17 replies to this topic

[balance]

Hey everyone,

I don't know if this has been posted by someone else before me, if so, they deserve the credit. I must admit I have never looked at my skin in terms of how good or bad it looked. I figured it was always pretty "normal". I tried some lotions from time to time, mostly when girlfriends recommended it... Then with all my supplementation and nutrition gains, you'd expect that my skin would become a whole lot better. I have seen how zinc has improved the already very slight eczema I had. But since about 4 months, I've been getting completely consistent (100 percent of the time) results with one particular supplement:

Lef's blueberry pomegranate cocoa. I've tried taking them all separately, and that works too.

It's incredible, it's like I've developed baby skin. Even under my feet, it's almost so smooth that I trip hehe. The top of my hands literally shine, the veins stand out more (cocoa mostly, pomegranate too probably). The blueberry especially feels like a skin builder, I know this is very hard to explain, but my skin looks way more organic, less dry, feels smoother than butter. I couldn't be more pleased! First I thought this effect was solely on my hands, but it seems to be cumulative. The more I used it, it happened all over my entire body. Even my face and eye lids and everything looks and especially feels wayyy more smooth.

Something I noticed: Even though the label says take with or without food. I've been getting better results when taken WITH food. Also, I notice better results taking about 3 or 4 caps per day, as opposed to taking 1. I've tried taking 10 caps per day, but after the real effect was reached, it didn't get better. So I'd say don't take more than 5 max.

I have tried lef's whole grape + resveratrol product, taking 12 caps a day, and this did NOT reproduce these effects, even though you still have the procyanadins and whole grape is supposedly great for the skin. Taking 600mg of resveratrol didn't reproduce any of the effects either.

So if you haven't tried it, give it a try if you want to, it's relatively cheap. I've recommended it to 2 friends of mine and my girlfriend, and it has worked for all three of them. That said, I am a very stressed out individual and notice that I need more of the caps than others. One friend already had the same results with taking 2 caps. So find your dosage, stay with it for a little while, see if it helps you, if so, keep it, if not, screw it. Of course these 3 ingredients are top 20 supplements nontheless, and I didn't start taking this for my skin, but I'm just saying, this is not some promotional thread.


Cheers and good luck

[Johan]

Sounds interesting. I'm assuming you mean this: Blueberry Extract With Pomegranate & Cocoa Gold

Edited by namingway, 27 January 2008 - 03:10 PM.

[luminous]

I just looked at the information on that product. http://www.lef.org/n.../item01238.html Other than the fact that it contains powerful antioxidants (which are good for the skin), there are no specific claims pertaining to skin. Interesting that you've had such good results. Thanks for sharing.

Maybe this would be a good thread for people to talk about their own personal experiences with anything taken orally (supplements or food) that seems to have a good effect on skin.

[caston]

With all due respect to the threadstarter (piet3r) it sounds like a LEF advertisement. Most likely piet3r has climbed the happy customer ladder to the heights of advocate but it's still just non-placebo controlled anecdotia. Besdies my message to people these days is forgot your skin. Your cardio vascular system is 100 times more important than your skin. By all means use proper sun protection e.g hat and sunscreen everyday but after that get your vascular system in awesome shape first and foremost.

Edited by caston, 27 January 2008 - 03:16 PM.

[luminous]

...forgot your skin. Your cardio vascular system is 100 times more important than you skin.

Hi caston. Some of us want both--and there's no reason why we can't. Besides, anything that improves the cardio-vascular system is likely to have a positive effect on the skin as well. I just looked at your profile and I wasn't surprised to see that you're in your twenties. Let's hear what you have to say about skin appearance when you turn forty. I used to feel amused about the way middle-aged people obsess over their skin. Now I'm one of them.

[caston]

Hi caston. Some of us want both--and there's no reason why we can't. Besides, anything that improves the cardio-vascular system is likely to have a positive effect on the skin as well. I just looked at your profile and I wasn't surprised to see that you're in your twenties. Let's hear what you have to say about skin appearance when you turn forty. I used to feel amused about the way middle-aged people obsess over their skin. Now I'm one of them.

Hi Luminous. I mostly agree with what you say especially the part about improving your vascular system is going to have a positive improvement on your skin.

