How Does Drinking Water Help Your Skin?

For years we've heard that drinking at least eight, 8 ounce glasses of water each day is important to our health. And while water consumption is indeed essential to proper digestion and kidney function, regulation of body temperature and even joint lubrication, the jury has been out regarding the degree to which it improves the skin. In the past 10 years alone, a number of studies have investigated the question of "Does drinking water help your skin?" - and, more specifically, whether or not it improves skin hydration. The findings? Unfortunately, the jury remains out.

Several of those studies demonstrated an improvement, albeit slight, in hydration of the skin's stratum corneum (the outermost layer of the epidermis) as well as a reduction in the rate of  TEWL (transepidermal water loss) due to water consumptions. This includes research by Palma, Dabrowska and Mac-Mary. On the other side, studies by Wolf and Negoianu found no significant improvement to skin hydration when water consumption was high.

What we do know is that drinking water does aid in the body's ability to flush toxins, a process that benefits the skin, as well. For that reason, we don't advise that you toss out your collection of water bottles - just don't expect to get softer, supple skin as a side effect. Instead, check out our list of  proven ways to optimize skin hydration.