If you’re not familiar with what chicory is, it is a flowering plant popular for its root, as it’s used as a substitute for coffee. This perennial plant has roots rich in fiber and other necessary nutrients that benefit our bodies. It’s known to boost digestive health, help with diabetes treatment, fight inflammatory arthritis, and even help with weight loss.
Besides this, did you know that there are chicory benefits for skin? What exactly can chicory do for your skin and how can you use it properly? Read on to find out!
The Chicory Benefits for Skin
Chicory root comes from the dandelion family, bearing bright blue flowers. It looks wood-like and fibrous, with the root having natural laxative effects on our bodies. Besides this, it contains inulin, which may promote bone health, based on rat studies.
How about for our skin? These are the chicory benefits for the skin you can benefit from:
1. Chicory Contains Inulin
Biolin P is a food supplement that helps with the skin’s protective microorganisms. Undesired organisms can’t digest this prebiotic.
When Biolin P is present in the body, skin microbiota can recover quicker with reduced harmful organisms. Skin disorders caused by such microorganisms are then reduced. In fact, chicory has been clinically proven to prevent recurrences of serious skin conditions like diaper rashes. Furthermore, it’s effective in keeping sensitive skin healthier, such as diabetic skin, and can also improve intimate washes.
2. Helps Hydrate the Skin
Chicory also contains preBiulin AGA, which is a long-chain inulin that’s extracted from chicory roots. This supplement helps hydrate the skin through microbiota, which may even outperform hyaluronic acid. This ingredient is shown to counteract any damaging effects of preservatives that are left behind on the skin, supporting skin microbiota for survival.
Besides this, chicory also contains preBiulin C90, which is an effective thickener for natural body sashes and shampoos, providing transparency with a smooth and elegant texture. It can form clear natural gels despite the extreme conditions of pH levels and salt.
This preBiulin C90 can be used as a natural alternative, surpassing the capabilities of other acrylate thickeners to lessen the tackiness and leaving a better after-feel. With chicory in certain washes, it can provide the rich and silky feel in both leave-on or rinse-off formulas, supporting microbiome care.
3. It Improves Skin Barrier Function
Studies show that chicory root extracts can improve skin barrier function, along with treating dryness accompanied by the aging process.
This is because chicory root extracts would act as an active ingredient, with the ability to restructure our skin barriers. Such extracts can maintain our bodies’ homeostasis, preventing skin alterations.
4. Reduce Risk of Cancer
While more research is needed for this benefit, sources show that chicory can promote anticancer activities. Chicory root extract shows antiproliferative activity, particularly on skin cancer cells.
5. Treat Skin Inflammation
For centuries now, the paste made from chicory leaves are used as herbal remedies when treating skin inflammation. When chicory leaves are bruised, they are seen as a great poultice for external sin issues. The bruised leaves are usually applied on affected areas of the skin where swelling occurs, treating the inflammation.
Besides this, the chicory leaves are made as a herbal poultice for traditional treatments on skin lacerations. Swollen and inflamed skin was usually treated with chicory back in the day, until now, with ointments containing the plant extracts.
6. Other Health Benefits
Besides the skin benefits mentioned above, chicory also holds other health benefits that make them a great supplement, such as:
- Chicory root contains fiber inulin, a prebiotic that helps feed the beneficial bacteria found in our guts. This reduces inflammation, fights harmful bacteria, and improves our mineral absorption.
- Because inulin in chicory root fiber passes through our bodies undigested and feeds our gut bacteria, it can promote healthier digestion. Furthermore, studies suggest that the inulin from chicory can relieve symptoms of constipation.
- Chicory root fiber can also boost our blood sugar control, particularly in those who have diabetes. This may be thanks to inulin, as it promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria that are involved in carbohydrate metabolism, which is known to break down carbs into sugars, and insulin sensitivity, which is a hormone helping absorb sugar from the blood.
- Studies suggest that chicory root fiber might regulate appetite, along with decreasing overall calorie intake, which can lead to weight loss. The study also shows that chicory contains oligofructose, which can decrease levels of ghrelin, a hormone stimulating feelings of hunger.
- What’s great about chicory is that you can easily add it to your diet, whether as an additive in packaged foods or when home cooking, eating it as a vegetable or coffee.
Wrapping It Up
The chicory plant offers a lot of great health benefits, including those on the skin. While more research must be made, many can benefit from chicory root extract and its crushed leaves, from weight loss down to less skin inflammation. Just be sure you are aware of its risks and possible side effects, especially in those who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or are allergic to the plant.
I hope that this article on the chicory benefits for skin helped you out. If you think that chicory can help you out, do learn how to use it properly to reap all its health benefits now!
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