9 Superfoods for Skin Health: Benefits Inside & Out

The saying “Beauty is skin deep” has been around for a long, long time. And indeed, that proverb holds much truth; we should never judge someone’s character by what we see on the outside. When it comes to skin health, though, what we see on the surface is influenced by what we use externally on our bodies and what we choose to consume internally. So, in this article, we share some of the superfoods for skin health that we feature in our body scrubs, body butters, and other spa and body care products. And you’ll also find recipe recommendations for incorporating the ingredients into your healthy eating routine.

9 Best Foods for Healthy Skin

Many foods have skin-boosting benefits. Among our favorites are those that we incorporate into our spa and body care products.

9 Superfoods for Skin Health: Benefits Inside & Out | Makes Scents Natural Spa Line1. Black Tea

Studies have shown that drinking black tea has numerous health benefits. They’ve indicated black tea helps to improve blood pressure, reduce cancer risk, and decrease the risk of cardiovascular disorders, such as stroke. 

Its antioxidant, antiseptic, and anti-inflammatory properties benefit the skin by helping to reduce puffiness, fight skin infections and blemishes, delay signs of aging, and offer some protection against skin cancer.

Featured Makes Scents Natural Spa Line Products with Black Tea

Chai to Resist Body Scrub

Healthy Recipe Recommendations Featuring Black Tea

9 Superfoods for Skin Health: Benefits Inside & Out | Makes Scents Natural Spa Line2. Cacao (a.k.a, Chocolate)

Who doesn’t love chocolate? It’s a tasty treat, and dark chocolate is good for you. It’s rich in polyphenols, flavonoids, and minerals — such as iron, magnesium, calcium, copper, potassium, and zinc. Potential health benefits include improved cardiovascular health, immune function, and metabolism. 

For skin, chocolate in cocoa powder form has been shown to help reduce scarring, improve skin elasticity, and remove toxins. Cocoa butter, the oil from raw cacao seeds, contains fatty acids, vitamin E, and polyphenols that offer anti-aging benefits, promote healing, restore skin’s moisture, and protect against damage from the sun’s ultra-violet rays.

Featured Makes Scents Natural Spa Line Products with Chocolate

Healthy Dark Chocolate Recipe Recommendations

What Does Cinnamon Essential Oil Do for Skin?3. Cinnamon

Cinnamon contains various compounds that offer wellness benefits. For example, cinnamaldehyde (a terpene) has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antimicrobial properties. And the phenol eugenol in cinnamon has anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, and pain-relieving properties. 

Studies have indicated cinnamon can help reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It helps skin health by reducing puffiness and redness due to inflammatory skin conditions, facilitating the healing of blemishes, and offering some protection against skin cancer.

Featured Makes Scents Natural Spa Line Products with Cinnamon

Healthy Cinnamon Recipe Recommendations

9 Superfoods for Skin Health: Benefits Inside & Out | Makes Scents Natural Spa Line4. Citrus Fruits

Citrus fruits contain various beneficial elements — such as phenols, vitamins, minerals, and other compounds — that give them health-boosting characteristics.  Lime, lemon, grapefruit, and orange have become known for their antiviral, antibacterial, anticarcinogenic, and anti-inflammatory properties. They may help protect against cancers, control blood glucose levels, control cholesterol, improve mood, and reduce allergies. 

What can skin gain from citrus ingredients? The fruits’ vitamin C helps maintain skin elasticity, boost collagen production, and promote cell turnover — all of which help diminish the signs of aging. Citrus also naturally exfoliates skin with alpha hydroxyl, revealing a brighter, more even skin tone. 

Featured Makes Scents Natural Spa Line Products with Citrus

Healthy Citrus Recipe Recommendations

9 Superfoods for Skin Health: Benefits Inside & Out | Makes Scents Natural Spa Line5. Cranberries

Cranberries, rich in vitamins and antioxidants, have become well-known for treating urinary tract infections and supporting bladder health. Studies have also indicated they can help some people manage their risk of cardiovascular disease by lowering systolic blood pressure and BMI (body mass index) and increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL). 

