Causes of Unhealthy skin

Faulty diet. Refined foods like white flour, sugar and products made with them, tea, coffee, and soft drinks deplete energy, bring about wrinkles, unattractive skin and premature aging.

Lack of healthy blood. Healthy blood adds a glow to the skin and keeps it well-nourished, moist, and free from dryness and roughness.

Inadequate cleansing. Very often, our skin looks superficially clean; but they really are not. Dirt and dust particles can hide in the pores of the skin and clog sweat and sebaceous glands. Proper cleansing not only removes all the dust, dirt and make-up, which accumulate during the day, but also stops the oil-secreting sebaceous glands from getting clogged.

Diet

Diet plays an important role in maintaining the health of the skin. Diet should supply all the nutrients needed to build health, namely, protein, carbohydrates, fats, essential fatty acids and all the essential vitamins and minerals. Such a diet will consist of liberal quantities of seeds, nuts and grains, vegetables and fruits, supplemented by special protective foods like milk, vegetable oils, yogurt, honey and yeast.

Nutrients play an important role in maintaining a healthy skin.

Examples:

Your skin is unusually dry and rough. You have blackheads and whiteheads. You are probably lacking sufficient vitamin A. You could also be suffering from the deficiencies in iron, iodine and the B Vitamins. Adequate amounts of protein and vitamin C are also important.

The vitamins of the B group are important in producing beautiful skin.

Vitamin B1 aids skin health by helping to keep the circulation normal.

Vitamin B2 or riboflavin deficiency can lead to brown pigmentation, or liver spots on the skin. These ugly spots usually disappear if generous amounts of vitamin B2 are given over a period of six months. Severe riboflavin deficiency can lead to oily skin and hair and small deposits of fat under the skin of the cheeks and forehead and behind the ears. More severe deficiency of riboflavin causes the skin under the nose and at the comers of the eyes and mouth to crack and become sore.

Vitamin B6 or pyridoxine deficiency can result in dermatitis or eczema.

Niacin deficiency can also cause an eczema type of skin eruption with brown pigmentation, largely on the face, forearms and legs.

Deficiency of pantothenic acid, para-aminobenzoic acid, and biotin: This also leads to types of eczema. The symptoms will go away completely when these vitamins are generously added to the diet.

It is clear that Vitamin B plays a pivotal role in maintaining a healthy skin. So, diet that is rich in Vitamin B can go a long way in skin health. One of the important food in this connection is brewer's yeast. Even the person whose skin seems smooth and healthy usually notices improvement in texture and glow, a week after adding two or more tablespoons of brewer's yeast to the daily diet. Persons with eczema should, for an entire month, take a tablespoon of yeast stirred into citrus juice or water after each meal, between meals, and before retiring. If the diet is adequate in all other respects, the eczema is usually cured in a month 's time.

Anemia and Pale Skin: Anemia results from lack of protein, iodine, calcium, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folic acid, cobalt, copper, and iron. Take diet rich in Vitamin B. Folic acid and vitamin B12 are especially important.