Peoples' preoccupation with anti-aging skin care products that claim to make you look younger is not surprising; as we are living far longer than previous generations it is a good idea to look after your physical appearance. The skin care industry uses beauty products that increase the synthesis of the protein collagen, the main protein in skin which becomes less elastic as we age; almost 25 percent of the protein in skin is actually collagen. Most anti-ageing products (collagen included) fall into a category of natural everyday products we all use; these are known as antioxidants which remove toxins from the body.

You probably know many anti-oxidants by name, including vitamin C, the use of which is still, even now, hotly debated in the science and nutrition community. Vitamin C formulated skin care treatments suffer with a particular problem of oxidizing on contact with the air which causes a problem for users and manufacturers.

More stable skin care treatments are now available that are almost as efficient and actually cost less to manufacture. These new anti-oxidant products are not quite as good as vitamin C although other naturally occurring compounds, vitamin E and lipoic acid can achieve the same effect.

Vitamin E is an antioxidant and component of human blood whose purpose is to help increase the body's immune system; it has many functions including inhibiting the formation of cancer cells. Lipoic acid is also an energy making component of the body, found in every cell; an additional function is to repair skin damage caused by the normal aging process.

Another group of products used to reduce the visible signs of aging are phytochemicals which are compounds extracted from various plants and used in many anti-aging skin care products. A further benefit of these phytochemicals is their ability to prevent the onset of certain cancers; for example:

<ul> <li>Cancer of the Prostate</li> <li>Cancer that attacks the Breast</li> <li>Cancer of the Colon</li> </ul>

These are all on the increase around the world.

For some time now it has also been known that the vitamins B5, B6 and B12 also have anti-ageing skin care properties. The use of anti-ageing skin care products is a huge scientific field to research and has far greater potential than just producing goods that reduce the visible signs of age. Although current regimes are quite effective, there are many ways to combat the effects of time; there is still a long way to go however, before methods that successfully reduce the effects of age are commonplace.

With the research that is now taking place, many people are confident that in time, more effective, cheaper anti-ageing skin care products will be discovered. Scientific research into anti-aging products is still in the early stages but they should never be relied upon; man-made products may never replace those that are available naturally! Regular sleep patterns, exercise, a good healthy diet and less stress will all contribute to reducing the signs of ageing, for instance!