has different nutritional requirements. However there are times when our body requires higher amounts of certain nutrients. These are in times of healing or recovery, or if there has been a deficiency, or depletion due to being run down or after periods of high stress.
Tip: If you have been struggling with a skin issues, whether it has been short term or ongoing, you may want to assess your diet and see if zinc deficiency or insufficiency may be a contributing factor! Foods highest in zinc include beef, oysters, shellfish, chickpeas, nuts, seeds and eggs.
Please note; if you are vegetarian or vegan your nutritional requirements for zinc will be higher, as zinc is higher and absorbed faster from animal proteins, and plant based sources are absorbed at a slower rate, therefore supplementation may be necessary and intake may be higher.
If you are ready to get to the root cause of your skin issues, and are unsure where to begin your journey, then I would love to help guide you in the right direction! At Skin Nutrition Co. I also provide nutrient testing in order to assess your levels, prior to deciding to supplement.
Simply send an email to contact@skinnutritionco.com.au or book online for a consultation.
Also, if you have a family member or friend that you know would benefit from this, then please share this with them!
I look forward to helping you on your health journey, and helping you balance your skin and health, from the inside out!
Dominique
Skin Nutrition Co. X