“In pregnancy, your baby draws from your natural resources including your protein and iron intake. In menopause and beyond, especially if you limit your diet in any way, you still want to make sure you’re getting enough protein. A lot of women eat less as they age and their food is not as nutritionally packed and that can impact your hair and skin,” said Dr. Jennifer Jenkins, Physician and Board-Certified Dermatologist.
Women are peppered with ads for everything from makeup to moisturizers by the time we’re in middle school. And lot of the advice we receive about skin is focused on the lotions or potions we apply. However, skin health is in part a reflection of overall health. And the inputs we need, including nutrition, over the long-term.
Look Beyond What Goes on Your Skin
Jennifer explained, “About 3 years ago, it probably would have been considered rogue for a dermatologist to say this but now as a profession, we say diet plays a large role in how skin appears.” As Jennifer shared in part one from our interview, the evidence base is still a work in progress. However, there are supplements that show early promise to reduce sunburn and skin cancer, in higher risk populations. And you will increasingly see collagen, vitamin C and other antioxidants we often associate with food, in topical products too.
Inputs Like Nutrition Play a Key Role
Jennifer shared that historically, nutrition was treated as “second tier” in medical education and its impact on overall health, prevention and treatment was underestimated. She said, “Part of the problem is that nutrition is very difficult to study. It’s hard to do a randomized controlled trial to see what its effects really are.”
She explained, “It’s not easy to isolate one factor or one diet so, researchers often look at results for a population like with the Mediterranean diet. Then they can study a group of people who are by and large following the same type of diet but it’s still not as scientific to isolate specific causes and effects.”
View Your Health Through a Holistic Lens
There’s been a growing movement towards whole body health, because our bodies are complex systems with many interdependencies. Which is why food and nutrition becomes important in the short and longer terms.
Jennifer said, “For all aspects of your health, including skin, hair, and internal health the more you can veer toward eating whole foods, the better. When patients ask about having drier skin I’m not saying, ‘avoid X chemical or Y dyes’ but the more you can move toward ingredients you can readily identify where they come from, it’s generally better for you. Like eating more fruits, vegetables and lean real proteins, versus protein bars. And consuming fewer simple carbohydrates and dairy foods.”
Hydrate from the Inside
During our interview Jennifer explained she likes to simplify and help her patients focus on the fundamentals. I asked if there’s any difference in effectiveness for our skin or hair health in the wide range of water-like and sports hydration drinks.
She said, “You’re asking what works for hydration and water is great. If you can consume ideally half gallon to a gallon per day, that would be amazing. Now there are people who need to add other flavors for their own palette and that’s fine, but you don’t need that for hydration. If you’re following a normal diet that’s not particularly low in sodium, then you don’t typically need excess electrolytes.”
Pay Attention to What You Observe
Jennifer said, “Patients will say to me, ‘I think when I eat X, Y or Z that impacts my skin’ and even when I can’t think of a known correlation, there is information that we don’t know yet so, as a physician I always keep an open ear to the possibility.”
We become experts on how our own bodies feel and react so find the doctors and health care practitioners like Jennifer who will listen and honor your experience and observations.
Anticipate Skin Changes in Pregnancy and Postpartum
Even when you’ve read all the pregnancy books, many of us are completely unprepared for how hormonal changes impact our skin. Jennifer explained, it helps to be aware going into the process. “If you’re newly pregnant congratulations! Know there can be a lot of changes within this context of a beautiful thing. Stretch marks can happen, yes but you can also have acne where you didn’t have acne before. And if you’re not expecting that, at a time when you may not feel so great about your body, suddenly having acne is this whole thing.”
In Addition to What Happens to Your Hair
I shared my own shock at losing so much hair postpartum and Jennifer explained, it helps to understand on the front end how pregnancy impacts our hair follicles. “Patients worry they’re going to go bald but if you’re experiencing shedding with a newborn, there are normal hormonal changes after delivery, which is a huge stressor on your body. And when you’re pregnant, you have this beautiful mane of hair because you’re not losing hair you would have naturally lost. After you’ve gone through this kind of trauma to the body, now you’re losing that hair that you would have lost so, it’s a dramatic change if you’re not ready for it.”
Perimenopause and Menopause Also Shift Skin Health
Hormonal changes have a huge impact on mothers and the transition to perimenopause and menopause also affects our skin’s needs.
Jennifer said, “Estrogen plays a purpose in our skin in terms of overall fat content and integrity. As we lose our natural estrogen, you start to see bruising happen more easily, especially in the arms it’s because we’re losing the skin’s elasticity and overall thickness. And all of this contributes to making skin appear more aged.” As she also shared in part one, the best anti-aging steps include sun protection however, there are also retinols, retinoids, and strategies for moisture that can reduce the signs.
Question Tradeoffs for Convenience
In general, the more processed foods are, the less we gain nutritionally. We discussed how tradeoffs for convenience, especially when it comes to nutrition and overall health are often hidden Like what do we give up for that 5-minute difference to use traditional versus “quick” oats? In turns out the quick oats have a similar nutritional profile but are higher on the glycemic index than “rolled” oats or steel cut, which can make a difference if you’re managing your blood sugar.
Jennnifer said, “Our society has definitely moved to what’s convenient and as a mother, I appreciate that certain things have become very convenient for us, but we have to think about the meaning.”
Think about steps you can take to stay healthy internally, from a nutrition, hydration and hormonal health standpoint, to maintain healthy skin through each season of your life. And speak with your dermatologist or healthcare provider about shifts you can anticipate through hormonal changes like pregnancy, postpartum and perimenopause.
Many thanks to the talented Dr. Jennifer Jenkins, MD!
Learn more about her work on her website and if you’re in the Boston area, her Dermatology practice.
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About Dr. Jennifer Jenkins, MD:
Dr. Jenkins studied neuroscience at Brown University and then received her medical degree from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She then completed her Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. This was followed by a residency in Dermatology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a fellowship in Dermatopathology at Tufts Medical Center/Miraca Life Sciences
