One of the most successful areas of health and beauty is Anti-ageing skin care products. as our life span increases so does our desire to remain active as well as look young and healthy. We achieve this with beauty products that synthesize the production of the protein collagen; almost 25 percent of the protein in skin is actually collagen. Collagen is a member of another family of substances that aid in reducing the signs of ageing. called antioxidants, they help flush out toxins from the body and help reduce the signs of aging.

You probably know many anti-oxidants by name, including vitamin C, the use of which is still, even now, hotly debated in the science and nutrition community. Unfortunately all skin care treatments that use vitamin C have the problem of atmospheric oxidization to contend with once the product is exposed to the air.

Manufacturers are trying alternative skin care treatments to vitamin C that do not have this oxidization problem or cost as much to produce. These alternative products are not as effective as vitamin C but vitamin E and lipoic acid are anti-oxidants and are now being used.

The body uses vitamin E as an antioxidant and is also used to increase the natural defense we have against disease, including many types of cancer, it is a fat soluble vitamin in people's blood. Lipoic acid is found in every single human cell; it's function is to provide energy and reverse much of the damage caused to the skin by ageing.

Phytochemicals form the other category of anti-ageing skin care products which are special chemicals that are extracted from plants with a variety of that are used in skin care today. A secondary but more important use of phytochemicals is the effect they have on the prevention of breast, prostate and colon cancers.

Some B-vitamins like B5, B6 and B12 are also in use for anti-ageing skin care products. This is a vast area that has the potential for many new anti-ageing skin care products and services in the future but research needs to continue.

Whilst a great deal has been learned about this subject, it is only the tip of the iceberg and more long term effective methods need to be discovered to reverse or slow down the effects of time. There may be many challenges still to overcome but in time scientists believe they will succeed in producing more effective anti-ageing skin care products that are less expensive and available to more people.

Fortunately there is a number of natural anti-ageing regimes that can be carried out that do not rely on science. Natural methods are known, but few people actually follow them; what proportion of the population actually eats healthily, takes plenty of exercise, drink sufficient water and obtain restful and regular sleep?