The benefits of vegetable oils to fight against ageing
Ageing is a natural and inevitable phenomenon programmed by our genes and hormones. It is called intrinsic aging. But skin is also in permanent contact with our environment. Skin aging is thus accelerated by daily environmental aggressions like sun exposure (photoaging), pollution, tobacco and chemicals, particularly on exposed areas like the face, neck and hands. This important component of aging is called extrinsic ageing and causes oxidative and inflammatory stress in the skin, which vegetable oils can combat.
Oxidative stress & antioxidant vegetable oils
In response to daily aggressions, the body produces compounds called free radicals, which, if present in too great amount, will disturb the normal functioning of cells, degrade proteins and lipids, and destroy collagen and elastin fibers ensuring skin firmness. In the long term, free radicals and the resulting oxidative stress cause premature skin aging.
Antioxidants are molecules capable of counteracting the negative effects of free radicals by neutralizing them. The skin is naturally able thanks to its own antioxidant systems to neutralize free radicals. But when the latter are present in to large amounts, an antioxidant intake through food or direct application to the skin is welcome.
Plants also have their own defense system. Vegetable oils contain powerful antioxidant compounds. For example, virgin rice oil contains anthocyanins and gamma-oryzanol, sesame oil contains sesaminol. These molecules have powerful antioxidant properties, just like virgin tomato seed oil which contain other molecules like lycopenes, beta-carotene or tocopherols.1, 2, 3, 4
See : How to determine the antioxidant power of a vegetable oil
Inflammatory stress & anti-inflammatory vegetable oils
Oxidative stress created by free radicals also leads to the appearance of inflammatory stress in the skin that is harmful to the cells.
To fight inflammation, long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are allies. By integrating phospholipid membranes in the skin, those fatty acids will modulate inflammation and soothe the skin, while improving healing.5 They have already shown their effectiveness in repairing healthy skins damaged by ultraviolet rays, and improving the skin condition of patients with psoriasis or eczema.6 Vegetable oils contain large amount of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids: rosehip oil contains almost 85% of polyunsaturated fatty acids, of which 30% are omega 3.7 Grape seed oil reaches 88% of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Cranberry oil is also rich in omega 3, 6 and 9 polyunsaturated fatty acids, very interesting for healing.
Finally, as explained in the article “The benefits of vegetable oil to moisturize the skin” (Read the article here), vegetable oils greatly limit skin dryness by retaining water. The intercellular cement is reinforced, thus limiting the water loss. The water better retained in the dermis allows the skin to remain firm and elastic.
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