Health Hotline Magazine | May 2024

What if your daily skincare routine could work behind the scenes, with minimal effort and money spent, yet with the maximum results to restore, repair, and maintain your skin’s natural barrier? With natural topical agents like ceramides and hyaluronic acid, and skin-supporting supplements like omega-3 fatty acids, you can support and nourish your skin barrier to get a healthy, natural glow. Glowing Skin? Want Healthy By Liz Mueller Focus on Skin Barrier Health!

Ceramides to Restore Barrier Function Why should we care about our skin barrier? For starters, our skin is our largest organ, “serving as a chemical, physical, and immune barrier between the internal and the external environment.” It serves as a permeable barrier, preventing excessive water/moisture loss, while protecting the body from various insults, be it bacterial or environmental like air pollution, allergens, and UV rays. When the skin barrier is damaged—from factors like aging, abrasive washing, overuse of products like peels and scrubs, hot water, and cold, dry weather—skin becomes dry, itchy, irritated, and flaky. Ceramides—fats, or lipids, that are found in skin cells and play an important role in skin barrier function—make up about 50 percent of our outer skin layer, called the stratum corneum. As we age, levels of natural ceramides decrease; additionally, the same factors that damage the skin barrier (abrasive washing, etc.) can also deplete ceramides in the skin. When levels of ceramides are low, this allows moisture to escape the skin, letting in irritants, pollution, and even infectious agents like bacteria, which leaves skin dry, irritated, and inflamed and can eventually lead to psoriasis, eczema, and acne.

Many skincare creams on the market today contain synthetic ceramides and plant-derived phytoceramides (“phyto” meaning plant). Both forms are effective at replenishing natural skin ceramides and restoring healthy barrier function, improving dry, itchy, flaky skin, and even dermatitis and psoriasis. Oils such as jojoba, safflower, and grapeseed are naturally high in ceramides. The ceramides in jojoba oil are especially high, around 96 percent, and can be found in many anti-aging skincare products, as they help to reduce fine lines and wrinkles. Studies also show that jojoba oil is a good option for those with altered skin barriers, as in the cases of seborrheic dermatitis (dandruff), eczema, and acne. Besides jojoba oil, there are many creams and lotions that include ceramides; simply look for “ceramides” in the ingredient list. Niacinamide is another ingredient to look for—used topically, this B vitamin supports the body’s natural production of ceramides.

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