Expert Opinions on Nutrition and Beauty

Aug 11, 2023

“Skin care breakfast” is one of TikTok’s latest and greatest trends, according to the NY Post. Influencers are promoting foods beauty consumers should eat as a part of their morning routines for the “perfect complexion.” Influencer Alice Sun, for example, describes glowing skin mocktails, moisturizing tofu salads and healing broths, noting how “gut-friendly” and “hydrating” meals have made a difference for her sensitive skin. Other influencers tout a glowing skin breakfast of yogurt, berries and pumpkin and chia seeds; and oatmeal to keep skin blemish-free.1

Eating your way to beauty isn’t new to cosmetic manufacturers, but right about now, the market seems ripe for the picking. Consumers are focused on health and nutrition, setting up brands like Caliray, Neutrogena, Monday Haircare and Act + Acre for success. These companies recently launched drinks and gummies to support the health and beauty of hair and skin health.

Antioxidants, e.g., beta-carotene, lycopene and other carotenoids, and polyphenols such as anthocyanidins and catechins are perhaps the most important constituents for skin."

In the literature last month (June 2023), a review article also emphasized the emerging demand for nutricosmetics. Its exploration of the role of nutricosmetics in health, nutrition and cosmetics underscored how by-product constituents such as vitamins, collagen, peptides, carotenes, minerals, proteins and fatty acids that have drawn special interest serve this beauty-from-within purpose. 2

“The bioactive peptides generated from plants and microalgae are used in functional foods, medications, and cosmetics because they are known to be selective, effective, harmless and fully absorbed by the body,” the authors wrote. They added that antioxidants, e.g., beta-carotene, lycopene and other carotenoids, and polyphenols such as anthocyanidins and catechins are perhaps the most important constituents for skin.

See related: Caliray Debuts Skin and Mood Enhancing Supplement

It may seem like the line between nutrition and beauty is blurring, but arguably, it’s been erased. In fact, it never really existed, according to dermatologist Zoe Diana Draelos, M.D. “Nutrition is a very important part of beauty,” she said in a 2018 podcast. “That old saying, ‘You are what you eat,’ is actually really true because it relates to the skin, hair and nails, which are made of pure protein.”3

Influencers, consumers, marketers and researchers are all seeing the nutrition and beauty categories converge. How do industry insiders view this cross-pollination of markets? We asked several experts to weigh in; following are their insights.

Amanda Jepson, vice president of business development for Biova, writes, “There is a drive toward embracing beauty as a form of self-care. Combined with the prioritization of healthy-looking skin and nourishing skin from the inside out, I would expect to see continued growth in supplements that provide essential nutrients to skin.”

Jepson adds that an increased focus on epigenetics will create winning products for this category and empower solutions to mitigate the harmful effects of environmental factors and lifestyle. She also believes products that serve the greater good will continue to resonate with consumers. “[C]onsumers’ purchasing decisions are increasingly impacted by purpose-driven brands that go beyond the immediate product function to encompass larger social issues.”

Future directions for this market will be driven by technology, per Jepson. “The rising tech segment will continue to have a growing impact on the nutritional beauty market,” she writes. “Diagnostic testing combined with smartly designed apps with wellness tracking features will take beauty and wellness brands from products that are thought about during morning and night routines, to companies that become deeply integrated in helping consumers put their best face forward.”

Furthermore, Jepson thinks combined efforts will yield the greatest success. “The best brands will recognize that topical skin care, beauty supplements or beauty tech are not enough on their own,” she explains. “A combined effort of all three will provide: an avenue for immediate effect with the topical; underlying support for skin health with an ingestible; and a mechanism for ongoing communication between the brand and the consumer through tech.”

Jepson cites one topical and ingestible ingredient combination leading the path forward: BiovaDerm (INCI: Hydrolyzed Egg Membrane) and BiovaB.I.O. (Beauty-Inside-Out). She describes them as “completely upcycled ingredients from the waste stream of food production [that] have clinically proven benefits for skin and hair when used topically and as an ingestible.”

See archived: Could Omega-3 Nutritionals Resolve the Acne Crisis?

Allie Chandler, head of brand and B2B marketing, North America, Novozymes OneHealth, sees a market progression from naturals to health consciousness. “Consumers’ consciences have led to an increased demand for natural, organic and clean-label products, fueling the market for ingestible beauty products over exclusively topical ones,” she writes. Chandler further adds that consumers have become increasingly aware of the importance of vitamins, herbs and probiotics for overall health and beauty. “This has driven demand for nutraceutical-enriched products, as well as vitamins taken orally, particularly those with immune-boosting properties.”

In terms of future directions, she highlights new evidence of vitamin K2’s potential for skin care, as well as the opportunity to serve an aging and health-conscious population. “Growth in anti-aging skin health is being driven by an aging population as well as younger generations, who present opportunity given their heavy supplement use,” she writes. “I predict crossover skin care products that provide multiple benefits; for example, vitamin K2 to help support skin health is also great for nerve, cardiac and joint support.”

