High Fat Diet and Skin Care

Hamburgers, ice-cream, cakes, donuts, fried potatoes…… We have already known that there are so much food in our world which taste so good but are not good for our skin. In this last blog post, I will introduce the reason why eating too much high fat food is not good for your skin as well as how the high fat food influences our skin by explaining the research which is done by the Tokyo University of Agriculture, Department of Nutritional Sciences.

Before I introduce the experiment, I will firstly explain some basic elements which contain in our body, and I hope these can help you to understand the research study better.

 

Skin Lipid

Skin Lipid is a type of natural molecules on our skin which contain ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol. It has an importance role in energy metabolism and prevents entry of toxic compounds and lose of water from our skin. Thus, any disturbance in the metabolism of these lipids can lead to skin dysfunction.

                                            Ceramides

Ceramide is a family of lipid molecules, and it is contained in our skin lipid. It is involved in skin metabolism and helps to protect the moisture in the skin goes away.  Ceramides is used in many skin products.

Messenger RNA (mRNA)

MRNA is a type of Ribonucleic acid (RNA). RNA is one of the three major macromoleculus (along with DNA and proteins) that are essential for all known forms of life. MRNA is involved in the in lipid metabolism.

Adiponectin

        

        Adiponectin is a protein hormone which helps to regulate lipid metabolism

The Purpose of this Study

The Purpose of this Study is to investigate the molecular changes in skin function that result from High Fat (HF) diets. This study is important because the relationship between HF diets and skin molecules is not well understood, and hence it may help more people who care about their skin to be aware of controlling the amount of HF diets they take.

        Methods

       At the beginning of the research, 5 four week old male rats are tested. They are divided into four groups: one with 5% corn oil in the daily diet, one with 5% of lard, one with 15% of lard and one with 25% of lard. After 28 days, their skins from the back are cut, and the rest of the skins are frozen and are used to evaluate the genes. Then the level of ceramides, lipids and MRNAs which I mention previously are evaluated through the thin layer chromatography (TLC) which is a technique that is used to separate mixture by colors. Researchers also evaluate the amount of lipids by oil red O, a stain which is used to measured up lipids through distinguishing the differences of the colors. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique which helps to look for DNA is used to evaluate the genes changes in the skin. For the adiponectin, its serum concentration is measured by another technique which calls ELISA.

       Results

         After evaluation, researchers discover that HF diets led to two kinds of     

enzymes Serine C-palmitoyltransferase (SPT) and HMG-CoA reductate’s mRNA level decrease, which causes the reduce levels of ceramide and lowered skin lipid. The PPAR-x, the group of proteins that function as transcription factors regulating the expression of genes and help to upregulate SPT and HMG-Coa reductates is also reduced. In addition, the HF diets also reduce the serum concentration of adiponectin. The carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1, the rate-limiting enzyme that act in b-oxidation, however, is increased. B-oxidation is a process which helps to break down fatty acids.

Conclusion

From this research, we learn about how and why HF diets affect our skin.Firstly, the research shows that HF diets can lower PPAR-x activity, and hence reduce the SPT and HMG-CoA reductase, which are linked to the reduction of ceramide and lipid synthesis in the skin. Secondly, the decrease of adiponectin which helps to regulate lipid metabolism also causes the lipid synthesis in the skin decrease. Thirdly, the enhancement of b-oxidation which breaks down fatty acid leads to the decrease of lipid as one takes more HF diets. In conclusion, all of these factors lead to the disturbance in the lipid metabolism as well as the decrease of lipid and ceramide which help us to barrier between our skin and the outside environment. Taking all together, the researchers of this study believe that the data of this study suggests that “HF diets can lead to rough and moistureless skin” (Yamane, Kobayashi-Hattori and Oishii, 2011, page 6).

       Now we are more for sure that HF diets like cakes and donuts may affect our skin, and hence even though most of the HF diets are delicious, let us control ourselves a little bit more!! (and perhaps we can buy more skin care products which contain ceramide? : ) )

Finally, I hope my blog can help you to know more about taking care of our skin from paying more attention to our diets!!

Bye~ : )

Research Achieved from: 

Yamane, Takumi, Kobayashi-Hattori, Kazuo & Oishi Yuichi. (2011). A high-fat diet reduces            

    ceramide synthesis by decreasing adiponectin levels and decreases lipid content by modulating 

    HMG-CoA reductase and CPT-1 mRNA expression in the skin. Wily Online Library. Retrieved  

    from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/doi/10.1002/mnfr.201100144/pdf

Skin Care Diet and Chronic Disease

    In this article, I am going to discuss about the relationship between chronic disease and skin care diet, and I hope this can give you more motivations and reasons to continue or start a healthy skin diet!

    The link between chronic disease and skin care diet are very strong, and seems like most of the foods which are good for your skin are also foods which can help you to prevent from chronic disease. On the other hand, foods which are harmful to your skin increase the risk of getting chronic disease as well. In this article, I will explain the link between chronic disease and skin care diet by giving food examples which are good or bad for your skin. I hope this can help you from either improving your skin or preventing from certain chronic disease. : )

    According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the basic strategies of countering chronic disease such as “cancer, diabetes and obesity” (WHO, 2003, para. 1) are to have “Less saturated fats, sugar and salt, more fruit and vegetables and physical exercise” (WHO, 2003, para. 1). Since we might have heard a lot about the benefits of fruit and vegetables from different experts, in this article, I will focus on fats and sugar.

