What are Ceramides?
Ceramides are long chain fatty acids that are involved in cellular formation and so actively participate in holding skin cells together. Though this compound is widely biosynthesized, it is actually present as fat in the outermost layer of the skin. Being a bioactive lipid, it is involved in youthfulness of the skin and adhesion of the cells, combined with cholesterol, it contributes to the function of water permeability and prevention of water content loss through evaporation from the surface of the skin.
They constitute 50 percent of the skin epidermis. (Outer layer of the skin), they participate crucially in terms of brain and nervous development, but nowadays, ceramides have gained much popularity in the skin care arena reaping their benefits of skin care for their conceivability among the same!
Occupying a pivotal role in today’s world are the growing skin concerns, restricted not to a certain age gap but equally among the young and the old. A healthy and glowing skin is believed to exemplify an individual’s overall health to an extent.
Ayurveda stands tall as an unsurpassed way of a healthy lifestyle and to a healthy mind and body. Ayurveda becomes an indispensable mode owing to the unprecedented and chaotic lifestyle which has taken over today’s world.
Our skin is being sacrificed and punished in the process as a whole, hence Ayurveda has several products in connection with skin and ceramides are an example, recommended by dermatologists globally.
Significance of Ceramides
Ceramides belong to the class of lipids known as sphingolipids facilitating a barrier and preventing permeability thereby effectively locking the moisture content of the skin and wards off dry skin and further irritations of the same. Dry skin often fails to mask the fine wrinkles and lines on the facial skin, this is taken as an advantage as an anti ageing supplement.
Ceramides manages to keep the lithe and smooth by revamping the aforesaid barrier thus reinstating the agents that aid in dehydration and acts as a counter of the shedding of skin cells. This barrier also comes into force by shielding our epidermis from the environmental assailants however, harmful UV rays and, overexposure, usage of mistaken skin care products, exposure to a varying temperature erodes the ceramides of our epidermis, a ceramide devoid skin suffers a transepidermal water loss initiating a domino effect to a non healthy, dry skin.
The concerns raised above cannot be mended completely, it has become a part of our hurried lifestyle from which there is no complete turning back and this poses a difficulty on how to obtain ceramides naturally from the diet we consume, which is fundamental for our skin health.
The Dietary Recommendations
- Phytoceramides – They are chemical plant derivatives, constituting a part in many foods which we consume today, wheat flour being a major source of sphingolipids, also present in huge amounts in dairy products, eggs and soybeans, which accelerates the level of epidermal ceramides. The essential fatty acids found in seeds, nuts, avocados, fish oil and alike diet supplements also reaps benefits. The deficiency of fatty acids may interrupt the natural skin barrier thus leading to a disrupted moisture balance.
- Fermented Foods – Fermented foods help maintain the flora and fauna of the gut thereby enhancing the digestion thus helping to decrease the endotoxins levels resulting in a much healthier skin. Probiotics serve as an instance for fermented foods, which can be easily derived from fermented vegetables which are a rich source of the same.
- Antioxidant Rich Foods – Antioxidant rich foods are valuable as an effective skin defense and help to impoverish damaged skin. Tomatoes, pumpkin, carrots and kale serve as the best sources, using a considerable number of spices also serves the purpose.
- Phytoceramides are Rich Dietary Items that help in maintaining a healthy skin by keeping dry skin at bay, pacifying irritation, source being spinach, beetroot, brown rice and wheat gram.
- Green Leafy Vegetables – Green Leafy Vegetables, an indispensable yet most despised part of our diet, undeniably maintains our healthy skin and is effective in keeping the ceramide level in check being its reservoir.
- Jojoba Oil – The ceramide percentage in this complex composition oil is as high as 97 percent hence renders stability to this oil to withstand oxidation and heat. It must be surprising to note that the phytoceramides present in skin bears quite a striking similarity to the ones present on our skin, which absolutely aids in the upholding and repairing of the structure of the skin. Jojoba oil also supplies also supplies effectively to sebum production, and a higher content of vitamin E, having pivotal roles in maintaining our skin, finds its use here as a photo protector (protection from harmful effects of sunlight) helps in warding off premature aging by successfully rectifying damage caused by those free radicals.
- Sunflower Oil – This light, non-greasy, oil is a rich source of ceramides by bearing a hefty 78 percent of ceramides combined with the goodness of vitamins A and E, which are good antioxidants making it a meritorious combination for maintaining a healthy skin and this can be effortlessly absorbed by the skin.
Other Sources of Natural Ceramide
- Grape Seed Oil (73%)
- Poppy Seed Oil (70%)
- Sunflower Oil (68%)
- Hemp Oil (60%)
- Corn Oil (59%)
- Wheat Germ Oil (55%)
- Cotton Seed Oil (54%)
- Soybean Oil (51%)
- Walnut Oil (50%)
Ceramides as a Solution!
A proper diet married to an appropriate lifestyle is a key to a healthy well being unquestionably. Let’s not pay the price of our skin for these reckless ways of life we have been adapted to .Joining hands with Ayurveda and exploiting its multifarious products and principles brings about a vigorous well being be it in terms of our skin or any part of the body for that part. Let’s not penalize our skin anymore, ceramides are an effective ingredient to supplement your skin and might help you to bid adieu to growing skin concerns irrespective of your age.
Author’s Bio:
Dr. Vikram Chauhan (MD-Ayurvedic Medicine) is an Expert Ayurveda Consultant in Chandigarh (India). He has vast experience of herbs and their applied uses. He has successfully treated numerous patients suffering from various ailments, throughout the world. He is CEO and Founder of Krishna Herbal Company and Planet Ayurveda in Chandigarh, India. He researched age old formulas from ancient Ayurvedic text books to restore health and save human beings from the worst side-effects of chemical-based treatments. Website – www.PlanetAyurveda.com
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