Those brown patches on your skin are composed of a substance called Lipofuscin (age pigment). While you can cover them up, why not figure out why they are happening, so you don't have to worry about covering them up anymore?You will notice a common theme in most of my articles and that is optimizing and balancing your hormones. Not surprisingly. this plays a major role in what I will discuss below.
According to Dr. Ray Peat, Phd :
"… age pigment or lipofuscin, was proposed to be such a material. It is a brown pigment that generally increases with age, and its formation is increased by consumption of unsaturated fats, by vitamin E deficiency, by stress, and by exposure to excess estrogen."
1) Unsaturated fats: Unsaturated fats, particularly PUFA (Polyunsaturated fats), can be quite damaging to the body and in the presence of iron can accelerate the formation of age spots. The only oils you should be consuming are olive oil and coconut oil.
2) Excess Iron: Iron, while essential to the body, becomes toxic at high levels. Since it's difficult to get iron out of the body (donating blood and menstruation help), most people are accumulating excess iron. Providing your iron levels are adequate (talk with your doctor), it is best not to take a supplement that includes iron and it is also beneficial to consume coffee or chocolate with foods that contain iron. This can block iron absorption.
3) Excess Estrogen: Excess estrogen can cause a variety of problems, one being the increased formation of age pigment. Estrogen is needed in small amounts around ovulation. Outside of that, there is a hormone that is much more important and that can help balance out high levels of estrogen—progesterone. Your goal should be to avoid foods (soy, grapefruit, tap water) and products (plastics, cosmetics with "fragrance") that boost estrogen levels and to possibly supplement them with a natural form of progesterone (derived from wild yam extract). Hint: This can be very helpful if you are or have been on any form of contraception.
4) Excess Free Radicals: Free radicals in the body can lead to the formation of age spots. Unsaturated fats, per point one, are a major cause of free radical formation. Reducing those helps, but so does supplementing with a powerful antioxidant such as Vitamin E. Vitamin E is often deficient in most people's diets. The common name for Vitamin E is "tocopherol," which is derived from the greek words meaning "to carry a baby." Vitamin E is a very powerful nutrient and as the name suggests can help in a number of regards, from quenching free-radicals to maintaining optimal hormonal balance (and/or a healthy pregnancy).
Steve Macari is a New York based nutritionist, health coach and wellness educator. He writes health, wellness, nutrition and fitness articles for BAZAAR.com and is the founder of thewavestate.com and stevemacari.com. Steve has trained in a number of different areas, but is most proud of his training with Paul Chek, a world renowned expert in the area of holistic health and nutrition. Steve has completed the highest level of training at the C.H.E.K Institute as a Holistic Lifestyle Coach (HLC3). Steven holds an MBA in Finance and was a Vice President at an Investment Management firm for nine years prior to finding his passion in the practices of holistic health, nutrition, and fitness.
