If like everyone else you've been scrolling the health and wellness niche of your Instagram or TikTok feed, I'm sure you have come across the eating your skincare niche. Creators, myself included, loading their toast with sardines and olive oil, adding ribboned carrot into their salads, and of course the countless skincare snack plates that always look amazing by the way. I know, I know, another annoying trend fed to us by influencers and girls that are naturally beautiful. But here's the thing, this one's actually a net positive overall. There's nothing to market when it's just whole foods and simply good nutrition, now we can't hate on that can we?
What I will admit is it won't replace your topical retinol, Botox, fillers or microneedling routines. But one thing that is real is what you eat can genuinely show up on your skin. However it's not always as simple as buying the right ingredients and eating them as is. Some foods will do nothing without fats, others need heat before the body can even use them, and some lose their entire benefit the second they hit boiling water. And because we're generally seeing beautifully plated aesthetic plates without the backstory, I think it's time we get into the art of eating our skincare!
Before we get into what to eat, it helps to know what your skin actually wants. Because it needs four base things first and foremost.
1. Your skin is always building itself
So firstly, your skin needs to build. It's rebuilding itself constantly, roughly every four weeks. This process is faster in your youth compared to older age [1], but regardless of age, best believe it's rebuilding. With that being said, the skin you'll be seeing in the mirror next month is being built right now out of whatever you're choosing to eat this week. To support this "build" you need to consume protein. Collagen and keratin are both proteins, and in any breakdown and build process in the body, protein is your best friend. Just like building muscle, we are building our new skin... 👀 weird correlation? Anyway, we also need vitamin C, because your body cannot assemble collagen without it.
2. Your skin needs barriers
Your skin barrier is what keeps moisture in and irritants out, and it's worth knowing this barrier is built out of fats. Around half the lipids in your outer skin layer are ceramides, and one key building block for those ceramides is linoleic acid [2]. Your body can't make it, so it has to come from food. Key signs you're low in essential fats are dry, flaky skin, because your skin is losing water faster than it can hold it.
The good news is if you're not on a low fat or restrictive diet, you're probably already getting enough of these fats to support this. It's found in tahini, nuts, seeds, eggs and even meat, so it's not something you need to go hunting for. It's the people cutting fat out entirely who tend to see it show up on their skin.
3. Your skin needs defence
Okay I LOVE sun tanning, and living in Australia the sun is an abundant treat, so this one annoys me to say the least. UV doesn't just sit on your skin and give you a golden tan. It creates a chain reaction that produces free radicals, and these activate enzymes that essentially destroy your collagen [3]. 24 hours after a decent dose of sun, the genes for those enzymes are running thousands of times higher than usual. Not only that, to make matters worse, your skin stops making new collagen for about a day. So you're losing collagen and not replacing it. Mind you, the same thing applies with pollution and cigarette smoke (sorry Euro summer cig fans).
Okay, and to get to the skin food part. Carotenoids, the pigments in tomatoes, carrots and capsicum, actually deposit in your skin and act as antioxidants there. In one study [4], people who ate 40g of tomato paste with olive oil every day for ten weeks had 40% less UV redness than the control group. This is likely thanks to lycopene, which has separately been shown to block one of those enzymes that destroy collagen. Urgent message: do not replace your SPF with a bowl of spaghetti bolognese. It doesn't even come close in the grand scheme of things, so let's be smart and do both, yeah?
4. It needs to be let in
So the frustrating part is that most of the food we are eating that we think is "skincare food" doesn't all get absorbed. You can buy the exact food you think will work and still get almost nothing from it. This isn't because there's anything wrong with the food, but most likely how it was cooked and prepared. Carotenoids need fat with them, otherwise they won't benefit you. In one study [5] people ate identical salads with fat free, reduced fat or full fat dressing, and with the fat free version the carotenoid absorption was essentially zero. Vitamin C leaches out into the water the second you boil it. That's why with the study mentioned earlier, participants ate it with olive oil, and the tomatoes weren't raw. So we can have a nice looking plate, but to make it actually work for us it needs to abide by a few rules.
So here are the rules
There are only two, and funnily enough they contradict each other.
Rule 1: Fat soluble nutrients want heat and fat
Quick refresher on why we want carotenoids in the first place. They're the pigments in orange, red and dark green produce, and they deposit into your skin where they act as antioxidants against the free radical damage we talked about earlier. They're also the reason skin looks like it's glowing, because that pigment builds up over time and literally changes your skin tone.
And that glow is measurable. Researchers tracked people's fruit and vegetable intake over six weeks [6] and measured their skin colour using an instrument. What they found is skin got measurably warmer and more golden, and this came from carotenoids depositing in the skin, which can be mistaken for a nice glowy tan without the sun damage. Around two to three extra serves a day was enough to shift skin colour noticeably. A separate trial had participants drink a carotenoid rich smoothie daily and changes to skin tone happened within four weeks. So consistency is key here, and the good news is the glow continued on for two weeks after the trial ended.
But getting them in is the hard part. Cooking breaks down the cell walls and the fat is what carries them into your bloodstream, so without it they largely pass straight through you. In one study [7], people ate the same tomatoes for five days, and the group who had them with olive oil saw their lycopene go up 82%. The group who ate them without oil had no change at all.
So: tomato, carrot, capsicum, sweet potato, pumpkin, mango and dark leafy greens. Cook them and put some fat on them, some butter, olive oil, or pair them with avocado.
