Eat Fruits and Vegetables for a Healthy Skin

Researchers say that eating five servings of fruits and vegetables can keep skin healthy and glowing.

Sun beds, sunbathing and fake tanning lotions are often used to get that sexy tan. However, researchers have now found that there is another kind of healthy skin - one that comes from eating a nutritionally balanced diet.

"Skin coloration can arise as a result of two distinct processes," explain researchers, according to a news release. 

Melanisation is when people get a tan through exposure to sun, while carotinoid coloration is when people follow a healthy diet.

The yellow pigments in brightly-colored fruits and vegetables keep skin healthy. Scientists say that people find carotenoid coloration more attractive than melanisation.

The current research was based on three studies. Participants in the first two studies were shown 27 base faces. Some of the images were given hues that resembled melanisation, while others were given color hues that come from eating a healthy diet.

Participants were shown the high and low pigment versions of the faces were asked to rate the images based on attractiveness. The researchers found that a majority of the respondents preferred images that had carotenoid coloration.

In the third study, the researchers asked participants to rate 24 high carotenoid and high melanin faces. The researchers found a 75.9 percent preference for carotenoid colouring over melanisation.

The research shows that "the importance of carotenoid coloration as a cue to current health and attractiveness, [a fact that] may be pivotal in mate choices," according to the scientists involved in the project.

The study is published in the journal The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Research has shown that eating fruits and vegetables can lower health problems. People can also reduce risk of diabetes type-2 by eating fruits and veggies, says a  study published in the journal Diabetes Care.