Does Retinol in Food Support Skin Health?

Could the secret to a youthful appearance lie in the produce aisle? TikTokers cerainly think so, and they’re eager to help you fend off fine lines and wrinkles by sharing recipes that spotlight retinol-rich ingredients.

Throughout this year, content creators have been sharing videos that instruct viewers to “eat their retinol” as they slurp up dishes like vivid orange carrot salads. For anyone who isn’t immersed in the world of skincare, after sunscreen, topical retinol and retinoid treatments are among the most commonly recommended products by dermatologists. As Dr. Heather Goff, director of cosmetic dermatology and associate professor of dermatology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, told Time, “I think of sunscreen as brushing your teeth, and retinoid use as flossing your teeth.”

While topical retinol is well established as a tool to boost your skin health, recipes online have led me to wonder if I can truly benefit from this micronutrient by naturally incorporating it into my diet. If that’s the case, can you skip that expensive cream at night altogether? Here’s what science and experts say about retinol and its role in your meals.

What is retinol?

Before we dive into whether you can get retinol through your diet, let’s clarify any misconceptions about what it actually is. First, retinol is a type of retinoid. While the terms are not exactly interchangeable — retinoids encompass a broader category — all retinols are retinoids.

Retinoids are chemical compounds that are derivatives of vitamin A. When you’re looking at skincare products, the term “retinoid” often describes treatments that have a stronger concentration of the active ingredient and may require a prescription, whereas many retinol products are available over the counter. Retinol is generally applied topically through creams, serums, and oils that can be massaged into the skin.

As the Cleveland Clinic details, this form of vitamin A boosts your skin cell production, which not only minimizes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, but also treats acne, reduces clogged pores, addresses hyperpigmentation, and helps with some scars, among other benefits. But does it still provide all these advantages if you’re getting retinol through a salad?

Can you reap the benefits of retinol through food?

Because retinol is a form of vitamin A, there are two key distinctions to consider when thinking about how it may benefit you by incorporating it into your diet. First, like many other vitamins, you can naturally obtain vitamin A from a variety of foods, which benefits your body in a number of ways.

“Vitamin A is a superstar nutrient and antioxidant serving a multitude of functions in the human body,” explains Kinga Balogh, a registered dietitian at JM Nutrition. ”It is essential for optimal vision, cell differentiation, reproduction (including growth and development), and immune function, to name a few key roles. Vitamin A also helps organs, such as the heart and lungs, work properly.”

However, just because you can leverage these health properties from consuming vitamin A through food, doesn’t mean you can also gain its skin benefits the same way. According to Balogh, “While dietary intake of vitamin A-rich foods is beneficial for multiple bodily functions as described above, when it comes to skin health, topical application is superior to dietary ingestion…. When applied topically, the skin can absorb vitamin A, converting it to retinoic acid, and can then locally stimulate cell turnover and collagen production.

“In essence, while dietary intake of vitamin A-rich foods offers multiple health benefits, when it comes to skin conditions like acne, hyperpigmentation, or reducing the signs of aging, particularly wrinkles and fine lines, topical application of retinol proves to offer superior therapeutic benefits.”

Lisa Moskovitz, RD, founder of the NY Nutrition Group and author of The Core 3 Healthy Eating Plan, clarifies further, detailing that “Eating more [vitamin A-rich] foods has numerous benefits including supporting skin health. That said, dietary retinol is not as effective as topical retinol for improving collagen, cell turnover, and overall skin appearance. Does that mean it won't help at all? No, it's certainly not a waste of time if you consider the additional health benefits derived from eating nutrient-dense foods in general.”

If you’re looking for a short answer: Eating foods rich in vitamin A, which are a source of retinol, will not provide the same benefits for your skin as applying topical products. However, these foods can support other systems in your body and might marginally benefit skin health. Just like any other nutrient-dense ingredients, incorporating them into your diet is a good idea. But if you want to use retinol as a tool to actively combat skin issues like acne or aging, you should talk to your dermatologist about the products that are right for you.

Which ingredients are rich in vitamin A?

This micronutrient can be found in a wide variety of ingredients, so the carrot salads you see on TikTok are certainly not the only way to eat it. Foods rich in vitamin A include eggs, certain types of fish like herring and salmon, green, orange, and yellow vegetables such as leafy greens, carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and winter squash, as well as fruits like mango, cantaloupe, and apricots, and dairy products. 

Balogh notes that the National Academy of Medicine “sets out recommended daily allowances (RDA) for vitamin A. For females this is 700 micrograms and for adult males the RDA is 900 micrograms daily.” She also explains that you can meet the recommended daily amount of vitamin A by simply incorporating a variety of these ingredients into your meals. 

If you’re looking for a more quantifiable recommendation, Moskowitze suggests you “Start by prioritizing and adding in more variety of vegetables such as carrots, kale, and spinach, and then work your way through other food groups such as fish, eggs, and dairy… Optimal intake of retinol-rich foods is around 4–5 cups of fruit and veggies and 4–5 ounces of eggs and fish daily.”

However, Balogh emphasizes that consuming excessive amounts of vitamin A can be dangerous, but says this is rarely achievable through dietary intake and is more likely to happen when taking vitamin A supplements. If you suspect you might be deficient in vitamin A and are considering supplements, you should consult your doctor first.