Fruit and Vegetable Juices for Skin Health

This transcript was exported on July 3, 2023 -view latest version here.

Skincare can sometimes feel overwhelming, whether it’s finding the right products, ingredients, or treatments. There’s a lot out there, but not always for people of African, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and Eastern South Asian descent. That’s why I set out to educate myself and others so that we can all feel beautiful in our skin. Hello and welcome back to The Skin Report. I’m Dr. Simran Sethi, an internal medicine doctor, mom of three and CEO and founder of Skin by Dr. Sethi and Renew MD Medical Spas.

If you’ve been listening to the show for a while now, you know that I’m a big advocate of a balanced diet. The more nutritious meals you eat, the better it is for your body, brain, and skin. Certain juices are an easy way to add more fruits and vegetables to your day when you’re on the go, but how can OJ, cranberry, or cucumber juice impact the skin? We’ll explore this question and more on this episode.

Before we get into the episode, I just want to give you a warning that we’ll be looking into sugar, vitamins, and the benefits or disadvantages of some foods and juices. Some listeners who struggle with disordered eating may find these discussions triggering, and therefore I’d like to say that please take care of yourself and listen if you’re able to.

When it comes to eating healthy, there has been much debate about what that actually looks like. From the outdated food pyramid to different trending diets, sometimes it can be confusing as to what constitutes as healthy and what does not. However, despite evolving trends and new scientific studies, fruits and vegetables have remained a staple of new nutrition. The truth of the matter is that having a diet rich in super fruits like blueberries and dark and leafy vegetables is best. If you are curious about the impact of veganism, keto, paleo, and the Mediterranean diet on your skin, check out season one, episode 34 of The Skin Report. We’ll have it linked in the show notes.

So why do I bring this all up? Well, sometimes incorporating fresh veggies and fruits into your diet every single day can be challenging, especially if you’re running around at work, home, or kid activities. If you’re traveling, whether it’s flying or driving, a healthy snack is not always an option at the airport or rest stops. This is why I like to recommend smoothies and juices as a convenient way to supplement your intake. Some juices are also a great way to also stay hydrated in the hotter months while delivering added vitamins and electrolytes that plain water doesn’t carry. Not all juices are created equal, however, especially for the benefits they can bring the skin. When we return, we will go over some of the most popular juices containing fruits and veggies. First, I want to tackle a popular choice.

Orange juice. Oranges themselves are a great source of vitamin C, fiber, and potassium. As we’ve discussed extensively before, vitamin C is a skincare superpower. It’s an antioxidant that can help neutralize free radicals, brightening and evening out the skin tone. However, the balance of nutrition in an orange doesn’t always translate to orange juice. OJ has less fiber and vitamins while having significantly more sugar than a whole orange. A cup of orange juice can contain anywhere between 18 to 25 grams of sugar. Excessive sugar intake will promote production of AGEs or advanced glycation end products that will stick onto your collagen and elastic proteins making it difficult for these proteins to bind together. When collagen and elastin can’t bind together, the skin loses its strength and elasticity. We’ll see this as a repeating pattern throughout these juices that sometimes the amount of sugar may not be worthy nutrients is especially when you can get those nutrients elsewhere. So in terms of specifically boosting your skin health and appearance, I would not recommend OJ.

Next, I want to discuss cucumber juice, which is anti-inflammatory and contains lots of vitamin K, up to 22% of your recommended daily intake. Now, I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of skincare ingredients that incorporate cucumbers for their hydrating properties, but also for their vitamin K. Vitamin K helps your body make various proteins that can help with healing, repair, bone building, and more. In regards to your skin, vitamin K helps to repair the skin barrier function. Cucumbers and cucumber juice also help to soothe and hydrate. I like to think of cucumber juice as hydrating as water, but it’ll also containing antioxidants, vitamin K, and a subtle taste. Overall, this is a great choice for your skin health.

If you’re looking for a great juice choice that contains vitamin A, C, and K, you can look no further than carrot juice. One cup of carrot juice contains 251% of your recommended daily value of vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential in helping building new cells, improving your nails, hair and skin. As the skin generates in cycles, building new cells is imperative. Retinol is a derivative of vitamin A and that’s why it’s used to help reverse signs of aging, aid in acne reduction, and plenty more. Many prescribed acne medications contain large amounts of vitamin A as only one cup of carrot juice contains more than 251% of our daily needs, this makes it an incredible choice for your skin. In addition, that one cup of carrot juice also has 22 and 31% of vitamin C and K respectively. WhileOJ has more vitamin C, carrot juice has way less sugar. This combined with its other vitamins makes it a winner in my book. Next, I want to talk about cranberry juice.

Cranberries contain vitamin C as well as salicylic acid. Salicylic acid helps to fight acne and is found in topical treatments. It also has some vitamin C and E. Cranberry juice is a great antioxidant that helps reduce urinary tract infections, lower cholesterol, and relieve blood pressure. However, when it comes to the health of your skin, the amount of sugar in cranberry juice outweighs the vitamins, which you can find in other juices. One cup of cranberry juice contains 31 grams of sugar. If you’re thinking about drinking cranberry juice purely for skin, I would say other juices like carrot and cucumber are better. However, I understand that carrot and cucumber juice aren’t everyone’s speed, so if you’re looking for something that has a similar taste of cranberry juice with a lot more vitamins and less sugar, I would check out pomegranate juice. It’s another great antioxidant which helps to fight damage done by free radicals.

Like some of the other juices we’ve discussed, pomegranate juice is anti-inflammatory, and according to an article published, the National Library of Medicine in 2018 can be anti-non-cancerous. In other words, consuming pomegranates or pomegranate juice can help reduce the risk of different cancers as well as heart disease. As for skin, you will see these benefits via reducing the formation of wrinkles. Eating pomegranate seeds directly is even better for your skin and general health, as these contain more fiber than the juice. Overall though, pomegranate juice is a great option for your skin.

Next, I want to talk about apple juice. Similar to oranges, having a whole apple is great. It’s full of vitamin A, B, and C. Apple juice on the other hand, is very sugary and excessive sugar leads to skin laxity. In terms of skin health, the contents of vitamin A and C in the juice is less than 10%. While tasty, I wouldn’t suggest drinking apple juice to improve your skin. However, if you want a tasty option that is lighter in flavor than carrot juice, but hydrating like cucumber, I say go for aloe vera juice. Aloe vera juice is a delicious light and low to no sugar option.

It hits the mark for vitamins and minerals we would want to boost the skin as it’s high in antioxidants and vitamin A, C, and E. Many are already familiar with the brightening benefits of vitamin C, but vitamin E has tremendous effects on building our skin barrier, which in turn brightens the skin too. A 2015 NIH study found that consuming aloe vera boosted collagen production and visibly reduced the look of wrinkles in women over 40. However, this is just one study, but taking what we know of vitamin A, C, and E, we can apply this to your skin when drinking aloe vera. I personally love aloe vera juice and find that it’s very refreshing without having the typical veggie flavor you may taste in other juices.

Like other drinks we listed today, aloe vera can benefit more than just the skin. Two studies published by the National Library of Medicine in 2015 found that it can also help with digestive issues, especially those who struggle with IBS.

So overall, what can we take away from this? I know there’s some overlapping information between the juices. While OJ and cranberry juice offer other health benefits, their high sugar intake would do more harm for the skin than good. As for apple juice, while yummy, I don’t think should be thought of when looking for a nutritious option. In summary, consuming a diet which is rich in vitamins and antioxidants requires a variety of fruits and vegetables. Eating those in whole will add fiber to the mix, which greatly reduces the glycemic effects of any foods. If given the option, I would always say go with the whole fruit or vegetable as opposed to its juice counterpart. However, if you are going to drink a juice while on the go or to supplement your diet, the low sugar ones are best, cucumber, carrot, pomegranate, and aloe vera.

Every fruit juice has a mix of beneficial antioxidants, so I can say one of the lower sugar ones is better than the other, although it may just come down to your taste. If you are looking for a very light juice that boosts your skin, I would recommend cucumber oraloe vera juice. If you’d like an earthy taste with stronger flavors, I say carrot juice. As for something more tart, I’d lean towards pomegranate. I hope you enjoyed our episode on the best juices for your skin. If you’d like more of this content, let us know. We are a women of color owned brand and any likes, reviews, ratings and shares truly help to boost the podcast and get it in front of others like yourself. Thanks for listening, and until next time, love the skin you’re in and celebrate your beauty.

If you’d like to learn more about science backed skincare or medical aesthetic treatments, please subscribe to and turn on notifications for The Skin Report so you always know when a new episode is up. We have a newsletter that you can sign up for on skinbydrsethi.com so that you can stay up to date on all our latest products and more. Additionally, if you have a skincare question or want to make an episode topic recommendation, please message me at theskinreportbydrsethi.com, which is linked in my show notes and I’ll be sure to answer your question in an episode soon.

Transcript by Rev.com