I’m A PhD & RD: These Skin-Healthy Vitamins Are Often Missed In The U.S. Diet

You’ve likely heard this before, but let’s say it one more time for the people in the back: What you consume shows up on your skin, and you can literally “feed” your complexion with hydrating, high-fat, antioxidant-rich foods. 

It’s a relatively low-lift task—many foods for supple skin might be in your daily meals already. However, two special nutrients are commonly missed in the U.S. diet, and they’re essential for maintaining your glow.*

“Folks may not know, vitamins C and E are literally required for collagen peptides to be both synthesized and to cross-link correctly,”* says mbg’s director of scientific affairs and in-house nutritionist, Ashley Jordan Ferira, Ph.D., R.D., on the mindbodygreen podcast. “Vitamins C and E are, by the way, common gaps in the U.S. diet, per the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).”

Here’s what you need to know about these two skin-healthy actives and how to best nourish your skin.* 

Both vitamins C and E are essential for skin health. First, a little refresher on C, shall we? The beloved antioxidant is an essential nutrient your body needs to make collagen, as it’s actually able to promote fibroblast production, tend to damaged collagen DNA, and regulate collagen synthesis, or the pathway in which collagen is made.* 

But that’s not all: Vitamin C stabilizes the collagen you already have, thanks to its antioxidant properties that can help neutralize free radicals. In other words, a thoughtfully made collagen supplement should contain vitamin C as well.*

Vitamin E is also essential for maintaining skin health, considering it’s the most prevalent fat-soluble vitamin in the skin. It works to retain moisture and strengthen the skin barrier, which is perhaps why “vitamin E [insufficiency] has been associated with skin dryness,” board-certified dermatologist Cynthia Bailey, M.D., previously tells mbg. Vitamin E intake also protects against collagen cross-linking (aka, when collagen becomes hard and stiff), a process that plays a role in skin aging.*

Alas, vitamin C and E have a common caveat: Your body cannot make the two nutrients on its own. Therefore, they must be ingested daily—and this is where many people fall short.* While true deficiency is quite rare (as you can get vitamins C and E from a bunch of foods, including almonds, spinach, broccoli, kiwi, and citrus), many people still don’t get the recommended amount for optimal skin health. Ferira puts it this way: “The reality is that we have a nation walking around with widespread nutrient inadequacies. This is a fact rooted in data, and meanwhile, there’s a simple solution.”* 

“It turns out, 35% of U.S. adults are not eating the recommended amount of vitamin C,” says Ferira. “That’s over a hundred million Americans.” Estimates of the national vitamin E gap reveal an even more dire situation: 80% of U.S. adults aren’t meeting vitamin E needs from food alone. That may be a conservative estimate, as another study shows up to 90% of Americans do not consume sufficient dietary vitamin E. In other words: To optimize the skin benefits of these two vitamins, you may need to up your intake.* 

“This could be as simple as nourishing your body and becoming vitamin C and E sufficient, and maybe you would see skin improvements from that inside-out approach,”* says Ferira.

One easy way to get your fill of these nutrients is with targeted supplements—plenty of beauty supplements include both vitamins (along with other high-quality bioactives), so they can enhance each other’s potency. (In case you’re curious, research shows vitamin E increases the antioxidant power of vitamin C fourfold; it’s the same reason you might see vitamin C serums incorporate vitamin E into the formula.)