With people all over the globe spending billions of dollars on skin-care products every year, you'd think cosmetics companies had replicated the fountain of youth in the laboratory. In fact, skin creams have gotten more and more expensive and less and less based on real science. According to most experts who aren't hawking half-ounce jars of $200 youth serum, the science behind skin care is simpler than most of us think.

As with most health benefits, it comes down to lifestyle, rather than how much you can afford to spend on products. The things you can do to beautify your skin are remarkably similar to what you can do to strengthen your heart, control your weight, lift your mood and live longer and better: Get regular exercise, sleep enough and eat well. Of course, what you can eat to improve your skin tone, texture, evenness and clarity might be different from what you eat to avoid, say, heart disease.

So what are we looking at when it comes to a beautiful-skin diet? In this article, we'll find out what you want to throw in your shopping cart to improve your skin, why those foods work on traits like smoothness and tone, and whether skin-healthy foods are, in fact, different from the foods you'd eat to promote overall health.

5. Seafood

Active components: Omega-3 fatty acids, zinc

Benefits: Smooth, clear and glowing skin

Most of us have heard that fish can be really good for your overall health -- it's a primary component in what's known as the "Mediterranean diet." Many types of fish and shellfish can also work wonders for the skin, especially oysters and fatty fish like salmon.

The primary nutrients that make fish so good for your complexion are zinc and, especially, omega-3 fatty acids. Increasing omega-3 intake can reduce dryness and inflammation. Inflammation can cause skin to age faster, and research shows that getting too little omega-3 may contribute to inflammatory disorders like eczema and psoriasis . Omega-3 fatty acids can also help keep the heart's arteries clear and so improve circulation. Good circulation is crucial to skin health.

Zinc can help fight acne because it's involved in metabolizing testosterone, which affects the production of an oily substance caused sebum, a primary cause of acne. Zinc also assists in new-cell production and the sloughing off of dead skin, which gives the skin a nice glow.

You'll also find these benefits in flaxseed oil and walnuts.

4. Citrus Fruits

Even astronauts in space like to keep their skin taut with citrus fruits.

Active component: Vitamin C

Benefits: Smooth and taut skin

Vitamin C is a prime skin-care ingredient in tons of beauty creams. This vitamin aids in the body's production of collagen, a protein that forms the basic structure of your skin . Collagen breakdown, which starts speeding up significantly around the age of 35, can leave your skin saggy . Consuming extra vitamin C in foods like oranges, grapefruits, Acerola cherries (a single Acerola has 100 percent of your vitamin C for the day) and tomatoes can help tighten the skin and prevent wrinkles.

Vitamin C also may fight inflammation, and its antioxidant properties can neutralize the free radicals (highly reactive oxygen molecules) that damage cells and can prematurely age your face.

In case you get tired of eating all that fruit, hot peppers, bell peppers and sprouts also have good amounts of vitamin C.

3. Red and Green Vegetables

Spinach does more than make you strong. It also helps heal dry skin.

Active components: Vitamin A, beta-carotene

Benefits: Bright and smooth skin

Skin is the body's largest organ. It makes sense, then, that what's good for your whole body is also good for your skin -- and as far as food goes, it doesn't get much better than vegetables. You'll especially want to look for red-orange and green vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes and spinach.

Orange-red vegetables are full of beta-carotene. Our bodies convert beta-carotene into vitamin A, which acts as an antioxidant, preventing cell damage and premature aging. In the case of vitamin A, you also get anti-acne benefits -- vitamin A has been used in acne medications (think Retin-A) for many years.

Spinach and other green, leafy foods provide tons of vitamin A, too, which helps your skin produce more fresh new cells and get rid of the old ones, reducing dryness and keeping your face looking bright and young.

Mangoes are also a great source of vitamin A. It's best to get this vitamin from food and not from supplements, though, since too much vitamin A can cause health problems.

2. Nuts

To keep your skin looking its best, avoid foods with lots of saturated fat and/or refined sugar.

Active component: Vitamin E

Benefits: Young and soft skin

As with many of the skin-healthy foods on our list, the good stuff in nuts -- especially almonds -- has to do with antioxidant activity. Vitamin E combats skin-aging free radicals, especially protecting skin from sun damage due to UV-sunlight-generated free radicals [source: Self]. Vitamin E also tends to help skin hold in moisture, relieving dryness and making skin look younger.

