A dermatologist takes 5 supplements every day that help with smooth skin and antiaging
Dr. Azadeh Shirazi is a dermatologist in California.
She takes five supplements daily to help her skin stay smooth and glowy.
They include a daily multivitamin, vitamin D, and nicotinamide.
As a dermatologist, Dr. Azadeh Shirazi knows the secret to glowy, smooth skin. The doctor, who lives in La Jolla, California, says for truly healthy skin, what goes inside your body matters as much as what you put on your skin.
That's why she takes several daily supplements, for both their skin benefits and their antiaging properties. She told Insider some of them also had other perks, such as improving bone strength and reducing skin-cancer risks.
Here are the five vitamins Shirazi takes for her skin every day.
Vitamin D
While Shirazi takes a multivitamin that already contains vitamins D and E, she takes extra supplements for each.
When she got bloodwork done three years ago, she said, her vitamin D levels were low. Shirazi says she tries to avoid the sun to protect her skin, so she started taking vitamin D supplements, which also have antiaging properties.
Not only do vitamin D supplements reduce the need for prolonged sun exposure that can damage skin and lead to skin cancer, but Shirazi says they can slightly lower the risk of melanoma in women with a history of nonmelanoma skin cancer, citing a 2011 study.
She also emphasizes that the older people get, the more they can benefit from vitamin D supplements. This is especially true for adults age 70 or older, according to the Mayo Clinic.
"As we age, our skin becomes less efficient at making vitamin D from the sun, and our kidneys' ability to convert vitamin D to its active form is less effective," Shirazi said.
Vitamin E
Shirazi says she also takes vitamins D and E to boost bone strength. Vitamin E has been shown to prevent some bone loss in postmenopausal women.
"Our bones make up the scaffold that holds up our skin," she said.
Especially in women approaching their 40s and 50s, declining estrogen levels lead to greater bone loss, which Shirazi says makes extra supplementation more important.
Nicotinamide
The only vitamin Shirazi takes twice daily is 500 mg of nicotinamide, a form of niacin, which she says is popular in the skincare world.
"It helps improve skin barrier function by increasing ceramides, which is the glue that holds our skin cells together, strengthening our skin barrier," Shirazi said.
As a result, it works as a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory supplement that can help reduce redness and irritation caused by skin conditions such as acne and rosacea.
Another perk may be skin-cancer prevention: A 2015 study found people at high risk for skin cancer who took nicotinamide twice daily reduced the incidence of new skin cancers by 23%.
Shirazi says this is because "nicotinamide helps the skin replenish the body's DNA-repair enzymes" to help mitigate sun damage.
According to the National Institutes of Health, most Americans already consume more than the recommended dietary allowance of niacin through their food.
Resveratrol
Shirazi takes resveratrol, a plant compound she says can be naturally found in many foods such as grapes and peanuts.
Like nicotinamide, it has antioxidant properties and "also helps brighten the skin's complexion and boosts elasticity," Shirazi says.
Resveratrol is also a popular supplement in the antiaging world. David Sinclair, a Harvard biologist and antiaging researcher, takes resveratrol supplements daily. But research is mixed on whether these supplements can actually improve longevity.
A multivitamin
Finally, Shirazi takes a daily women's multivitamin. She's been taking one for the past 20 years that contains "all the essential vitamins," she says.
Hers includes zinc, which she says has "many anti-inflammatory properties, therefore improving many skin conditions such as rosacea, acne, and eczema."
The formula she uses also includes vitamin A, which she says "helps improve skin texture, reduce fine lines, and boost hyaluronic acid levels."
Shirazi says Vitamin A "also promotes cell turnover, reduces collagen breakdown, evens out your skin tone, and regulates oil production, which is helpful in acne."
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