Let food be thy medicine.
Heard the one about breakfast being the most important meal of the day? Don’t forget to feed your skin as well, according to the so-called beauty experts of TikTok.
Self-care influencers on the popular social media app are suddenly touting something called the “skincare breakfast,” a morning feeding routine said to guarantee a perfect complexion.
Alice Sun is just one content creator eagerly sharing skin-friendly supping tips with her followers, from glowing skin mocktails to moisturizing tofu salads and a range of healing broths.
Sun recently bragged to her audience, numbering more than 340,000, that she had perfected the skincare breakfast — a menu of salmon, kimchi, rice, miso broth and cucumbers.
The Chinese medicinal healing enthusiast, who recently moved from New York to Los Angeles, claimed the “gut-friendly,” “hydrating” meal has “made a huge difference” for her dry, sensitive skin.
Isabelle Lux, who boasts more than 514,000 followers, outlined her “glowing skin breakfast,” comprised of coconut-based yogurt, pumpkin and chia seeds, berries and probiotics.
And another creator, Millie Mae, swears by her daily morning oatmeal bowls to keep her skin blemish-free.
But Dr. Kellyann Petrucci, a nutrition expert and best-selling author, said food is “not the only factor” to healthier skin.
“There is a link between the health of your gut, especially your microbiome, and the health of your skin. So if you’re struggling with pesky skin-related issues that aren’t responding to topical solutions, looking inward is always a good idea. And healing your gut is the first step,” she told The Post, adding that bone broth, collagen powder and a source of fiber are her “favorite foods” for healing the gut.
Petrucci warns the acne-prone to avoid “sugary, high-carb foods,” as they’re a culprit of a blood sugar spike.
“Sugar, in turn, ramps up your production of AGEs, which stands for advanced glycation end products. These ‘stiffen’ collagen and elastin, damaging your skin and making it harder to repair,” she explained. “The result: You look years older than you are.”
But as delicious as it all may sound, these skin hacks aren’t necessarily backed by fact, experts say.
“There is no evidence in the science to support the use of any specific food to benefit skin,” board-certified dermatologist Dr. Natalia Spierings told Metro.
While eating too much processed junk could negatively impact complexion, Spierings said there is no cure-all food for skin.
“But there is no specific food or thing someone can do to improve their skin ‘from within’ – aside from stop smoking if you smoke,” Spierings said.
The skincare breakfast idea appears to have been spawned by another recent ingestible skincare trend on TikTok, which had influencers swearing that a once-daily vitamin could ban blemishes.
While the theory relies on research around the gut-skin axis, experts have debunked the trending skincare supplements as mostly bogus.
Board-certified dermatologist Dr. Muneeb Shah previously told The Post that, although vitamin and mineral deficiencies can exacerbate certain skin conditions, “most supplements are fads and tend not to stand the test of time.”
“Most of these products are not worth the hype,” he said.