Pairing vitamin E with selenium can enhance its antioxidant abilities, so go ahead and throw some almonds into your cottage cheese (great source of selenium) for a skin-revitalizing snack.

Almonds, pistachios and walnuts also provide a nice supply of omega-3 fatty acids, another great skin nutrient.

Our last beauty food: Keep it whole to get fantastic overall results…

1. Whole Grains

Pancakes made from buckwheat can help keep your skin clear.

Active components: Rutin and B-vitamins

Benefits: Clear and moisturized skin

The "whole food" movement has whole-body advantages, not the least of which is great-looking skin.

Whole foods are basically unprocessed -- whole wheat bread instead of white bread, for instance. The whole grain buckwheat is a good source for the antioxidant rutin, which helps combat inflammation-related skin damage. Wheat germ provides the B-vitamin biotin, which assists cells in processing fats. If you don't have enough biotin in your body, your skin can become dry and scaly.

In general, whole grains instead of processed carbohydrates can improve your complexion. Processed (or refined) flours can cause an insulin spike, which in turn can encourage acne. Replacing your refined-flour pancakes with buckwheat pancakes is a good acne-reducing move. Incidentally, this would also help reduce your risk of developing Diabetes.

Not into buckwheat? Avocadoes and mushrooms can provide similar benefits.

Now, while oranges, buckwheat, oysters, spinach and almonds are great foods for your skin, achieving great-looking skin through dietary changes doesn't have to be so specific. A healthy body means healthy skin. Just feed your body good, healthy foods, get some exercise and keep your stress low, and your skin will reap the benefits.

每年世界各地的人們要花費數(shù)十億美元在美容護膚產品上，你可能會認為是化妝品公司在實驗室里復制了青春。事實上，現(xiàn)在潤膚乳變得越來越昂貴，而且越來越少是基于真正的科學上的。使用過護膚品的專家發(fā)現(xiàn)，護膚的科學其實比我們想象的要簡單的多。

健康取決于生活方式，而不是你夠花多少錢在美容商品上。如何使皮膚更加美麗，你需要做的事情就是跟你平時如何增強你的心臟、控制體重、提高情緒和活得更長更快樂一樣,比如：經(jīng)常鍛煉；足夠睡眠；健康飲食。食物可以改善皮膚的顏色、紋理、均勻度和清晰度，當然與那些用來調理心臟疾病的食物是不一樣的。

所以，當談到美膚食物這個話題時，我們會介紹些什么東西給大家呢？在接下來這篇文章中，我們會幫你找到你將會購買的食物，這些食物能夠使你擁有更加美麗的肌膚。而且文章還將為你解答為什么這些食物能夠使你的皮膚滋潤，以及這些護膚食物跟我們平時吃來增強整體健康的食物是否不同。

第5名：海鮮

活性成分:ω-3脂肪酸，鋅

功能:使皮膚光滑、清晰、有光澤

眾所周知，魚對我們的身體健康很有好處——它是我們所熟知的“地中海飲食”的主要組成。許多魚類和貝類也能很好地改善我們的膚質，特別是牡蠣和脂質魚，如鮭魚。

魚類食物中對你的膚色有益的主要成分是鋅，特別是ω-3脂肪酸。增加ω-3脂肪酸的攝取可以減少皮膚干燥和防止發(fā)炎。發(fā)炎會使皮膚老化加速，有研究表明，缺少ω-3脂肪酸可能導致炎性分泌失調和牛皮癬。ω-3脂肪酸還可以幫助保持心臟動脈順暢，因此促進血液循環(huán)。順暢的血液循環(huán)對皮膚健康是至關重要的。

