Cellular renewal: how does your body get a “new skin”?

Although the expression “getting a new skin” is sometimes used figuratively, it is a phrase that is perfectly suited to the daily reality of any human being.

Constantly producing new cells, your skin envelope is the seat of a multitude of biochemical reactions involving complex metabolic mechanisms that are absolutely necessary to preserve the health of your skin.

Birth, development and destruction: discover some surprising details about the life cycle of your cells, but also and above all how to take care of them so that your epidermis can continue to shine every time you “get a new skin”.

Environment and genetic predisposition: the hectic life of your skin cells

The cells of the skin are said to be “differentiated” (or specialised) in the sense that their roles in the body are quite distinct.

It is this differentiation that makes the different functions of the human body possible.

The natural process of differentiation is therefore the transformation of (undifferentiated) stem cells into different, specialised cells that make up organs such as the heart, the digestive system or the skin.

In order for your body to develop healthily, this process follows the construction plan encoded in your genetic make-up. However, the environment can influence this differentiation to give different results from one individual to another.

This is one of the reasons why “identical” twins with different living conditions may have drastically different physical characteristics as they age.

From the point of view of the skin, this means, for example, that even if an individual is genetically predisposed to a certain degree of skin dryness, it is possible to avoid too great a loss of hydration by limiting the expression of certain genes through control of one’s environment.

Prolonged and frequent exposure to the sun, air pollutants such as cigarette smoke or an unbalanced diet over the long term are therefore “epigenetic” factors in the evolution of your skin phenotype.

In other words: these elements can impact the way in which the genes defining your skin characteristics are expressed, as shown in a study¹ conducted by researcher Lavinia Arseni in 2018.

By understanding the role of the most important epigenetic factors at key stages in the life of your skin, such as cell differentiation, it becomes possible to prevent the risks of premature ageing and limit your chances of seeing dysfunctions of your skin organ emerge.

In this respect, the scientific community has very quickly understood that nutrition plays a major role.

From the basal layer to the stratum corneum: nutrition for differentiation

The epidermis contains several types of cells, two of which contribute to its most visible characteristics to the naked eye:

• Melanocytes (mainly responsible for its pigmentation);
• Keratinocytes (responsible for most of its mechanical resistance and impermeability);

The perceived texture of our skin, its resistance and its appearance are largely dictated by dead keratinocyte cells, of a particular kind: the corneocytes. These cells form the most superficial layer of the epidermis: the horny layer.

However, before dying and joining this layer, the keratinocytes are born and develop by gradually migrating from the inside to the outside of the skin.

This birth, this growth, this life cycle in short, is impossible without the nutrients provided by our food.

Understanding why and how to best nourish your skin

To determine the best way to nourish yourself, it’s essential to first understand the key players in your skin’s external signs of health.

Regardless of your phenotype, three factors visible to the naked eye are generally used to determine the health of your skin envelope:

• Its elasticity;
• Its firmness;
• Texture.

There are 4 skin types that represent common combinations of values for these three factors:

• Oily skin;
• Combination skin;
• Normal skin;
• Dry skin.

Your genetic make-up determines your skin type and unless your skin is naturally soft, smooth and with few or no visible imperfections, it is not categorised as ‘normal’.

If this is the case for you, epigenetic factors, including diet, are of great importance in maintaining the health of your skin. For example, dry skin is less healthy than visibly “normally” moisturised skin.

Adjusting your diet or (more often than not) combining a local nutrition solution (cream) with a general nutrition solution (food supplement) is your best bet.

But how can these solutions help? What are the mechanisms that lead to this state and what are the reasons for using such products?

Skin architecture: a world in perpetual motion

Before reaching the stratum corneum, the journey of the keratinocytes begins in the basal layer of the epidermis, i.e. the deepest layer.

Resting on the basal lamina (the interface between the epidermis and the dermis which ensures the transmission of nutrients from the dermis), the stem cells occupy the role of cell production.

Langerhans cells (immune role), Merkel cells (sensory role), melanocyte (pigmentary role) and keratinocytes (mechanical role) are all cell types differentiated from the stem cells of the basal layer.

It is because the latter continuously create cells that the keratinocytes produced are “pushed” outwards.

This ascent towards the horny layer causes them to progressively change composition and form to fulfil different roles on the way, passing through 4 epidermal layers in all:

• The basa l layer (where they are born);
• The spiny layer (where keratinocytes begin to concentrate keratin precursors);
• The stratum granulosum (where the keratinocytes begin to contain and accumulate keratin in preparation for the impermeable armour that is the stratum corneum);
• The stratum corneum (which the keratinocytes reach after tearing along the way, emptying themselves of their contents, including keratin, to flatten out).

It takes an average of 28 days for the newly born keratinocytes to reach the stratum corneum. This is why it is commonly said that we get new skin every month.

The extracellular matrix of the dermis: where it all begins

Nevertheless, the genesis of keratinocytes and other epidermal cells by stem cells would not be possible without a certain raw material.

