Melanin Supplements Part1

This first article will explore what is Melanin and what role does it play in the human body as well as how it affects our skin

Part 2 of this article will go into melanin treatments for skin disorders and possibly anti-aging treatments

What Is Melanin?

Melanin is the substance that is responsible for skin color, eye color, and hair color. Melanin is not exclusive to human beings. In the animal world, it is responsible for the color feathers and scales. In humans, the higher the level of melanin, the darker the skin color. Fair skinned people are likely to have far lower levels of melanin. One of the principle reasons people use melanin supplements is for helping obtain a deeper and richer tan.

Melanin occurs naturally by means of metabolizing the amino acid, tyrosine. Melanin cells in the skin are known as melanocytes. Melanin deficiency is the cause of several conditions including albinism. Albinism is also found in animals and plants.

Although it provides many benefits to the body, it is most commonly known to protect the skin from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. This natural substance will not only fight the premature aging of the skin, but provides many benefits in the prevention of skin cancer.

It’s important to recognize that melanin by itself, and even the addition of melanin supplements, cannot provide complete protection from the damaging effects of the sun. Regardless of the amount of naturally occurring melanin in the skin, additional steps must be taken for the highest levels of protection.

African American skin has larger melanosomes (cells that determine skin color) and the melanosomes contain more of the pigment melanin than those found in white skin. Because of the protective effect of melanin, African-Americans are better protected against skin cancer and premature wrinkling from sun exposure.

It is well known that melanin in brown skin provides protection from the ravages of aging due to ultraviolet light (UVL). In fact, the melanin in African American skin provides a natural sun protection factor (SPF) of about 13.4 as compared to 3.4 for white skin. This natural protection from the sun means less damage to the skin and fewer signs of aging. Therefore, melanin in the skin of African Americans accounts for the fact that they often appear younger than Caucasians of the same age. In addition, the changes that do occur as African American skin ages are often delayed so they occur at a later age as compared to whites. As would be expected, photoaging in African Americans is more pronounced in individuals with lighter skin hues. When aging changes do occur, most prominent are changes in the texture of the skin (roughness), the appearance of benign growths (dermatosis papulosa nigra), pigmentation changes (dark marks or discolorations) and a loss of the volume of the skin (sagging).

Source(s):
http://www.skinsosilky.com/african-ameri…
http://www.brownskin.net/ageless_black.h…