Most people are aware that vitamin E is good for the skin, however many don’t realise exactly why it’s good and how it can promote healthy skin. Vitamin E is a powerful anti-oxidant that can help combat the signs of ageing and encourage new skin cell regeneration. Not only should it form part of a healthy diet to prevent cell damage but it can also be applied topically to the skin for a further anti-oxidant boost.
Vitamin E itself can be found in a group of 8 fat soluble compounds that include tocopherols and tocotrienols, the most popular form found in skin care products is alpha-tocopheryl acetate. These compounds can be found in a number of naturally occurring sources including sun flower seeds, avocado, mango, nuts, cocoa butter, tomatoes, coconuts as well as many others. To extract the tocopherols and maintain the efficacy of the vitamin these seeds, nuts, fruits etc should be processed naturally by cold pressing rather than by heat or chemical means. As a result, vitamin E can be found in products that specifically use oils from ingredients that contain high sources of the vitamin, or once extracted can be added to a product to boost the level of vitamin E.
How Vitamin E works
Most people have heard the term anti-oxidant and understand that these help fight free radicals but how exactly does this work and why should you care?
The cells in your body can become damaged as a result of a process called oxidation and in the modern world the triggers from pollution or smoking can encourage this process within our own cells. The process happens at the microscopic level of molecules and results in an electron splitting from a molecule. When this happens and an electron becomes unpaired it becomes unstable and seeks to become stable again. This reaction results in the production of a free radical that will seek an electron to make it stable again attacking a nearby molecule to steal one of it’s electrons. This can then result in a chain reaction as molecules steal electrons to stabilize themselves, this can cascade causing disruption to the cell.
Anti-oxidants such as vitamin E provide electrons to help stabilise the molecule. Anti-oxidants are stable even when sharing an electron so they help combat the development of free radicals and as a result prevent cell damage. Whilst the body can handle some level of oxidation itself, anti-oxidants help whenever their production increases beyond the bodies own ability to cope. Eating healthily and providing skin with the nutrients it needs can all help, especially if you live or work in city centres with the car fumes & pollution that persist.
Our Recommendations
With the wide variety of natural products we stock, many will contain some level of vitamin E, even those that don’t specifically advertise the fact. If you’re after a specific product with high levels of vitamin E and it’s main purpose to provide a vitamin E boost, then there is Jasons vitamin E face cream or vitamin E hand & body lotion. Alternatively you could search out products that are formulated from ingredients that have high levels of vitamin E, such as Avocado. Antipodes has a number of products that are developed using avocado oil a rich source of vitamin E, our favourite being Antipodes Divine Face Oil, perfect for not only giving skin a vitamin E boost but also supporting collagen production. We’ll say yes please to that!
