People are looking for various ways to remain youthful looking. Nowadays, experts emphasize the importance of vegetables, fruits and various plant extracts in that process. The key to anti aging lies in counteracting the effects that the free radicals have on the skin. This is why plant nutrients are so important in this process. Along with the fruit and vegetables, plant extracts have all sort of constituents that have a very healthy impact on the skin. These constituents are known as phytochemicals or phytonutrients.
Plants
Phytochemicals bestow certain characteristics in plants like color for instance. Because of that color, a plant is more attractive to bees which are essential for the process of pollination. Other characteristic is a protective effect which prevent insects and animals from doing any damage to the plant. Apart from these, phytochemicals are also beneficial for the human skin and various studies have confirmed it.
Antioxidants
There are plenty of classes of phytonutrients and antioxidants are just one class of them. Antioxidants are essential in the process of granting an extra oxygen molecule to those molecules that are lacking one. These molecules are known as free radicals. If there is not enough antioxidants in the system, then the molecules will have to take the missing molecule from some other compound in the body. When that happens, the compound that was once healthy and intact will also become a free radical. Lots of people think of the free radicals as bad ones but the truth is that they are just unstable chemical molecules and it is their effect on the body that is negative. The reason why that is so is because they do damage to cells. Free radicals are being created as a natural by-product of the metabolic processes of the cells. Free radicals are also created when the immune system fights the effects of pathogens and the environment. The key to being healthy is to maintain the balance of antioxidants and the free radicals.
Free radicals
There are three known ways in which free radicals affect the skin. Free radicals change the fatty layers in the cellular membranes. Free radicals can also alter the DNA within cells. This may result in wrinkles and sagging way before the time it is supposed to happen. Free radicals also affect the skin so that it ends up with open and large pores.
Apart from the antioxidants, other important phytonutrinets for the beauty of the skin that can be found in plants are carotenoids and flavanoids.
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