(NAPSI)—When the weather gets rough, so can your skin. Cold air outside, dry air inside can mean tight, dry, uncomfortable face, hands and feet, and skin that can chap, flake…even crack.

“This moisture loss not only results in dryness and cracking,” explains Michael A. Smith, M.D., senior health scientist with one of the world’s leading organizations dedicated to extending the healthy human life span, “it can also contribute to the development of fine lines and wrinkles on the complexion.”

To understand how we can best repair and even prevent such skin problems, Dr. Smith suggests you need to understand something called skin ceramides.

“If you think of your skin as a brick-and-mortar wall, the bricks would be the skin cells and the mortar would be the matrix that holds the skin cells together, of which the ceramides are part,” he says. “If that mortar or that matrix begins to break down because you start losing some of the components, such as the ceramides, the skin cells will begin to separate, rupturing the skin’s moisture barrier and allowing rapid moisture loss.”

Several factors reduce the skin’s ceramide levels and destroy its ability to retain moisture.

The first is aging. “As we get older, we don’t produce enough of many substances in the body, including these,” the doctor says. “Other reasons include poor diet, alcohol consumption, smoking, chronic stress and exposure to environmental toxins.”

Fortunately, Dr. Smith says clinical studies show a food supplement made from wheat germ oil and called Advanced Skin Repair with Ceramides can significantly increase skin ceramide levels. A study published in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science found the supplement effective in reducing skin roughness and itchiness while improving uniformity of complexion, facial skin hydration, suppleness, and the overall state of the skin.

“Ceramides can be found in many plants and animals, but the ceramides most resembling the ceramides found in human skin are found in wheat germ oil,” says Dr. Smith, adding, “Studies show the most effective method of application is to orally ingest these ceramides daily in a supplement form, building the skin’s moisture barrier from the inside out.”

Dr. Smith says skin’s moisture levels will remain elevated as long as the body’s ceramide production is complemented daily with the ceramide supplement.

Learn More

For further facts, visit Life Extension at www.LESkinRepair.com or call (866) 857-4110.