14th entry - Beauty Tips

Recently I was attending a series of seminars on beauty and health, organised by Nature's Farm at Suntec City. As expected, the main aim of the seminars were to educate participants about the benefits of Nature's Farm products on improving skincare and general health and well-being. Two of the main "ingredients" of both beauty and health are pycnogenol and pro-biotics.


Pycnogenol is touted as one of the best anti-oxidants in the world right now. Made from the bark of the French Maritime Pine Tree (pinus maritima), this supposedly natural product reportedly has an antioxidant action that is more than 100 times more powerful than Vitamin C and E, and 16 times more active than grapeseed extracts. From the official website, I learnt that the pycnogenol extract has four basic properties – antioxidant (fights free radicals that cause aging and cancer), anti-inflammation (both internally when consumed and externally when applied topically), selective binding to collagen and elastin (to make skin firmer and reduce fine lines/ wrinkles), and helps to produce endothelial nitric oxide which helps to vasodilate blood vessels (improving circulation). When applied to the skin and absorbed, it apparently helps to reduce the harmful effects of UV radiation from the sun.

Probiotics are friendly bacteria that help our body to digest food effectively. Such bacteria fall into 2 groups, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, with different species and strains within each group (e.g. Lactobacillus acidophilus). Specific probiotic formulations are used to treat diarrhoea and irritable bowel syndrome, to prevent and treat urinary tract infections. For most people, introducing live probiotics into our gastrointestinal system reportedly helps our bodies to maintain an effective immune system and fight diseases, and aids digestion and absorption of food and nutrients which is important for general health and well-being. It is important to consume the probiotics in the proper manner i.e. in freeze-dried capsule form, taken after/with meals to ensure that the bacteria are viable ("alive") even after passing through our gastric system till it reaches the intestines to colonize them. I am currently taking Kyo-Dophilus, which is freeze-dried and does not require refrigeration (which is apparently ideal because moisture "activates" the bacteria, and they would die quickly unless consumed immediately).

An "independent" website known as "Smart Skin Care" containing various information on skincare and beauty stated that:

You cannot build a house without a solid foundation. You cannot prepare a soldier without basic training. And you cannot, or at least you should not, embark on a sophisticated skin rejuvenation program without getting the basics right. In fact, neglecting the basics is almost guaranteed to make the rest of your skin care program far less effective.

While I do not believe that all of us need to take pycnogenol, I feel that to be beautiful and healthy, it is important to take care of what is inside our body instead of focussing only on what is skin-deep, and make adjustments to our lifestyle e.g. drink more water, sleep well, eat fresh and healthful food, protect our bodies from harmful elements, exercise regularly etc. We should pay attention to what we eat and what we put on our skin. As the "Smart Skin Care" website also states,


An optimal skin care product should contain one or more active ingredients in an effective concentration. Its inactive ingredients should not interfere with the active ones and, whenever required, should provide safe and adequate preservation, stabilization and delivery into the skin. Also, all ingredients should lack significant potential to cause skin damage.

Check out the Smart Skin Care website for more information on how to look beautiful.