She adds that this direction was spurred on by post-Covid-19 supplement fatigue. “We still want to take them, but we want them to do more than just one thing for our bodies.”

Supporting these future directions, Chandler highlights Novozymes OneHealth’s vitamin K2, which is produced using a patented chickpea fermentation process. “The various health benefits of K2 include skin care, bone and heart health, sports performance and nerve health,” she says. “This answers a lot of consumer concerns: safety, efficacy, multiple applications for whole body health and support by scientific research (including FDA GRAS).”

Furthermore, she believes innovations in encapsulation technology and delivery systems will allow for more effective absorption of these supplements, enhancing their efficacy and portability; e.g., skin care gummies, stick packs, etc.

Margaux Jacob, market and digital manager for beauty care at Seppic, similarly highlights the market’s continued focus on self-care. “With growing awareness of the importance of mental and physical well-being, consumers are turning to holistic beauty,” she writes. “This is reflected in the gradual blurring of boundaries between cosmetics and nutrition.”

She describes nutrition as becoming cosmeticized, with active ingredients that are not only for well-being, but also for aesthetics, such as vitamins and micronutrients that act directly on the skin. She adds that consumers are paying increased attention to the naturalness of products, which is becoming critical to their purchasing decisions.

“Following the blurring of boundaries, inside-out [products] at the crossroads of nutricosmetics and cosmetics [are] growing in success, consisting of … a food supplement ‘inside’ and a cosmetic product ‘out,’” she explains. According to Jacob, this inside-out approach carries with it a global philosophy, with preventive and corrective actions generally targeting skin aging, the loss of radiance and skin sensitivity.

“To underpin the benefits of inside-out [products], nutricosmetic active ingredients are the subject of clinical studies and in vitro tests to bring a more scientific vision,” she writes. “Inside-out [as a concept], with its growing potential, is evolving with new active ingredients that can be used both inside and out.”

Per Jacob, Seppic was inspired by this complementary approach and offers an ingredient duo based on coriander seed oil to soothe both the skin and mind. The routine includes Sepibliss, a nutraceutical ingredient to protect and soothe skin from an internal physiological side, and Sepibliss Feel (INCI: Coriandrum Sativum (Coriander) Seed Oil), a cosmetic active that imparts soothing and comforting cutaneous effects from the outside.

“The convergence of nutrition and skin care in the beauty industry today holds a significant place in consumer habits,” writes Camille Desperiez, marketing project leader for Silab. “[This includes] diet, nutritional supplement intake and food-based cosmetics.”

She adds that a study conducted by Nutraceutical Business Review revealed that 58% of global consumers are looking for food and beverage products that can improve skin health. “The trend of ‘inside-out’ or ‘beauty from the inside’ by taking oral supplements now accompanies the topical skin care routine using ‘superfoods’ as efficient beauty ingredients.”4, 5

Looking forward, Desperiez believes botanicals hold potential to inspire solutions for skin. “For millennia, plants have been valuable allies in ensuring the skin’s beauty, health and well-being. Thanks to their ability to produce natural energy at the heart of cutaneous cells, they stimulate certain essential mechanisms in the face of internal or external attacks on the skin.”

Furthering this direction, Silab leverages plants to supply the missing components in skin and restore its health. “[An] insufficient supply of certain nutrients reduces the metabolic capacities of skin cells and causes premature aging of the skin,” Desperiez says. “Peptides, for example, are nutrient components involved in several skin mechanisms including the modulation of cell proliferation and migration, inflammation, melanogenesis, as well as protein regulation and synthesis.”

To address shortcomings in skin and improve its vitality, Silab has developed solutions to target and regulate the biological pathways associated with the “vitality signature,” to stimulate cellular metabolism and strengthen the barrier function of nutritionally deficient skin. Examples include Revilience (INCI: Sphingomonas Ferment), Peptilium (INCI: Vaccinium Macrocarpon (Cranberry) Fruit Extract) and Nutripeptides (INCI: Hydrolyzed Rice Protein).

1. Kato, B. (2023, Aug 22). Skin care breakfast - It's the latest woo woo beauty "cure" trending on TikTok. https://nypost.com/2023/08/22/skincare-breakfast-beauty-cure-is-trending-on-tiktok/

2. Usman, R. and Bharadvaja, N. (2023, Jun 27). Nutricosmetics: Role in health, nutrition and cosmetics. Available at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43538-023-00181-x

3. Grabenhofer, R., and Draelos, Z.D. (2018, Feb 18). Industry insight: How nutrition impacts beauty. Available at https://www.cosmeticsandtoiletries.com/research/literature-data/article/21837069/industry-insight-how-nutrition-impacts-beauty

4. Farina-Silva, C. Ascenso, A., … Simões, S., et al. (2020, Jan). Feeding the skin: A new trend in food and cosmetics convergence. Available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924224419305035

5. Nutraceutical Business Review. (2023, Mar 13). Skin care trends in 2023. Available at https://nutraceuticalbusinessreview.com/news/article_page/Skincare_trends_in_2023/207453