Papaya - the fruit that fights wrinkles

Excerpt from a 12/17/08 article in the Idaho Statesman by Michael Roizen, MD and Mehmet OZ, MD.

Go ahead, feed your face. Eating the right stuff makes you look younger, and one fruit in particular leads the charge: papaya. What makes it so perfect is that it's brimming with vitamin C. And getting lots of that vitamin may mean more youthful skin.

A recent study in women over age 40 found that women who consumed that vitamin had fewer wrinkles and less thinning and dryness in their skin. (You can also put that vitamin, in the form of a 10 percent L-ascorbic acid preparation, right on your face. But do it at night; it rapidly breaks down with exposure to UV light.)

Vitamin C is a natural friend to skin. The nutrient is essential for making collagen, the protein fibers that give skin its strength and resiliency. C also disarms free radicals that would otherwise chip away and weaken those fibers. A little extra vitamin C isn't the only food that can turn back your skin's clock. Nourish it with these strategies:

• Munch on walnuts. In the vitamin C study, researchers also saw that diets rich in linoleic acid - an essential fatty acid in walnuts - meant moister, plumper skin.
• Ease up on saturated fats and refined carbs. Both can turn your skin old too soon.
• Think whole grains. The magnesium and B vitamins you get from them help with the regeneration of skin cells.
• Keep the fruits and veggies coming. To stay smooth and healthy, your skin needs a whole slew of antioxidant-rich produce.