There are 5 main categories that a food must fit into before we label it as a functional beauty food.

A water rich food is 70% and above water. Foods like:

• Oranges
• Melon
• Cucumber
• Lettuce
• Cold-pressed fruit juices, coconut water and herbal infusions also count as water-rich 'ingestibles.'

There are also foods and dietary patterns that contribute to dehydration:

• Dried / dehydrated foods: flour products, grains, nuts, seeds.
• Adding salt to food or eating high salt foods (cheese, meat, potato chips etc)

Inflammation is deeply linked to skin-ageing to the point that it's been coined 'Inflammaging' or as we call it at SNI "skinflammaging". Fruits and vegetables are rich in powerful anti-inflammatory compounds such as Anthocyanins from blue and purple foods.

The foods and dietary patterns that are known to be anti-inflammatory are:

• Colourful fruits and vegetables
• Citrus fruit
• Low fat diet
• Avoiding heating oils
• Omega 3

And there are the opposite of the beauty foods and they lead to inflammaging

• Meat, dairy and eggs (TMAO).
• High fat diet Saturated fats
• Gluten
• Refined sugar
• High Omega 6 ratio (compared to Omega 3)

Oxidative stress is a major pathway of cellular dysfunction, rapid skin-ageing and ill-health. Antioxidants and the superheroes in charge of buffering the effects of oxidation at the cellular level.

• Antioxidants are almost entirely in plant foods
• Colourful raw fruits and vegetables
• Botanicals and ‘superfoods’ with a high ORAC score

And there are foods that increase oxidative damage:

• ALEs (Advanced Lipid Oxidation End products) from using oils and other fats.

Exogenous Advanced Glycation End-Products (or dAGEs) are formed in high heat + high fat environments.

• Foods low in dAGEs are:
• Fruits and juices
• Vegetables
• Nuts / seeds (in modest amounts)
• Raw plant foods

And the opposite of a beauty food would be foods high in dAGEs

• Meat
• Butter
• Cream cheese
• High-fat foods
• Oils

The Gut-Skin axis is an important relationship that relies on the health of the git microbiome. Gut dysbiosis is common in modern humans and many skin disorders such as psoriasis and eczema are linked to poor gut health and low microbiome diversity.

Prebiotics are the food of the gut microbiome and what does it feed on?

Carbohydrate-rich plants.

Most people know that fibre is important to gut-health but it's often missed that the microbes feed on MACs: Microbiota Accessible Carbohydrates. 

Which foods are rich in fibre and carbohydrates? Plant foods especially fruit and vegetables

Colourful fruits and vegetables are the most important beauty foods. They hit every single requirement for preventing skin disorders and helping boost skin-health. This is why we are dedicated to infusing our skin nutrition courses with evidence-based plant medicine.

There is a more advanced version of the Beauty Food Blueprint™ that you'll learn on theDiploma in Integrative Nutridermatology®