I would like to emphasis that you shouldn't let your skin distract you from building up good health from the inside out. To overall feel young it's about your respiratory system, your vascular system, your joints even the function of your reproductive organs. There's a general saying in gerontology that you may have perfect skin but your biological age is better indicated by the health of your vascular system. *edit* Don't forget the CNS!

On a personal note (in regards to my age) having spent way to many of years prior worrying about my skin (originally due to acne and acne scaring) I hope to put it behind me and focus on what is really important.

Edited by caston, 27 January 2008 - 08:10 PM.

[luminous]

Hi caston. Some of us want both--and there's no reason why we can't. Besides, anything that improves the cardio-vascular system is likely to have a positive effect on the skin as well. I just looked at your profile and I wasn't surprised to see that you're in your twenties. Let's hear what you have to say about skin appearance when you turn forty. I used to feel amused about the way middle-aged people obsess over their skin. Now I'm one of them.

On a personal note (in regards to my age) having spent way to many of years prior worrying about my skin (originally due to acne and acne scaring) I hope to put it behind me and focus on what is really important.

Sounds like you're doing the right thing. Agreed that it's counter-productive to become overly stressed over benign skin flaws.

[balance]

Somehow I feared this would happen...

Lets get something straight. First off, I am not somebody who's interested in skin. I much like luminous always ridiculed people who were taking care of their skin. Second off, I don't see my skin as being unhealthy or bad in the first place. Third off, I began taking these caps, and yes that link is correct, for the cardiovascular benefits ONLY. Indeed it is not marketed as a skin rejuvenatory because there are much more important things it does, and it's not a skin only benefit. Lastly, indeed it is my anecdotal experience that while using this supplement, I have gotten very amazing skin results, which I had no idea this supplement could do. Exactly the fact that it's not being sold as a skin supplement made me want to enlighten people in this SKIN section since most will have overlooked it for exactly that reason. I'm not a lef advertiser, I don't buy directly from them, I don't live in the USA. Not everything in life is about marketing. I figured I had a choice.. either I keep this info for myself and don't face this paranoid criticism, or I tell others in the hope of helping them too, but face this problem. Next time I'll keep these kind of comments to my own. I usually post everything in the supplements section, I only recently saw this section exists. It's not my terf, I don't know much about skin. All I know is, you should work on ur skin from the inside, not by topically putting thousands of creams on you. This is an example that proved that.. I worked on my health from the inside, and along came some physical outside rewards.

Take it or leave it, I gave you this info, if you think it's marketing, don't buy into it, if you think it's true, give it a try. Hell who cares whether it's lef or not, pomegranate = pomegranate. Get another supplement containing those 3 or get them all 3, and see if it works for you.

Edited by piet3r, 27 January 2008 - 05:04 PM.

[caston]

Hi piet3r,

Sorry if I have upset you. I'm sure you are enjoying your new skin anyway so don't worry about what people like me say on an internet forum.

best regards,

Chris

[hst1]

I've wrote about my concerns about the potency of LEF polyphenol supplments( and all polyphenol supplements in general) on imminst before. http://www.imminst.o...mp;#entry165569

In summary----

4 oz of fresh blueberries contains 200mg of anthocyanins while Lef Blueberry/Pom only contain 15mg of Blueberry anthocyanins

1.4 oz of Dark choclate contains 839mg of polyphenols while Cocoagold contains 130mg.

The Pom is very potent and I supplement it daily. Lef equivalencies are correct on the pom. It’s very interesting that on their Pom/Blue/Cocoa advertisement they only list the equivalencies for Pom -- maybe it has something to do with my above stats.

Important Note: I have noticed a dramatic change in my skin since supplementing Pom (juice and supplement) and is best descibed as piet3r said "baby skin".

[balance]

hst1,

Thank you for your reply, that's very interesting. I always wondered what AMOUNT of blueberries I was ingesting, since indeed while the pomegranate lists on the back it's equivalence to real pomegranates, the blueberry does not. Also, compared to the Bilberry supplement, you get less anthocyanins. If you are indeed correct, I would assume we are getting ripped off on the blueberries... That said, it still did the effect for me. Maybe that explains why I need to take a high dose to notice the effects though... but it still seems cumulative. If you know of a more potent blueberry supplement for the similar price, please let me know.


Caston,

Apology accepted, thanks, no hard feelings.