Rule 2: Water soluble nutrients want raw and fresh
This is how you hold onto your vitamin C, which as we covered is what your body needs to build collagen in the first place. It's water soluble and heat sensitive, so the longer you cook it and the more water you use, the less of it survives.
There's a study that came out recently [8] where they had people eat two gold kiwifruit a day for eight weeks, which is around 250mg of vitamin C. Hold up, in this study they specifically used gold kiwis, which are elite and superior mind you, so no loss there. They carry roughly double the vitamin C of the green ones, so two green would only get you about half that. They did an ultrasound on their skin before and after. What they found was increased skin thickness, plus faster skin cell renewal. So take this as a sign to eat your vitamin C. Worth noting it was 24 people with no control group, and the funding came from the company that grows the gold kiwifruit. Doesn't make it wrong, just not the final word.
The best sources are red capsicum, kiwifruit, guava, blackcurrants, parsley, strawberries, broccoli and citrus. Eat them raw or barely cooked, and if something like broccoli needs cooking, steam it quickly rather than boiling it, because a good chunk of the vitamin C ends up in the water you tip down the sink.
And yes, red capsicum beats oranges by weight. It's also high in carotenoids, so roast it or eat it raw, either way it's giving your skin benefits both ways. The one food that covers both rules.
So what do we actually eat for our skincare?
To build:
Your skin is protein, so this is a no brainer. Eggs, fatty fish like salmon and sardines, chicken, beef, lamb, Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese, legumes, tofu.
The good news, these carry zinc too, which your skin uses for repair and to calm inflammation. Highest foods in zinc are oysters, beef, lamb, pumpkin seeds and cashews.
Another factor in the build is your vitamin C for the collagen boost: red capsicum, gold kiwi, guava, blackcurrants, parsley, strawberries, broccoli, citrus, papaya. And remember these are best raw.
To seal it all in:
Olive oil, avocado, tahini, nuts, seeds, egg yolk, full fat yoghurt.
To defend your skin:
Quick note on antioxidants, because everyone throws that word around. It's an umbrella term, not a single nutrient, and the ones with actual skin evidence behind them are carotenoids, vitamin C and vitamin E.
So, oily fish for your omega 3. Salmon, sardines, mackerel, anchovies, oysters. Two to three serves per week is great. You can get omega 3 through plants, however your body only converts a small amount of it into the form you actually need, so make fish the priority.
Then your carotenoids. Tomatoes, carrots, sweet potato, pumpkin, red capsicum, spinach, kale. Pair with fat for best results, and remember to cook your tomatoes, carrots, pumpkin and sweet potato.
And you might have noticed the oily fish is on this list twice. It's protein and omega 3 in the same tin, which is exactly why sardines are all over this trend.
Some recipes to get you started
Skincare toast
Sourdough, toasted. Slice your tomatoes and give them a quick sauté in olive oil, just a couple of minutes until they soften. Onto the toast, then sardines, thin red onion slices, and a generous sprinkle of finely chopped parsley. Olive oil, balsamic, squeeze of lemon, then salt, pepper, oregano and chilli flakes.
Skip the sardines if you want it lighter.
Greek salmon bowl
Salmon fillet, skin on, pan fried, air fried or baked, up to you.
Serve over quinoa or rice with a fresh Greek salad of cucumber, red capsicum, red onion, tomato, kalamata olives and a pinch of feta. Add some roasted sweet potato on the side for some extra benefits if you like.
Dress with lemon, olive oil and Greek herbs.
Shakshuka
Onion and red capsicum softened in a generous amount of olive oil, then garlic, cumin and paprika. Add a tin of tomatoes and simmer until thick and jammy, at least twenty minutes. Crack the eggs in, cover, and cook until the whites set. Feta and parsley over the top.
The glow smoothie
Frozen strawberry, frozen mango, frozen banana, full fat Greek yoghurt, and a splash of milk.
Okay, let's be honest about what your food can and can't do in this equation
Food is in the support role here, honestly. UV is estimated to account for around 80 percent of visible facial ageing [9], and no amount of tomato paste is out doing your sunscreen. We also have genetics, hormones, sleep and stress at play.
The other thing nobody mentions is the timeline. In that tomato paste study I mentioned earlier, there was no difference at all at four weeks. The result only showed up at ten. So if you've been at this a fortnight and seen nothing, that's not a sign it isn't working, that's just how long skin takes. Give it two months before you write it off.
So if you're doing all the "right" things nutritionally and you're not overjoyed by the result, just remember you're a human being and our bodies are a lot more complex than keeping up with perfect nutrition. As much as it helps exponentially, we go through a lot. Our period, motherhood, menopause, stressful stretches where sleep is harder to get. The human experience.
But regardless, eating your skincare is real, and being human is too. So go easy on yourself. We aren't here chasing perfection, real health is the thing worth aiming for.
So is the trend worth it?
Honestly, yes.
Most wellness trends fall apart the second you look at the research behind them. This one didn't. The tomato study is real, the kiwifruit study is also real, and the glow mentioned is a measurable pigment sitting in your skin. I think the whole thing has just become marketed to us as something it's not, because everyone wants the answer and the magic pill, when the reality is a lot more boring than that.
Underneath it, this is just eating well. Protein, colourful vegetables, real fats, oily fish and fruits. Which is the same advice for your heart, your gut and everything else.
And if a trend gets people eating more tomatoes and sardines instead of buying another powder, okay, I'll take it.
This is general information based on published research, not personalised nutrition advice. If you've got a specific skin condition, please see your GP or a dermatologist.