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Welcome to my beauty blog, and you will find a lot of beauty sharings here. As a shopaholic and a skincare maniac, I always like to try new things in market. And the most important thing is I just share what I had tried for at least a month to get most trustworthy testimonial. Besides, as a cosmetic analyst, I'll share with you more interesting facts behind these bottles and jars. Feel free to drop by here and I am looking forward to approaching you soon.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Skincare Myth: Black Foods make us Dark?


It's totally nonsense and ridiculous! Skin color is determined primarily by the amount and type of melanins. Variations in skin color are mainly genetic in origin, if food can change our skin tone, then MJ could drink more milk during his stay at US, and he does not need any lightening treatment. If Caucasians could take coffee to tan their skin into brownish wheat colour, why don't they just rest at home (ok, now you have tanning bed) but go to beach have a sun bath under the hot sun? Will we really become dark because of too much black foods intake such as coffee, tea, soy sauce and etc?

Some researches showed that tyrosine (amino acid) rich foods such as cheese, egg, soy protein isolate and other protein-rich foods. Tyrosine could be converted to melanin (pigments that caused darker skin). Yes, if you worry about it you could limit protein intake but it is not necessary to avoid it totally since tyrosine could also convert to thyroid, neurotransmitter dopamine and adrenal hormones.

In fact, tyrosine convert to melanin request helping hand from tyrosinase, an enzyme contained in some fruits and vegetables (like apples, or potatoes) responsible for the dark pigments (enzymatic browning of tyrosinase with oxygen and iron-containing phenols) produced when cut raw food is exposed to air. Tyrosinase inhibitors such as kojic acid, arbutin (bearberry extract), licorice extract, mulberry extract inactivate tyrosinase by chelating with its vital copper ion and suppressing the tautomerization from Dopachrome to DHICA, L-ascorbic acid and its derivatives which include L- ascorbic acid ( Vitamin C), act as reducing agents on melanin intermediates, thus blocking the oxidation chain reaction at various points from tyrosine /DOPA to melanin. All these tyrosinase inhibitors are widely applicable in whitening skincare products.

In addition, photosensitive compounds (bergapten, fagopyrin, furo-coumarin) in celery, coriander, basil, bergamot enhance the body’s absorption of sunlight, so that the incidence of sunlight dermatitis increased risk, it is advisable to take these foods at dinner but not applicable to all people.

People who often engaged in outdoor activities can eat more tomatoes, kiwi, oranges, cabbage, strawberries, and even olive oil, sesame oil, argan oil or jojoba oil can play a sun, sunshine role.

philosophy

2 comments:

bapo said...

how abt soy sause..
non at all?

Philosophy said...

soy sauce is protein rich food, after fermentation protein will break down to amino acids, including tyrosine. It is something to do with amino acid, but not the colour from caramel itself