This is why the dermis, underlying the basal lamina of the epidermis, gathers cells specialised in the production of key elements to allow nutrients to circulate between the cells horizontally and vertically: these are the fibroblasts.

True production units, the fibroblasts carry out the synthesis of the components of the extracellular matrix (ECM), which they expel through their membrane.

The ECM is where the cells of the dermis are mainly located and where the amino acids, vitamins and trace elements are transported to provide them with the energy and materials necessary to maintain their functions.

In addition, an adequately nourished ECM is essential for the skin to maintain its macroscopic properties.

The health of your dermis and its macroscopic consequences

While the epidermis is responsible for the skin’s surface mechanical strength and impermeability, it is the dermis that allows it to be both supple and elastic.

To be exact, it is the ECM which is responsible for these two properties by being composed in sufficient proportions of the fruits of the metabolic activity of the fibroblasts, i.e. mainly :

• Collagen;
• Hyaluronic acid;
• Elastin.

The active ingredients of nutricosmetics: a way to support skin ageing

Offering good resistance to traction because it is not very flexible, collagen is what allows you to keep your skin firm (as opposed to elastin, which allows your skin to be… elastic, so to speak).

On the other hand, the hyaluronic acid in your ECM allows it to store water that can be called upon according to the metabolic needs of your fibroblasts.

Unfortunately, from the age of 20 onwards, your fibroblasts slow down the production of these two essential ingredients for maintaining the quality of your skin. The consequence is progressive but visible: your skin loses firmness and ends up changing type. Indeed, over the years, it tends to be less “normal” and drier.

This is why any quality food supplement cannot do without the now well-known duo of collagen and hyaluronic acid.

By combining these two active ingredients, nutricosmetics proposes to accompany the ageing process by preventing this loss of “productivity” from being too brutal in order to reduce wrinkles and fine lines.

Using nutrients already present in your skin as active ingredients

However, the most effective dietary supplements on the market go even further. By integrating other elements involved in the life cycle of the epidermis into their formula, some seek to offer rapid visible results for a long-term action.

It is with this in mind that ceramide is found in certain nutricosmetics.

In a study published in 20092 , researcher Yukiko Mizutani looked at the role of ceramide in the epidermis and its biosynthesis by keratinocytes. In particular, it was found that oral supplementation with ceramide improves the effectiveness of the barrier function of the epidermis and its permeability characteristics.

Vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc… numerous active ingredients are thus selected to support your skin in its metabolic functions.

Nutritional synergy: when the whole is more than the sum of its parts

What nutricosmetic engineering expertise has discovered goes beyond simply combining elements with individual beauty benefits.

For example, by combining organic silicon with collagen, Dr. Lidiane Advincula de Araújo was able to conclude in a 2016 study³ that it was possible to optimise collagen production in fibroblasts.

In the same way, we know since key works such as those of Dr Nicholas N. DePhillipo in 2018 (see source 4), that vitamin C supplementation also improves the body’s collagen synthesis, in addition to the increased antioxidant protection it provides.

All of these findings demonstrate that your skin, and more generally your body, is the site of biochemical reactions that are constantly occurring to keep you healthy and that it is possible to build on this understanding by using a key concept: synergy.

MyCollagenlift: a synergistic cocktail of premium ingredients

Thanks to its expertise, the MyPureSkin laboratories team has been able to select all-natural ingredients of premium quality in order to combine them in an exclusive formula: that of the MyCollagenLift food supplement, capable of supporting the ageing process of your epidermis and dermis.

The result of an intimate understanding of your skin’s senescence mechanisms, MyCollagenLift is a targeted nutritional solution that can be incorporated into your daily health routine to help your skin remain the best version of itself.

Indeed, MyCollagenLift is :

• Marine collagen peptides whose molecular weight allows them to be highly bioavailable (i.e. easier to assimilate by your body);
• Hyaluronic acid to help you achieve a good level of hydration;
• Wheat oil ceramides to complete this moisture maintenance effort for your skin;
• Vitamin C from acerola fruit to help protect your cells from oxidative stress;
• Vitamin E also acts as an antioxidant;
• Organic silicon to structure your skin while increasing your defences against the harmful effect of free electrons.

Convinced of the importance of nourishing your body to get a new skin in good conditions? Do you want to take care of your epidermis and your dermis to regain normal skin? MyCollagenLift will accompany you on your first 3-month treatment for visible results in just 4 weeks!

1. Study by the Arseni team evaluating the impact of collagen alterations on health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5983607/
2. Publication by researcher Yukiko Mizutani on the role of ceramides in the skin and its synthesis by keratinocytes: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19364519/
3. Research by Lidiane Advincula de Araújo’s team on the effects of silicon supplementation on collagen production: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4938278/
4. Study by Nicholas N. DePhillipo on the effectiveness of vitamin C in stimulating collagen synthesis: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6204628/