Tag: PiMag®replacement filters

Does Drinking Water Help Your Skin Stay Healthy?

Published on by Nikken

Drinking enough water is not the magic bullet for healthy skin, but it certainly plays an important role in maintaining it. Since skin is the body’s largest organ, keeping it healthy is critical for overall well-being. The skin protects your inner body, helps to store lipids and water, to prevent fluid loss and to balance body temperature. Even though skin covers the entire body and is exposed to the elements more than any other organ, sometimes we overlook how imperative it is to take care of it.

Our skin is made up of three layers. The subcutaneous fat layer is at the bottom; the middle layer is the dermis; the epidermis at the top layer. The stratum corneum is at the outermost layer of the epidermis and is an important membrane which keeps harmful things from entering the body, while also making sure that too much water doesn’t leave our bodies. In other words, it helps keep the skin hydrated by preventing water evaporation. This layer is not only a barrier against harm but also a conduit to absorb water. If you push against this outermost layer of skin and it doesn’t spring back right away, it means you are dehydrated. Once you rehydrate, the skin will bounce back.

With age, skin tends to lose density as collagen and elastin breakdown. The result is the sagging and wrinkling that is the target of so-called anti-aging products. Drinking more water really won’t help get rid of sagging or wrinkling but it will help prevent dehydration, especially during the hot summer months. Even if drinking ample amounts of water cannot prevent the signs of aging skin, it still helps skin to look and feel healthy.

Drinking sufficient amounts of water every day helps to flush out toxins in ther body. Water intake helps the digestive system to function efficiently when processing waste. Flushing out toxins helps to improve the skin’s health and overall health.

“Excessive hydration is unlikely to benefit the skin,” says Kathleen C. Suozzi, MD, director of aesthetic dermatology at Yale Medicine and associate professor at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. “The skin is hydrated from the inside out by pulling fluid from the capillary blood flow in the skin, but if there isn’t enough water to pull from — say, if you’re dehydrated — skin can effectively dry out. Skin hydration is a reflection of total-body hydration. If a person is dehydrated, there is less water being transferred to the skin from the circulation.”1

In short, it’s important to drink enough water for the skin and body to stay hydrated. Dr. Suozzi says about 13 cups of water for men and 9 cups of water for women represent adequate fluid intake, but “if a person has a lot of transepidermal water loss from sweat or heat, then this requirement increases.”2

Through the month of August, Nikken replacement water and air filters are on sale at 20% of retail, so it’s a good time to make sure you have enough filters for all of your Nikken filtration systems!

1, 2 https://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-skin/can-you-hydrate-your-way-to-healthy-skin/

Minimize Your Risk of Ingesting Micro- and Nano-Plastics

Published on by Nikken

Bottled water. There probably isn’t anyone you know who doesn’t drink it sometimes. It’s just so convenient, it’s hard not to take advantage of it. Almost all of it is in plastic bottles and has been a major contributor to landfill and ocean waste. Just this month, bottled water is prominent in the news for yet another bad reason: microplastics and nanoplastics within in specific brands. The researchers are not disclosing the actual brands, but they’re letting the public know what the issues are.

A liter of bottled water contains nearly a quarter of a million pieces of nanoplastic on average, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.1Nanoplastics measure less than a micron, so picture a speck of household dust and think of a tiny part of that speck. The new research showed that nanoplastic particles in bottled water measured between 10 to 100 times higher than previously estimated.

Researchers contend that nanoplastics and microplastics, which are about the size of a grain of rice, end up in food and beverages during the manufacturing process as well as through plastic tubing used in machinery and leaching from packaging such as plastic bottles. How exactly they affect our overall health is being studied. So far, it is known that these nano- and micro-plastics can cross the blood-brain barrier, enter the placenta and even show up in urine.2

Dr. Konstantinos Lazaridis, a gastroenterologist who studies the role of environmental factors in liver disease at Mayo Clinic says, “It’s possible that tiny plastic pieces simply pass through most people’s bodies without causing much harm, or it might be that these environmental particles only have an impact in people who already have genetic predispositions to disease.”3

Nevertheless, it seems that avoiding bottled water may be most prudent. Douglas Walker, an analytical chemist at Emory University says, “Additives and chemicals found within plastic, like BPA, have been linked to increased blood pressure and type 2 diabetes; PFAs may affect fertility; and phthalates may interfere with hormones.4

So, what is the best way to limit your exposure to nanoplastics and microplastics? Drink filtered tap water whenever possible. Filters that have a pore size of one micron or less can help reduce microplastics in your water; smaller micron pores will be better at filtering out smaller particles. Dr. Walker warns not to use filters that are made of plastic and to use ceramic or carbon filters instead.5

From now through February 29, 2024, take advantage of 20% off select PiMag replacement filters! And while you’re filtering your tap water through the PiMag Waterfall® and PiMag® Sport Bottle, why not check your KenkoAir Purifier® and keep its filter up-to-date as well?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/well/live/bottled-water-nanoplastics.html