Peoples' preoccupation with anti-ageing skin care products that claim to make you look younger is not surprising; reducing the visible signs of ageing is the goal for many people as they grow older, and why shouldn't it be? This group of beauty products generally works by enabling the synthesis of collagen, the main protein of connective tissue in animals and the most abundant in our body; collagen is so abundant, it makes up about a quarter of the total protein content of structural protein found in skin. This area of anti-ageing treatments is connected to another group of products that help people to look young; known as antioxidants, they are the body's method of slowing down the ageing process.

Probably the best known of these anti-oxidants is vitamin C although no-one really knows just how much we should have each day. Vitamin C formulated skin care treatments suffer with a particular problem of oxidizing on contact with the air which causes a problem for users and manufacturers.

More stable skin care treatments are now available that are almost as efficient and actually cost less to manufacture. These new anti-oxidant products are not quite as good as vitamin C although other naturally occurring compounds, vitamin E and lipoic acid can achieve the same effect.

Vitamin E is an antioxidant and component of human blood whose purpose is to help increase the body's immune system against diseases including cancer. On the other hand, lipoic acid or alpha-lipoic acid is necessary for energy production which keeps us alive; it is in every human cell and another function is to repair skin damage caused by the normal ageing process.

Other compounds called phytochemicals have proved to be beneficial in the formulation of anti-ageing skin care products; they are removed from various plants. Another benefit, like that of alpha-lipoic acid, is their ability to reduce the prevalence of certain cancers like prostate, colon and breast cancer.

Surprisingly, the group of vitamins; B5, B6, and B12 have also shown that they can be used to help reduce the effects of ageing. Although the area of anti-ageing skin care products is huge, more is being learnt about the whole ageing process and about natural products that can reduce the effects it has on our bodies as well as our skin.

Whilst a great deal has been learned about this subject, it is only the tip of the iceberg and more long term effective methods need to be discovered to reverse or slow down the effects of time. With the research that is now taking place, many people are confident that in time, more effective, cheaper anti-ageing skin care products will be discovered.

In some respects the real way ahead lies in our own hands as there are many things we can do to reduce the signs of ageing naturally. Simple things that can make a difference in slowing the signs of ageing; these include physical activity, restful sleep, maintaining good dietary habits and removing stress from your life.