AGEING SKIN

Skin health is a reflection of the impact of diet, exercise, stress, pollution, genetics and many other factors that we have exposed ourselves to over our life span. Skin deterioration is somewhat inevitable although we can influence many of these factors and so limit the rate of cellular decline.  Here's a question: how old are you? It's a lot trickier that you might imagine. The correct answer, it turns out is about 15 and a half. According to recent research, that's the average age of your body - your muscles and guts, anyway. You might think you have bee around since the day you were born, but most of your body is a lot younger. Unfortunately over time mitochondrial ~DNA is damaged and loses some of its capabilities. in skin, for instance, mitochondrial mutations are thought to be responsible for the gradual loss in the quality of collagen, the skin's scaffolding, which is why skin loses it's shape and forms wrinkles. Fortunately, advances in nutrition provide us with important tools to aid our beauty regime. (An excerpt from my nutrition training manual)
Supplements which can help ageing skin are:
Acerola cherry extract, the high vitamin C and mineral slats have been shown to aid in the remineralisation of tired and stressed skin.
Hemp seed oil, the ideal ratio of essential fatty acids in hemp seed oil helps to stimulate the optimum formation of hair, skin and nails. Hemp seed has been found to have positive effects on dry skin conditions such as eczema.
Pycnogenol, helps avoid and reduce wrinkles. Procanthocyanidins (OPCs) protect against free radical damage, suggested to be a major cause of the ageing process. 


Green tea is beneficial to skin as it has a high collagen content and also if applied topically to the skin can reverse the effects of sun damage on the skin, ie skin discolouration, and wrinkles.
I have been drinking green tea and  also using green tea as a moisturiser, mixed with glycerine for 12 months now (the glycerine and green tea mix is for the external application, I do not drink glycerine). I had some little patches of skin discolouration under my eyes which I have had since my last pregnancy 21 years ago and they have nearly faded altogether along with some freckling on my nose, since using and drinking green tea.  After my last child I was left with two big skin discolouration's patches(the mask of pregnancy, chloasma or melisma) on my forehead and underneath both of my eyes. I used to use a concealer to cover them up.
 I had tried some products mainly(vitamin A which is good for acne and wrinkles)  and they had faded considerably over the years but there was still one patch under one eye which seems to have gone with the green tea .And overall I think the green tea applications to my skin have proved to be better than more expensive skin care products that I have previously used.