While research on the skin benefits of cranberry is limited, the fruit contains compounds known to improve skin health. For example, vitamin C helps reduce hyperpigmentation and improves skin tone. Also, cranberries are packed with plant phenols which help maintain collagen and elastin, thus supporting firmer skin.

Featured Makes Scents Natural Spa Line Products with Cranberries

Healthy Cranberry Recipe Recommendations

9 Superfoods for Skin Health: Benefits Inside & Out | Makes Scents Natural Spa Line6. Peppermint

Since ancient times in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, peppermint’s soothing effects on digestion have made it a popular remedy for stomach and intestinal issues, including gas, diarrhea, and nausea. Research has found that it helps alleviate itchy skin when applied topically.  Also, peppermint contains menthol — with cooling, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory properties — and can help relieve muscle pain and soreness.

Featured Makes Scents Natural Spa Line Products with Peppermint

Healthy Peppermint Recipe Recommendations

9 Superfoods for Skin Health: Benefits Inside & Out | Makes Scents Natural Spa Line7. Oatmeal

Rich in soluble fiber, oats have become synonymous with heart health for their effects in helping to lower total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentrations. Research has also indicated that oats can help people lower their BMI by making them feel full after eating, reducing hunger, and preventing overeating. Oat fiber also helps aid digestion and decrease constipation. 

The antioxidants in oats have anti-inflammatory and anti-itching properties. When applied topically to the skin, oatmeal can help alleviate dryness and soothe the discomfort of various skin conditions, such as eczema and atopic dermatitis. 

Featured Makes Scents Natural Spa Line Products with Oatmeal

Healthy Oatmeal Recipe Recommendations

Terpenes in Essential Oils: Benefits That Go Beyond Skin Deep8. Rosemary

The herb rosemary has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-depressant, and neuroprotective properties that have positive clinical effects on mood, pain level, anxiety, and sleep quality. 

Research has indicated rosemary is a bacteria-fighting, antifungal agent that helps maintain skin homeostasis (balance). 

Featured Makes Scents Natural Spa Line Products with Rosemary

Healthy Rosemary Recipe Recommendations

9 Superfoods for Skin Health: Benefits Inside & Out | Makes Scents Natural Spa Line9. Strawberries

Besides their mouth-watering appeal, strawberries have been termed a “functional food,” meaning they deliver health advantages above and beyond basic nutritional benefits. Strawberries contain micronutrients and phytochemicals with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antihypertensive properties. Studies indicate they can help protect against cancer and heart disease — and even potentially reverse age-related neurodegenerative disorders.

Research has shown that skincare formulations with strawberries may help protect skin against Ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation damage (which counts for 95 percent of the sun’s UV rays that reach us here on Earth). Rich in vitamin C, strawberries can help diminish fine lines and wrinkles, brighten skin and lighten dark spots, and improve elasticity and firmness.

Featured Makes Scents Natural Spa Line Products with Strawberries

Healthy Strawberry Recipe Recommendations

“Food” for Thought

By carefully thinking about what you eat and the skincare products you use, you can be your own wellness advocate. The superfoods that we mentioned here are examples of how good nutrition can potentially enhance health — inside and out. 

 

Your turn! Which superfoods do you love best? Which superfood-rich Makes Scents Natural Spa Line products are your favorites?

 

Sources:

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Khan, N., & Mukhtar, H. (2013). Tea and health: studies in humans. Current pharmaceutical design, 19(34), 6141–6147. https://doi.org/10.2174/1381612811319340008

Hyun-Sun Yoon, Jong Rhan Kim, Gyeong Yul Park, Jong-Eun Kim, Dong Hun Lee, Ki Won Lee, Jin Ho Chung, Cocoa Flavanol Supplementation Influences Skin Conditions of Photo-Aged Women: A 24-Week Double-Blind, Randomized, Controlled Trial, The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 146, Issue 1, January 2016, Pages 46–50, https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.115.217711

