10 Foods That Make You Look Younger

You can head off a lot of your most common beauty concerns simply by downing the right foods. That's right—eating well not only does wonders for your waistline and bolsters your immune system but can also provide some very real get-gorg benefits, such as smoothing wrinkles, giving hair a glossy shine and strengthening flimsy nails.

"Your diet directly affects your day-to-day appearance and plays a significant role in how well you age," said Dr. Joshua Zeichner.

The smart approach, Zeichner said, is to create a plan that includes what he calls "the building blocks of healthy skin and hair"—nutrients, minerals and fatty acids—as well as antioxidants to protect your body from damaging environmental stresses.

Get ready to nab some beauty-boosting perks by tossing these essential face-saving edibles into your grocery cart.

Coffee

Grabbing some java every morning doesn't just jump-start your day—that cup of joe has bioactive compounds that may help protect your skin from melanoma (the fifth most common cancer in the U.S.), according to a recent report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Researchers found that the more coffee people downed, the less likely they were to get the disease: Those drinking four cups daily had a 20 percent lower risk of developing malignant melanoma over a 10-year period than non-coffee drinkers.

Watermelon

The summertime fave is loaded with lycopene.

"This antioxidant compound gives watermelon and tomatoes their red color—and helps skin stave off UV damage," said nutrition pro Keri Glassman, RD, founder of NutritiousLife.com.

Researchers believe that the melon contains as much as 40 percent more of the phytochemical than raw tomatoes; that's the equivalent of an SPF 3, so use it to bolster (not replace) your daily dose of sunscreen.

Pomegranates

The seeds of this wonder fruit are bursting with antioxidants, like vitamin C, that prevent fine lines, wrinkles and dryness by neutralizing the free radicals that weather skin. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that higher vitamin C intake lessened the likelihood of dryness and wrinkles in middle-aged women. Also in the fruit's arsenal: anthocyanins (which help increase collagen production, giving skin a firmer look) and ellagic acid (a natural chemical that reduces inflammation caused by UV damage).

Blueberries

Boost radiance by popping some of these plump little beauties. Blueberries supply vitamins C and E (two antioxidants that work in tandem to brighten skin, even out tone and fight off free-radical damage), as well as arubtin, "a natural derivative of the skin lightener hydroquinone," Zeichner said.

Lobster

High in zinc, shellfish has anti-inflammatory properties that can help treat a range of skin annoyances, acne included.

"Zinc accelerates the renewal of skin cells," said Dr. Whitney Bowe, clinical assistant professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "That's why you find the nutrient in many acne medications."

In fact, research shows that people with acne have lower levels of zinc than people with clear skin.

Kale

On the long list of this leafy green's nutrients are vitamin K (it promotes healthy blood clotting, so the blood vessels around the eyes don't leak and cause Walking Dead-like shadows) and loads of iron.

"Insufficient levels of iron in your diet can cause your skin to look pale, making it easier to spot blood vessels under the skin," explained Dr. Howard Murad, associate clinical professor of medicine at UCLA. To max out the benefits, eat the veggie cooked, not raw.

Eggs

Your fingernails (toenails, too) are made of protein, so a deficiency can turn those talons soft. Keep yours thick and mani-pedi-ready by cracking smart: "Eggs are a good source of biotin, a B complex vitamin that metabolizes amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein," said Dr. Frank Lipman, director of Eleven-Eleven Wellness Center in New York City.

Walnuts

Omega-3 fatty acids (found in the natural oils that keep your hair hydrated) and vitamin E (which helps repair damaged follicles) are two secrets behind strong, lustrous strands—and these nuts are full of both, Lipman said. All you need is 1/4 cup a day. What's more, walnuts are packed with copper, which will help keep your natural color rich: Studies show that being deficient in the mineral may be a factor in going prematurely gray.

Avocado

Like you need another reason to love them: These rich fruits are high in oleic acid, an omega-9 fatty acid that helps skin retain moisture in the outer layer to keep it soft, plump and supple, Bowe said.

Cantaloupe

The sweet melon contains beta carotene, or vitamin A, which is believed to regulate the growth of skin cells on your scalp and sebum in the skin's outer layer, Zeichner said. This keeps pores from getting clogged and causing flakes.

Hair Growth Discovery Could Help Develop A Treatment For Hair Loss

Scientists have taken another step towards understanding the cause of alopecia and other forms of baldness, including male-pattern balding. With a little more research, the discovery could one day lead to a treatment for hair loss.

UC San Francisco researchers found that many forms of baldness could be due to T cells, aka Tregs. These immune cell are typically associated with controlling inflammation, but this research shows that they also directly trigger stem cells in the skin to promote healthy hair growth. This means that if the T cells are faulty, it disrupts the ability of the stem cells to regenerate hair follicles and therefore leads to balding. Why they may be faulty, however, remains to be seen.

“Our hair follicles are constantly recycling: when a hair falls out, a portion of the hair follicle has to grow back,” Michael Rosenblum, an assistant professor of dermatology at UCSF and senior author, said in a statement. “This has been thought to be an entirely stem cell-dependent process, but it turns out Tregs are essential. If you knock out this one immune cell type, hair just doesn’t grow.”

In their study, published in the journal Cell, they conducted experiments that temporarily removed Tregs from the skin of mice. When they shaved the hair off these mice, it didn’t grow back. “We quickly noticed that the shaved patches of hair never grew back, and we thought, ‘Hmm, now that’s interesting,'" Rosenblum said. “We realized we had to delve into this further.”

Imaging techniques showed that the Tregs are closely tied to the stem cells in the hair follicles that help regenerate hair. When the follicles enter their usual cycle of regeneration, the number of Tregs around it triples.

“It’s as if the skin stem cells and Tregs have co-evolved, so that the Tregs not only guard the stem cells against inflammation but also take part in their regenerative work,” Rosenblum said. “Now the stem cells rely on the Tregs completely to know when it’s time to start regenerating.”

To further solidify this idea, they also found that the genes associated with alopecia are almost all related to Tregs. This makes Rosenblum and his team think that understanding Tregs’ role in hair growth could lead to improved treatments for hair loss.

“We think of immune cells as coming into a tissue to fight infection, while stem cells are there to regenerate the tissue after it’s damaged,” he added. “But what we found here is that stem cells and immune cells have to work together to make regeneration possible.”