This article is from the WebMD Feature Archive
Nourishing Your Skin..
The skin is the outer reflection of your inner health. Moist, clear, glowing skin is a sign of good diet, while dry, pale, scaly or oily skin may result when diet is not up to par. Fortunately, the eating habits that work best for staying healthy are also the next best thing to a fountain of youth for our skin.
Skin Tonics
Just about every nutrient has a role in maintaining healthy skin. Vitamin C helps build collagen, the "scaffolding" between the tissues of our body. Poor intake of this vitamin can cause bruising, loss of skin strength and elasticity, and poor healing of cuts and scrapes. Just one daily glass of orange juice or a bowl of strawberries supplies all the vitamin C you need. Healthy skin also needs the B vitamins found in whole grains, milk and wheat germ to help speed wound healing and prevent dry, flaky or oily skin. Vitamin A in dark orange or green vegetables and fruits, egg yokes, and liver, maintains epithelial tissues such as skin, thus helping to prevent premature wrinkling or bumpy, sandpaper-like skin. Vitamin D in milk might help curb symptoms of psoriasis. Zinc in meat, seafood, and legumes aids in the healing of cuts and scrapes. Water keeps the skin moist and regulates normal function of the oil glands. The list of nutrients that benefit the skin is almost endless.
Good Oxygen Supply
Your skin needs a constant supply of water and oxygen. But that doesn't mean standing in the air and taking a shower. Rather, these nutrients need to be supplied through blood. A healthy blood supply provides other nutrients as well and removes waste products. It takes an ample amount of many nutrients to build and maintain healthy red blood cells and other blood factors. Those nutrients include protein, iron and copper, plus folic acid, other B vitamins, and vitamins C and E. A deficiency of any of these, especially iron, reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, suffocating the skin and leaving it pale and drawn.
Fats for the Skin
Some nutrients directly affect the health of your skin. Repairing damaged skin requires protein, zinc, and vitamins A, C, and K. Linoleic acid is a fat in vegetable oils that helps restore damaged skin and maintain smooth, moist skin. On the other hand, a high-fat diet might increase the risk for developing skin cancer. Despite these seemingly contradictory findings, the solution is simple: Consume an overall low-fat diet and follow the guidelines below.
Antioxidants: Anti-Aging and Anti-Cancer
Much of the so-called aging of the skin is really a result of long-term exposure to sun, tobacco smoke, and ozone. Environmental pollutants generate highly damaging oxygen fragments, called free radicals, that erode skin much like water rusts metal. Free radicals also damage collagen, the protein latticework that maintains the skin's firmness and suppleness. The result is a condition called photoaging, which includes dryness, loss of elasticity, and the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Free radicals generated by sun exposure also damage the genetic structure of skin cells, which contributes to the development of cancer. Antioxidant nutrients, including vitamins C and E and beta carotene, show promise in slowing the rate of free-radical damage to the skin. People who consume five or more antioxidant-rich foods -- spinach, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cantaloupe, grapefruit, carrots -- stockpile these health-enhancing nutrients in their tissues and develop fewer skin cancers. Of course, the antioxidants are effective only if you combine this healthful diet with other risk-control habits, such as using sunscreen lotions.
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Important Safety Information
- KAPIDEX may not be right for everyone. You should not take KAPIDEX if you are allergic to KAPIDEX or any of its ingredients. Severe allergic reactions have been reported.
- Symptom relief does not rule out other serious stomach conditions.
- The most common side effects of KAPIDEX were diarrhea (4.8%), stomach pain (4.0%), nausea (2.9%), common cold (1.9%), vomiting (1.6%), and gas (1.6%). KAPIDEX and certain other medicines can affect each other. Before taking KAPIDEX, tell your doctor if you are taking ampicillin, atazanavir, digoxin, iron, ketoconazole, or tacrolimus. If you are taking KAPIDEX with warfarin, you may need to be monitored because serious risks could occur.
Uses of KAPIDEX
- Persistent heartburn two or more days a week, despite treatment and diet changes, could be acid reflux disease (ARD). Prescription KAPIDEX capsules are used in adults to treat heartburn related to ARD, to heal acid-related damage to the lining of the esophagus (called erosive esophagitis or EE), and to stop EE from coming back. Individual results may vary. Most damage (erosions) heals in 4–8 weeks.
Talk to your doctor or healthcare professional. Please see full Prescribing Information for KAPIDEX.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
KAPIDEX™ is a trademark of Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc., and is used under license by Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Inc.
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