Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that has many functions in your body. Unlike most animals, humans can’t make vitamin C. You need to get vitamin C in your diet through foods like citrus fruits, bell peppers, and leafy greens.
Vitamin C is particularly important for maintaining healthy-looking skin. Your skin cells use this vitamin to protect from stress caused by pollution, smoking, and UV rays. Your skin also needs vitamin C to create collagen. Collagen is a protein that makes up more than 70 percentf the dry weight of your skin.
Powdered vitamin C is a relatively new product on the market, but it has been gaining popularity recently. It can be mixed with serums or moisturizers to help protect your face and reduce signs of aging.
Keep reading to find out if powdered vitamin C can help you improve the health of your facial skin.
Vitamin C powder benefits for facial skin
Not all forms of vitamin C can pass through your skin. In order for your skin to use vitamin C, it needs to be in a form called ascorbic acid. However, ascorbic acid is unstable and breaks down when exposed to heat, oxygen, or light.
The ascorbic acid in powdered vitamin C is more resistant than other forms, and it’s thought to retain more of its benefits than vitamin C found in serums or lotions.
Some of the benefits of applying vitamin C to your face include:
Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant
Vitamin C is the most abundantantioxidant in your skin. Your skin cells store vitamin C to prevent damage from environmental factors. UV rays, pollution, and smoking can all damage your skin by creating free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that pull electrons from your cells and cause damage.
Vitamin C promotes collagen production
Collagen makes up the majority of the dry weight of your skin. Your body needs vitamin C to synthesize this protein. Many of the symptoms of vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) are caused by impaired collagen synthesis.
In a 2015 study, a group of 60 healthy women applied a vitamin C-based solution to their face for 60 days. The researchers found that the vitamin C solution was highly effective at inducing collagen synthesis.
Vitamin C lightens skin
Vitamin C inhibits an enzyme called tyrosinase. Tyrosinase converts the amino acid tyrosine into melanin, the pigment that gives your skin its color.
A 2019 review of studies published in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology examined the effect of topical vitamin C on skin spots caused by sun damage. The researchers analyzed 31 clinical trials involving Caucasian and Chinese people between the ages of 18 to 50. They found that vitamin C may be potentially useful for preventing signs of sun damage.
Source: healthline.com
