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…

Back To Basics: How What you Eat can Determine if you get wrinkles or not

4 foods that prevent collagen from breaking down

It seems everywhere you look these days there are new anti wrinkle creams and facial rejunvenators. Lots of them are very high priced. What makes it even worse are that some of them are no different than snake oil.

So maybe  the answers lie outside the department store. I recently read a book called "The Wrinkle Cure" by Dr. Nicholas Perricone who has been featured on Oprah.

A key piece of advice I gleaned from the book  was that an anti-inflammatory diet is the key to wrinkle-free skin. He says that inflammation speeds up the rate at which collagen(think glue for the skin) is broken down.

4 foods he recommended that protect collagen from breaking down are:

1. Green Tea: The antioxidants in green tea help fight free radicals which accelerate aging. It also contains a compound called Theanine which can elevate your mood.
2. Cinnamon: There are several active ingredients that increases the cells defense against aging. All you need is 1/4 tbsp. a day to prevent winkle formation.
3. Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Cold Pressed is best since it changes the chemical structure of it. It contains lots of an antioxidant called Polyphenol and the essential fatty acids in the oil feed the skin providing anti-inflammatory activity.
4. Salmon: Wild Salmon is the best. It is arguably the best source for heart healthy protein and is rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

A few other lifestyle tips that you can implement into your daily regiment that can immediately reduce your wrinkles include.

1)Exercise: Through various studies it has shown that people who exercise regularly contain healthier collagen.
2) Smoking: Avoid it like the plague! Not only is it bad for lung health but increases the production of an enzyme that breaks down the supply of collagen.

3) Diet: Sugar in all forms, processed foods, pasta, bread, pastries, and snacks like chips and pretzels are very pro-inflammatory creating a highly destructive response.

4)Sun exposure: Extended periods of sun exposure over time reduces collagen levels. This is caused by the UV-A rays which generate free radicals that oxidize proteins, lipids and DNA in the skin. All this creates a shortage of a molecule used to make collagen. 

5)Short Naps: They give you extra energy and make you more alert throughout the day.

For many more tips and strategies into all-natural anti aging advice you can check out Dr. Perricone's book:
The Wrinkle Cure: The Formula for Stopping Time

Skin Anatomy: How Your Skin Protects You

Anti-Aging Skin Care Series, Part 1

Your skin is the largest organ of your body, and your skin’s anatomy reveals a lot of information about you to the rest of the world.

Here are just a few examples of what skin anatomy reveals about you:

• Your skin’s color and texture are inherited through genetics, and that provides information about your family history.
• After vigorous exercise, you have a unique scent that is created by your particular combination of skin secretions from your sebaceous and sweat glands. Even the amount of perspiration can differ from one person to another.
• Whether you tan or burn during sun exposure is controlled by the amount of melanin you inherited.

Your Best Protector
Describing someone as having “thin skin” is not far from the truth.

While the actual thickness of skin varies throughout the body, the thinnest skin (approximately 0.5mm) is found on the eyelids, and the thickest skin (approximately 4mm) is on the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet.

Despite this lack of density, your skin protects your body in remarkable ways:

• Skin protects body tissues and organs against injuries.
• The nerves in your skin receive the stimuli that tell your brain when your skin has been touched.
• The nerves in your skin also help your brain respond to sensations of hot and cold.
• Your skin helps to regulate your body’s temperature by making your pores smaller when it’s cold, and making pores larger when it’s hot.
• Your skin is the “armor” that helps to protect your immune system from bacteria and disease.
• Skin keeps your essential body fluids (blood, water and lymph) from evaporating.
• Your skin protects you from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. The amount of sun protection you have depends on the amount of melanin you inherited.

Skin Anatomy
Your skin anatomy is composed of three layers, the epidermis, the dermis, and subcutaneous fat.

Epidermis: This is the top layer of skin, and it is somewhat translucent, so light can partially pass through it. There are no blood vessels in the epidermis, so this top layer gets it’s nutrients and oxygen from the deeper layers. The epidermis is attached to the next layer, the dermis, via a membrane.

Dermis: This is the second, deeper layer of your skin. The dermis is where your hair roots and sweat glands reside, and the dermis also contains with some blood vessels and nerves.

Subcutaneous fat: This is the bottom or lowest layer of your skin, and this is where your larger blood vessels and nerves reside. The subcutaneous fat layer is composed of fat-filled cells call adipose cells, and the depth of the subcutaneous fat layer is different from one person to another.

Subcutaneous fat is attached to your bones and muscles by connective tissue which is loose, allowing skin to move. If you have too much subcutaneous fat, the connection points of your connective tissue become more obvious. This causes a pockmarked or rippled appearance--the dreaded cellulite.

Next in the Anti-Aging Skin Care Series:
There are two biological processes that cause skin to age. Learn which one you can’t control...and which one you can, in What Causes Aging Skin?

The Best Sunscreen You Can Buy

When it comes to sunscreen, spending a fortune actually could harm your skin. For decent full-body protection, an average-size person needs to apply an ounce of sunscreen. That's the amount that fits in a shot glass ... and probably a whole lot more than you're using. Which brings us back to the trouble with the pricey stuff: Even fewer people will use a full ounce every day when that amount costs $20.

Even though you've narrowed your choices to the cheaper stuff, there are still important decisions to be made. The best ingredient to reach for, especially if you're the impatient type, is an inexpensive product made with zinc oxide. These work immediately, unlike other blocks (called "chemical" blocks) that need at least 15 to 30 minutes to soak into your skin to be effective.

Another plus for zinc oxide: It's now made in nanoparticle form, so it doesn't look like it did when you were a kid (in other words, you don't look like you've spread cream cheese on your face). One more plus: Zinc oxide protects against both types of damaging UV rays (UVA and UVB), so you're shielded from skin cancer and wrinkling.

Another OK option if you don't sweat: Sunscreens containing titanium dioxide. These also reflect the sun's harmful rays so that you avoid sun damage, but the downside is that these titanium blends often turn white, making you look ghostlike when you sweat.

Not going to be outdoors much today? Wear sunscreen anyway. You get an amazing amount of UV rays when you don't expect to, so treat sunscreen like 30 minutes of walking -- never miss a day (no excuses!).

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The YOU Docs -- Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz -- are authors of "YOU: Being Beautiful -- The Owner's Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty."