The best anti-aging creams contain a variety of beneficial ingredients, but firstly I would like to go into what I believe is very important to look out for in your chosen anti-aging cream and these are Antioxidants, which are nutrients that our body naturally produces.
Antioxidants unlike free radicals are stable molecules which have the ability to fight the damaging free radicals by neutralizing them and in so doing can slow the internal and external aging process.
Apart from the ones produced in our bodies there are hundreds of other known antioxidants mostly found plants, vegetables and fruit.
To understand better how the network of Antioxidants work together as a team to protect the cells of our body, imagine the cell as if it were an island, out on the shore surrounding the island we have our first line of defense against attack and these are our Carotenoids and scattered in the middle of the island would be the vitamins E, C and CoQ10 (Coenzyme Q10).
So the first thing your new super dooper age combating cream should have is a good mixture of antioxidants. This is how you can identify them:
* Vitamin E which is a very potent antioxidant which protects the skin from photo aging. Skincare ingredients that contain a variation of the word Tocopherol such as Tocopheryl acetate are forms of VitaminE.
* Vitamin C, also known as Ascorbic acid is water soluble which makes it good for neutralising free radicals in watery environments such as inside our body fluids and works together with Vitamin E to help regenerate and keep the cell active.
* Carotenoids are the kings of antioxidants, examples of these would be beta-carotene, alphacarotene and lycopene.
* Red grape extract, sometimes seen as Resveratrol, has significant anti inflammatory properties
* Grape seed extract.
* Green Tea and Soy Extract provide protection to the DNA of the cell as well as promoting their repair.
* CoQ10, also known as Ubiquinone. Levels of this antioxidant decline after the age of 20.
* Alpha Lipoic Acid which is found in plants and animals and when applied topically helps to improve skin tone texture.
Other key ingredients good anti-aging creams should have is a high SPF in the day cream, to protect our skin from damaging ultraviolet rays, even if its cloudy!
Another key ingredient is Retinol which is Vitamin A. This is very effective for sun damaged skin as it stimulates the regeneration of new, healthy skin cells. Also with any products containing Retinol ensure that the packaging does not allow any air or light into it.