Scapagnini, G., Davinelli, S., Di Renzo, L., De Lorenzo, A., Olarte, H. H., Micali, G., Cicero, A. F., & Gonzalez, S. (2014). Cocoa bioactive compounds: significance and potential for the maintenance of skin health. Nutrients, 6(8), 3202–3213. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu6083202

Han, X., & Parker, T. L. (2017). Antiinflammatory Activity of Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) Bark Essential Oil in a Human Skin Disease Model. Phytotherapy research :PTR, 31(7), 1034–1038. https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.5822

Chaney, Tiffany (2022). 4 Major Health Benefits of Cinnamon.  https://www.ecowatch.com/cinnamon-health-benefits.html

Abobatta, Waleed Fouad (2019). Nutritional Benefits of Citrus Fruits. https://biomedgrid.com/fulltext/volume3/nutritional-benefits-of-citrus-fruits.000681.php

Altavilla, Nicole (2018). The Citrus Ingredients Needed for Skin. https://www.americanspa.com/skincare/citrus-ingredients-needed-great-skin

Pourmasoumi, M., Hadi, A., Najafgholizadeh, A., Joukar, F., & Mansour-Ghanaei, F. (2020). The effects of cranberry on cardiovascular metabolic risk factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland), 39(3), 774–788. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2019.04.003 

Elsaie, L. T., El Mohsen, A. M., Ibrahim, I. M., Mohey-Eddin, M. H., & Elsaie, M. L. (2016). Effectiveness of topical peppermint oil on symptomatic treatment of chronic pruritus. Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology, 9, 333–338. https://doi.org/10.2147/CCID.S116995

Balakrishnan. Aishwarya (2015). Therapeutic Uses of Peppermint — A Review. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research. Vol 7 (7), 474-476. https://www.jpsr.pharmainfo.in/Documents/Volumes/vol7Issue07/jpsr07071524.pdf

Clemens, R., & van Klinken, B. J.-W. (2014). Oats, more than just a whole grain: an introduction. British Journal of Nutrition, 112(S2), S1–S3. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114514002712

Fowler J. F., Jr (2014). Colloidal oatmeal formulations and the treatment of atopic dermatitis. Journal of drugs in dermatology : JDD, 13(10), 1180–1185.

Ghasemzadeh Rahbardar, M., & Hosseinzadeh, H. (2020). Therapeutic effects of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) and its active constituents on nervous system disorders. Iranian journal of basic medical sciences, 23(9), 1100–1112. https://doi.org/10.22038/ijbms.2020.45269.10541

González-Minero, F. J., Bravo-Díaz, L., & Ayala-Gómez, A. (2020). Rosmarinus officinalis L. (Rosemary): An Ancient Plant with Uses in Personal Healthcare and Cosmetics. Cosmetics, 7(4), 77. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cosmetics7040077 

Proksch, E., Nissen, H. P., Bremgartner, M., & Urquhart, C. (2005). Bathing in a magnesium-rich Dead Sea salt solution improves skin barrier function, enhances skin hydration, and reduces inflammation in atopic dry skin. International journal of dermatology, 44(2), 151–157. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-4632.2005.02079.x 

Basu, Arpita & Nguyen, Angel & Betts, Nancy & Lyons, Timothy. (2014). Strawberry As a Functional Food: An Evidence-Based Review. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition. 54. 790-806. 10.1080/10408398.2011.608174.

Gasparrini, M., Forbes-Hernandez, T. Y., Afrin, S., Reboredo-Rodriguez, P., Cianciosi, D., Mezzetti, B., Quiles, J. L., Bompadre, S., Battino, M., & Giampieri, F. (2017). Strawberry-Based Cosmetic Formulations Protect Human Dermal Fibroblasts against UVA-Induced Damage. Nutrients, 9(6), 605. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9060605

Ultraviolet (UV) Radiation. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/radiation-exposure/uv-radiation.html#:~:text=UVA%20rays%20have%20the%20least,more%20energy%20than%20UVA%20rays.

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