          Saturated Fats

According to the WHO, “Not all fats or all carbohydrates are the same; it pays to know the difference… People should eat less high-calorie foods, especially foods high in saturated fat and sugar” (2003, para. 18). From what WHO says, having too much saturated fats can be a factor which causes chronic disease. Some examples of saturated fats can be cheese, fatty meats, whole milk and cookies which are more likely to be in a solid format at room temperature (Hales & Lauzon, 2010, page 102). As what I write about in the previous article, milk can actually cause acne, and that is proven by a study which is done by the Nurses Health Study II (please refer to http://skincareanddiet.blogspot.com/2011/06/acne-and-diet.html, para 2). Therefore, we can actually see the link between skin care diet and chronic disease from here, which saturated fats are not only harmful to your skin but also higher your risk to get chronic diseases.




                                                                        Sugar

      Another important factor which causes chronic disease is overtaking sugar (WHO, 2003). On the other hand, Nicholas Perricone, a Medical Doctor and a dermatologist who has written several books also believe that “when your collagen is cross-linked by sugar, you end up with stiff and sagging skin” and “50% of aging of the skin is the result of this glycation reaction” (2005). By comparing both of the WHO and Perricone’s opinion, we can see that over taking sugar can lead to both chronic disease and skin damage.

            


Marine origin

      What about food which can help preventing chronic disease and improve skin as well? Besides vegetable and fruits, marine origin is perhaps one of another best example I can give. According to the WHO, marine origin is another food which is good to take more in order to prevent chronic disease (2003, para. 18). The reason of that is because marine origin contains omega-3 fatty acids which help to improve our immune function (Douglas Laboratories, 2003, para 2). For the skin, marine origin helps us by “stimulating collagen production” (Ting, 2006 para 5) and “encouraging skin renewal” (Ting, 2006, para 5). To people who may do not know very much about collagen, skin collagen is a very important element to maintain our skin to look younger or good since “it is the principle structure protein holding the skin together” (Ting, 2006, para 10) and we should take more collagen since “collagen degrades in a natural process” (Ting, 2006, para 10).

Additional information: Tobacco

     According to the WHO, during childhood and adolescence, tobacco increases the risk of developing certain chronic diseases, high blood pressure which can lead to other risk factors in early adulthood (2003, page. 34). In Fact, tobacco is also one of the huge factors which affect our skin badly. Akimichi Morita, an MD and professor and chairman in department of geriatric and environmental dermatology even writes a whole book on the relationship between tobacco and skin which called “Molecular Basis of Tobacco Smoke-Induced Premature Skin Aging.” Medical Doctor Richard D. Hurt also agrees that smoking can cause wrinkles by explaining that “smoking can speed up the normal aging process of your skin, contributing to wrinkles”(Hurts, 2009, para 2). The Action on Smoking and Health organization explains that “tobacco smoke released into the environment has a drying effect on the skin’s surface” and “smoking restricts blood vessel, it reduces the amount of blood flowing to the skin, thus depleting the skin of oxygen and essential nutrients” (ASH, 2009, para 3).

  

The above pictures show the study which is done by Louis Chang, a medical doctor who compares smoking and non-smoking twins14 years later… (Right Side: non-smoking twins    Left Side: smoking twins)

 

Conclusion

             From all of the evidences given above, we can see the potential link between the skin care diet and the diet which helps to prevent or avoid chronic diseases. Evidences from both sides of the comparison are all   relatively trustful since they are written in the current period and came from either reputable organization or expert who is a medical doctor and has Phd on specific area of skin care. However, some other factors which go against each other may be still ignored. More research is needed to be done in order to investigate the link between the diet for skin care and the diet for chronic diseases. 

References

Action on Smoking and Health. (2009, November). How Smoking Affects the 

    Way you Look. Action on Smoking and Health. Retrieved from: 

    http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_115.pdf.

Douglas Laboratories. (2003). DEPA—A rich source of long-chain omega-3 fatty 

    acids. Douglas Labs. Retrieved from: 

    http://www.douglaslabs.com/pdf/pds/7980.pdf.

Hales, Dianne & Lauzon, Lara. (2010). The Invitation to Health. Toronto: 

    Wadesworth.

Hurt, Richard D. (2009). Is It True that Smoking Causes Wrinkles? Mayo Clinic.

    Retrieved from: 

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/smoking/AN00644.

Perricone, Nicholas. (2005). The Wrinkle Cure. MedicineNet.com. Retrieved 

    from: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=54286

Ting, Prontip. (2006, September). Facts about Marine Collagen and Benefits to 

     Skin. Webraydian. Retrieved from: http://www.webraydian.com/

World Health Organization (2003). Nutrition and Prevention of Chronic Disease.

    World Health Organization. Retrieved from: 

    http://whqlibdoc.who.int/trs/who_trs_916.pdf

World Health Organization. (2003). WHO/FAO release independent Expert 

    Report on diet and chronic disease. World Health Organization. Retrieved 

    from: 

    http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2003/pr20/en/