Can Vitamin C see off your wrinkles?

Vitamin C: The latest wonder ingredient
The beauty industry has long known that vitamin C in food and cream form is vital for good skin. The nutrient helps form collagen and elastin (essential to keep the skin looking plump, taut and young) as well as acting as an antioxidant to protect us from the harsh effects of the environment, such as UV rays, pollution and a bad diet.

In recent years, lowly vitamin C has been left in the shadows as cosmetic companies embarked on a rush to find new (often unpronouncable) ingredients — the likes of acai, glycans and hyaluronic acid. Indeed, dermatologists have discovered that vitamin C is one of the best ingredients to tackle dark spots. It not only brightens the skin but also inhibits the production of tyrosinase, an enzyme that creates pigmentation.

Scientists have also found that vitamin C is not only an essential building block of skin-plumping collagen and elastin, but it actually kick-starts the body into producing more of these proteins making it a potent anti-ager. The problem in the past has been that it’s hard to use vitamin C at doses high enough to make a difference because it had a tendency to oxidise in other words, go off and stop working after contact with air. The new generation of vitamin C products have overcome this problem.

Would a daily vitamin pill do the job just as well? Not according to dermatologist Dr Sam Bunting, who says: ‘Studies show we can’t increase the amount of vitamin C in our skin simply through diet. Sunlight and pollution deplete the skin’s vitamin C supply, so it makes sense to deliver it topically.’ But Dr Bunting warns that not all vitamin C creams are equal. ‘I would recommend a serum that contains at least 10 per cent vitamin C, such as Skinceuticals C E Ferulic Serum (£85), and make sure it hasn’t discoloured a sign that it has become oxidised and is no longer effective. Store it away from the light for maximum longevity.’

If your skin is sensitive, experts warn you may experience stinging or irritation with products containing the water-soluble form of vitamin C, called L-Ascorbic acid, so do a patch test first. But for most of us it seems our skin would benefit from a vitamin boost.

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