[hst1]

I don't like to mention specific brands but since I have a long standing concern documented on these boards about polyphenol supplement potencies and since you asked........ I have recently found a berry supplement that meets my potency standards. Here it is:

http://www.fruitfast.../mixedberry.htm

One serving of the "mixed berry" provides 200mg of anthocyanins by certificate of analysis. And its very economical with 60 servings for $14.95. I belive this supplement would be more synergestic than blueberry alone. They also have cherry and Pom at similiar prices.

Duke was the imminst member that pointed me to their site. He speaks highly of them.

What is you daily zinc dosage? I'm interested in trying it for my mild acne.

[Alien65]

I don't see any problem with members specifying specific brands that work for them. It's actually useful because I will check out the supplement facts labels for active ingredients and then compare the product to other brands of similar formulation. I personally take LEF Pomegranate Extract with CocoaGold for its vascular benefits. Because I take so many different supplements and have pretty good skin for an old man, I don't know how much it contributes.

[balance]

hst1,

Thanks for the link, I will definitely check it out. Duke is a good guy, if he thinks it's good, it is definitely worth my time checking it out. That said, it's a liquid supplement, doesn't that mean you get a load of sugar with that too? I don't mean added sugar, but the natural sugars of the berries.

Edited by piet3r, 28 January 2008 - 01:49 PM.

[donjoe]

piet3r: How much time passed between when you began taking the supplement and when you first noticed the skin effects?

[balance]

Noticed only today that I never answered donjoe's question. Sorry about that. I notice the effects quite fast, sometimes 1 day after starting, sometimes 3 days max. Important is to take them with meals, and important is to spread them out, 1 capsule taken 5 times daily is much more effective than 5 all at once. I've tested cocoa from other suppliers now since LEF no longer makes it, and have found that just as with whole grape and resveratrol the effects are not significant. Green tea can give a little bit of an effect when taking 4 of LEF's mega green tea extract (which is quite a high dose). LEF's Pomegranate capsules (NOT their full spectrum) still gives me the best effect. And strangely, even though their Blueberry supplement isn't very potent, it works though, while giving my skin a slightly different effect, way more fine lines than rough ones. They complement each other. Make sure to take them separately because LEF's combined product is without the 5:1 pomegranate extract. Also, only this year have I found something new for my skin: Hyaluronic acid! It was a big surprise as I was taking it for the joints in my hands to give some relief yet found that it gave me incredibly smooth and hydrated skin. I've since tested out several brands in an attempt to find the one that has the most per capsule, but have found not all are equal.

Hyaljoint does work, but is still not as effective as Jarrow's Hyaluronic acid (which unfortunately only features 50mg per cap). I've tried Synthovial Seven which didn't do anything for me at all even though they market their molecular weight superiority. I've also tried a brand that had 140mg per capsule which did NOTHING and NOW Food's hyaluronic acid with MSM did nothing either. The only thing to realize is that it takes quite a bit of capsules to get full effect and the effect is short lasting, if you take it and then stop, say 2 days later the smoothness is gone. Makes sense though given the pharmacokinetics of hyaluronic acid.


I highly recommend people try out the following formula for skin health:

Empty stomach:
Spread several times throughout the day
16 capsules of Jarrow Hyaluronic acid 50mg (I take 4 per time, 4x daily)

With very fat meal, ideally spread thrice a day:
5 Life Extension Blueberry capsules
5 Life Extension Pomegranate capsules
3 Relentless Improvement MK-4 K2 15mg or 2 Koncentrated K 25mg MK-4

It figures that you should already have these taken care of, but testing of the above should obviously be done if you have either already been
taking these a long time or not at all, as to not skew the results:
15mg zinc
adequate blood levels of vitamin D
adequate intake of vitamin C, make sure it's non acidic.
adequate intake of EPA, DHA, GLA, DPA
adequate copper intake
adequate complete protein (for collagen)


Nothing will come close, all the standard skin ingredients can't touch this. I've tested out so many supplements since 2007 it's nuts. Sure, I am N=1, but give it a try, I'd be very surprised if it gave you zero result.

Edited by piet3r, 02 August 2013 - 06:59 AM.

[Hope47]

Thanks bro, will look into it.

[1kgcoffee]

I've noticed a similar kind of skin radiance that comes after consuming either a large serving of wild blueberries (a very large mugs worth) or tea prepared from large amount of lime peel and fresh ground ginger. Guessing it has something to do with flavonoid content.

My own best skin results come from a combination of tocotrienols and tamanu oil applied before bedtime