Let’s talk about all the nutrients we need to take care of our biggest organ, your skin! Carotenoids are not synthesized by the human body, so they must be obtained from the diet. Good dietary sources of lutein and zeaxanthin include leafy greens, such as kale, spinach, and lettuce, as well as broccoli, corn, peas, carrots, oranges, and eggs. Among the most concerning insults to the skin seen in healthcare settings are infection, skin cancers, allergies/sensitivities, and autoimmune diseases. For infections, underlying the vulnerability to protract these infectious insults can be an injury-wound opening access to the inner body. With skin cancers, allergies/sensitivities, and autoimmune conditions, the microenvironment terrain becomes the challenge to assess and know how to treat with considerations of potential antigenic dietary intake, environmental exposures, inflammation, pathogenic triggers of subclinical chronic infections, insufficient or deficient nutritional status, emotional and biological stresses, and genomic propensities. Wounds/wound chronic infection/post-op surgical wounds, Skin cancers such as Basal cell carcinoma, Squamous cell carcinoma, and Melanoma, Atopic dermatitis/Eczema, Psoriasis, Cracked lesions on or around lips and mouth, Dermatitis Herpetiforme (extremities and/or truncal), Acne/Cystic acne, Blistering diseases, Pemphigus vulgaris, Pemphigus, and Vitiligo all involve your diet on a molecular level. The treatment for some of these and to help your skin out include: Vitamin C, Biotin, Linoleic acid, Gamma linolenic acid, Arachidonic acid, Saturated fats, Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), Medium-chain fatty acids (MCT), CoQ10, Vitamin E, full spectrum tocopherols/tocotrienols, Vitamin D3 (dose per blood test vitamin D25OH/VDR genomic), Vitamin A retinyl palmitate (if indicated by testing vitamin A retinol), Protein, Amino acids, Collagen, Carnosine, Honey (medical), and Aloe vera. For healthier skin you want to limit trans fats, acrylamide, rancid oils, hydrogenated fats, heat processed vegetable oils, high oleic-vegetable oils, antibiotics, and hormone - containing animal fats.
Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy by: Diane Noland, Jeanne A. Drisko, Leigh Wagner
