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Aging Skin: Nourishing from the Inside Out, Effects of Good Versus Poor Nitrogen Intake on Skin Health and Healing

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Textbook of Aging Skin

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Abstract

Skin is the outermost defense organ which protects us from the environment, constituting around 8 % of an adult’s body weight. Healthy skin contains one-eighth of the body’s total proteins. The balance of turnover and synthesis of skin proteins is primarily dependent on the availability of sufficient nitrogen-containing substrates, namely, amino acids, essential for protein metabolism in any other tissue and body organs. The turnover of skin proteins has been shown to be rapid, and the mobilization of amino acids at the expense of skin proteins is relevant in experimental models of protein malnutrition. As a result, alterations in nutritional status should be suspected, diagnosed, and eventually treated for any skin lesions. Protein malnutrition has a dramatic prevalence in patients aged >70 or more, independent of the reason for hospitalization. The quality of nutrition and content of essential amino acids are strictly connected to skin health and integrity of its protein components. Collagen fiber deposition is highly and rapidly influenced by alterations in the essential to nonessential amino acid ratios. The most relevant nutritional factor of skin health is the prevalence of essential amino acids.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical & Experimental Sciences, Division of Human Anatomy and Physiopathology, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy

    Giovanni Corsetti & Claudia Romano

  2. “S. Maugeri Foundation”, IRCCS, Cardiology Rehabilitative Division, Medical Centre of Lumezzane, Brescia, Italy

    Evasio Pasini

  3. Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Vincenzo Flati & Anna Rufo

  4. Department of Internal Medicine and Community Health, University of Milan, Via della Pace, 15, 20122, Milan, Italy

    Francesco S. Dioguardi

Authors
  1. Giovanni Corsetti
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  2. Evasio Pasini
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  3. Vincenzo Flati
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  4. Claudia Romano
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  5. Anna Rufo
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  6. Francesco S. Dioguardi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesco S. Dioguardi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Miranda A. Farage

  2. Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Kenneth W. Miller

  3. Department Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA

    Howard I. Maibach

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© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Corsetti, G., Pasini, E., Flati, V., Romano, C., Rufo, A., Dioguardi, F.S. (2015). Aging Skin: Nourishing from the Inside Out, Effects of Good Versus Poor Nitrogen Intake on Skin Health and Healing. In: Farage, M., Miller, K., Maibach, H. (eds) Textbook of Aging Skin. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27814-3_135-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27814-3_135-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27814-3

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