Chris Shugart
This Bodybuilding Compound Makes You Pretty
We take it to lose fat and build muscle, but this anthocyanin also has anti-aging benefits to keep you looking young. Check it out.
As a man, I have a very specific skincare routine that gives me radiant, beautiful skin and makes me look ten years younger. Here's what I do every day in the shower: I grab whatever I can reach and rub my face with it. Sometimes it's body wash. Sometimes it's a bar of something my wife uses. Sometimes it's her pink shaving cream.
Yeah, okay, I don't have a skincare routine. But maybe I do, and just never realized it.
Every day I take cyanidin-3-glucoside or C3G (Buy at Amazon). I don't take it to look young and pretty. I take it because its nutrient partitioning effects allow me to eat lots of food and shuttle those calories and carbs into muscle rather than storing them as fat. I take it to stay lean easily, and the health and longevity benefits are a nice bonus too.
But as it turns out, C3G is also a "beauty product." It greatly reduces the signs of aging: fine lines and wrinkles, skin sagging, dark eye circles, redness, and age spots. How it does this often overlaps with its physique-enhancing benefits.
C3G is finding its way into topical beauty products, and they're expensive. Apparently, they've found a way to make this anthocyanin penetrate the skin. But that seems silly. Your skin is an organ, and the best way to process a bioactive ingredient is to swallow it – beauty from the inside out.
How C3G Makes You Pretty
1. C3G Protects Against Oxidative Stress
Like you, I'm tired of hearing about antioxidants, but they play a big role here.
Your skin is always exposed to environmental stressors like UV radiation, pollution, and free radicals. Antioxidants neutralize the free radicals that cause premature skin aging, like wrinkles, fine lines, and loss of elasticity. C3G happens to be an incredibly potent antioxidant and protects against collagen and elastin breakdown, the key proteins responsible for skin firmness and elasticity.
C3G also does battle with UV exposure. It prevents the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the skin, which contributes to photoaging – wrinkles, thin or loose skin, rough texture, etc.
2. C3G Fights Age-Accelerating Inflammation
Chronic inflammation weakens the skin barrier that protects us against environmental aggressors and keeps skin moist, causing dryness, irritation, and pronounced signs of aging. By reducing inflammation, C3G helps maintain this barrier, leading to improved hydration and resilience. It also seems to repair damaged skin barriers.
Likewise, acne, eczema, and rosacea are related to inflammation. C3G's anti-inflammatory properties help alleviate skin conditions, reduce redness, and improve overall skin tone and texture. (If adult acne is a big problem for you, add fish oil to your skincare routine, too. Here's why.)
3. C3G Promotes Collagen Production
Collagen is the main structural protein in the skin that provides strength and elasticity, but its production naturally declines as we age, causing creasing and sagging. C3G stimulates collagen synthesis.
C3G also inhibits enzymes like matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which break down collagen and elastin in response to oxidative stress and inflammation. By inhibiting these enzymes, C3G preserves the skin's structural integrity.
4. C3G Controls Melanin Production
UV exposure, inflammation, and simply aging can cause hyperpigmentation (dark spots or age spots). It's caused by an overproduction of melanin. Research suggests that C3G inhibits the activity of tyrosinase, the enzyme responsible for melanin production. By downregulating this enzyme, C3G helps prevent and lighten hyperpigmentation.
Dark eye circles are related to this, too. Due to its effect on melanin synthesis and its antioxidant properties, C3G helps reduce the appearance of dark circles. The under-eye area is hyper-prone to oxidative stress and blood pooling, which C3G helps alleviate through its circulatory and anti-inflammatory effects.
Where to Get C3G
Nutritionally, you get C3G from dark berries and black rice. (C3G is technically a pigment.) But this is a movie we've seen before: it's virtually impossible to get a pharmaceutical-level dosage of C3G through food alone.
Supplementally, C3G is found in Indigo-3G (Buy at Amazon). While it's marketed as muscle and fat cell regulator, its aesthetic effects extend to anti-aging as well. Yeah, it's a "beauty product." But you don't have to tell anyone.
