Edible Cosmetics: Eat Yourself Beautiful?

Tired of slathering creams and cosmetics packed with antioxidants on your skin for a more youthful glow? A new line of cosmetics is coming out that you actually can eat.

Related: How Nutrition Influences Your Skin's Aging Process

Sue Devitt, an Australian makeup artist with a celebrity clientele and the Miss Universe Organization's official dietician, Tanya Zuckerbrot, are launching a new beauty product on QVC in February loaded with antioxidants and minerals that is supposed to be great for your skin. The $38 Beauty Booster is part of the duo's new partly ingestible io Beauty collection that "works from the inside out"; it can be drizzled over yogurt and into club soda, or eaten alone - and it's calorie-free. The amount of liquid in two droppers of Beauty Booster is supposed to have more antioxidant value than five servings of fruits and vegetables. And results are promised within 28 days.

Devitt and Zuckerbrot's new products are the latest in a recent line of edible products -- sunscreen, cologne, cosmetics and other beauty items - purported to make you look and feel better.

But Paula Simpson, celebrity nutritionist and formulation expert, warns consumers to not buy in blindly to such products, and to do your research to ensure such products really do have some health value.

"Recent human clinical studies have shown that consuming concentrated doses of certain antioxidants do in fact help protect the skin from damaging free radicals (accelerators in skin aging), which are produced in the skin when exposed to the sun or other environmental stressors," Paula says. "However, because this is a fairly new trend, many products coming to market are manufactured for 'commercial appeal' over the true health benefits. Therefore, choose your product wisely. Do your research on the manufacturer, clinical evidence available and formula ingredients/dosage before considering supplementation."

Click here for more of Paula's comments on edible cosmetics.

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Paula Simpson
Paula Simpson


About Paula Simpson: With international recognition as a Nutrition & Fitness Expert, Paula has over 15 years of experience in formulation and program development for the Nutraceutical and Medical Aesthetic Industry.