Dermatologist & Skincare Influencer Dr. Muneeb Shah Reveals How Diet Impacts Your Skin - Exclusive
When dermatologist Dr. Muneeb Shah started posting skincare videos on TikTok, he didn't think anything would come of it. He thought he'd just be making videos to send to his friends, family, and colleagues. But Dr. Shah soon found that there was a huge need for accurate, research-based skincare information on social media.
People started commenting on his videos asking for skincare advice, and it happened so often that Dr. Shah began making response videos. And soon, he was a bonafide influencer. His videos now reach nearly 17 million followers across his TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram platforms.
For Dr. Shah, the videos present a unique opportunity to educate the public about skincare. His mission is to cut through all the misinformation and the marketing hype and show people how to keep their skin healthy and looking great.
In an exclusive interview with Health Digest, Dr. Shah explained how our diets really impact our skin health and what kinds of foods keep our skin looking its best.
You are what you eat
Dr. Shah said that everything we eat has a profound impact on our bodies, inside and out. He explained that every system in the body is interconnected, so nothing operates in isolation. What affects your kidneys, heart, and digestive system will also affect your skin — our body's largest organ.
"What you put in your body is going to affect your face," Dr. Shah asserted. "If you have a poor diet it'll reflect in the skin."
However, he acknowledged that it's difficult to get good data about how a specific food or diet impacts the skin.
"There are so many variables," Dr. Shah explained. "You're not going to eat the same thing every day. There are other factors — sun exposure, smoking — that interfere with the results. And so, isolating data, I mean on exactly what thing you eat is actually causing the problem is very, very difficult to do."
However, research has connected one specific ingredient to bad skin.
"Probably the one consistent thing that can affect your skin negatively is high glycemic or high sugar diets," Dr. Shah revealed.
He continued, saying that diets high in sugar can damage collagen, age your skin, and cause acne.
How to eat for better skin
Dr. Shah stressed that the research just isn't there to prove that a specific diet leads to healthier, better-looking skin. However, his expertise as a dermatologist has given him some hunches about how people can eat for healthy skin.
"I suspect that a low inflammatory diet would be beneficial for the skin," Dr. Shah said. "I think the Mediterranean diet, which is known to be helpful for the heart, would be very helpful for the skin as well, just because it does have anti-inflammatory properties."
Dr. Shah also suggested that getting plenty of omega-3s from foods like nuts and fish and consuming turmeric could help. He added that Vitamin B3, which MedlinePlus states is found in foods like eggs, dairy, leafy greens, fish, and meat, has proven beneficial for the skin.
Dr. Shah stressed that diets aren't one-size-fits-all and that there is no specific diet for healthy skin. So, just focusing on a healthy, balanced diet is the best thing you can do for your skin.
Check out Dr. Shah's skincare videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.