鋅有助于對抗粉刺，因為鋅參與代謝睪酮的反應，而睪酮會抑制產生粉刺的油性物質的生成。鋅也協(xié)助新細胞生產和除去壞死的細胞，賦予肌膚美麗的光澤。

亞麻子油和核桃也有這些功效。

第4名：柑橘類水果

在太空中的宇航員也經(jīng)常用柑橘類水果來保持皮膚緊實。

活性成分：維生素C

功能：使皮膚光滑、緊實

維生素C是美容護膚品的主要成分之一。這種維生素幫助身體產生膠原蛋白——皮膚的基本結構。35歲以后，膠原蛋白的分解大大加速，導致皮膚松懈。從柳橙、柚子、針葉櫻桃 (一個櫻桃能夠百分之百提供你一整天維生素C的需要量)和西紅柿中攝取額外的維他命C可以幫助肌膚緊實，防止皺紋的產生。

維生素C也可以防止發(fā)炎,它的抗氧化性可以中和自由基(高活性氧分子)，防止自由基破壞細胞并能老化了你的臉。

如果你厭倦了吃水果，你還可以吃辣椒、甜椒、芽菜，這些蔬菜也含有大量的維他命C。

第3名：紅色和綠色蔬菜

菠菜不僅能讓你變得更強壯，還有助于治療皮膚干燥。

活性成分：維生素A，β-胡蘿卜素

功能：使皮膚光滑、有光澤

皮膚是身體最大的器官。我們可以這樣理解，對整體健康有好處的東西，也是很適合皮膚的。而在食品當中，沒有什么比蔬菜更好的了。特別是橘紅色和綠色的蔬菜，如胡蘿卜、甘薯和菠菜。

橘紅色和綠色的蔬菜含有豐富的β-胡蘿卜素。我們的身體能將β-胡蘿卜素轉化為維生素A——一種抗氧化劑，防止細胞損傷和過早老化。擁有了維生素A，也有利于防止粉刺——維生素A已經(jīng)在防粉刺的藥物（全反維生素A酸）中使用很多年。

菠菜和其他綠色的、多葉的食物能提供大量維生素A，也有助于你的皮膚產生更多的新鮮細胞和除去舊的細胞，緩解皮膚干燥，使你看起來年輕又有光澤。

芒果中也含有豐富的維生素A。我們最好是從食物中攝取維生素，最好不要吃補充劑，因為過量的維生素A同樣會導致健康問題。

第2名：堅果

保持皮膚的健康，最好不要吃含有較多飽和脂肪酸及精制糖的食物。

活性成分：維生素E

功能：使皮膚年輕、柔軟

在眾多護膚食品中，堅果（特別是杏仁）的優(yōu)點是具有抗氧化性。維生素E能中和使皮膚老化的自由基，特別是能夠防止曬太陽的時候產生自由基。維生素E幫助皮膚保持水、緩解干裂，令肌膚看起來更年輕。

維生素E和硒搭配可以提高抗氧化能力，所以我們平時可以用杏仁和奶酪(偉大的硒源)混合，制作成護膚點心。

杏仁、核桃和開心果也能提供豐富的ω-3脂肪酸——一種很好的皮膚養(yǎng)分。

接下來是我們的最后一種食物：健康源于天然...

第1名：谷物

蕎麥煎餅美麗你的肌膚。

活性成分：蕓香苷（蘆丁），B族維生素

功能：滋潤、美白肌膚

天然的食物有益于我們的整體健康，而不僅僅是使皮膚好看。

天然食品未經(jīng)過加工，比如全麥面包要好于白面包。天然的蕎麥含有豐富的抗氧化劑蘆丁，有助于防止皮膚炎癥性損傷。小麥胚芽含有B族維生素，幫助細胞處理脂肪。

一般來說,吃全谷類食物代替加工過的碳水化合物可以改善你的膚色。加工過的(或精制的）面粉會引起胰島素飆升,而這也就會反過來能促使粉刺產生。蕎麥煎餅代替普通煎餅是你防止粉刺的一個好的轉變。順便說一句,這也有助于降低你患糖尿病的風險。

沒有蕎麥怎么辦？鱷梨和蘑菇也有類似的效果。

雖然說柳橙、蕎麥、牡蠣、菠菜、杏仁等食物能達到美觀皮膚的作用，但其實也并不需要怎樣去改變你的飲食習慣。一個健康的身體意味著健康的膚色。你身體好，飲食健康，經(jīng)常做些運動，學會緩解壓力，你的皮膚就會從中受益。