8 Benefits of Chaga for Skin Health
You know what they say about skin aging — the best time to start an anti-aging skincare routine is yesterday. The reality is that, while collagen loss plays a role in common signs of aging (looking at you, crow’s feet and laugh lines), repeated exposure to stressors also makes a difference.
Many of these stressors (like UV exposure, environmental pollution, and blue light) are unavoidable, which is why some people invest in skin-supporting supplements like chaga to help keep damage at bay. Read on to learn eight benefits of chaga for skin health and how you can incorporate this magical mushroom into your daily routine (spoiler: it’s simple AF).
What Is Chaga?
Chaga (Inonotus obliquus), opens in a new tab is a gnarly, charcoal-colored mushroom that grows primarily on birch trees in cold climates like Siberia, Canada, and parts of Northern Europe. It looks like burnt wood, but inside is a golden, antioxidant-rich core that’s been used in traditional medicine for centuries. Besides its applications for skincare, chaga is celebrated for its immune-encouraging and health-supporting properties, opens in a new tab.
8 Benefits of Chaga for Skin
Mushrooms for skin might sound like a weird sort of Mad-Lib, but it’s really a highly slept-on truth. Don’t believe us? Read on to learn eight benefits of chaga for skincare.
1. Rich Source of Antioxidants
Chaga mushrooms are packed with antioxidants like superoxide dismutase (SOD). These compounds can help your skin battle oxidative stress, which can damage collagen production and cause wrinkles and dullness. Chaga’s antioxidant content is off the charts, rivaling even blueberries, and that means a strong defense against free radicals that break down collagen and accelerate aging.
2. Helps Ease Irritation
Irritation is the drama queen of skin issues, causing everything from acne and redness to eczema, opens in a new tab. Luckily, chaga can help tone this down.
Thanks to compounds like betulinic acid and polysaccharides, chaga can help calm redness and visible irritation, as well as itching that can accompany it. Scientists even say chaga can help support the skin’s natural healing response, opens in a new tab, which can help your skin stay chill under pressure.
3. Encourages Skin Elasticity
Chaga can help you ditch the desert look thanks to its rich mix of polysaccharides that can support your skin’s moisture barrier. It can also encourage water retention, which translates to smoother, plumper, bouncy-looking skin.
Plus, antioxidants can help support your skin’s elastin stores. This can help your skin stay firm enough to survive late nights and questionable takeout choices.
4. Supports Natural UV Protection
Meet melanin is like your skin’s built-in sunscreen, and chaga just so happens to be loaded with it. While it’s not a replacement for a daily SPF (don’t toss your sunscreen), chaga’s melanin content may help support your skin’s natural defenses against sun damage. Studies suggest that melanin can absorb UV rays, opens in a new tab and neutralize their effects before they mess with your skin cells.
5. Encourages Collagen Production
Want that dewy, bouncy, I-woke-up-like-this skin? Then collagen is your ride-or-die. Chaga mushrooms contain compounds that may support collagen production, like triterpenes, opens in a new tab and zinc.
These can help support your skin’s structural integrity, smoothing out the appearance of wrinkles and helping it feel more firm. As a bonus, chaga’s antioxidant-rich profile can help prevent the collagen you already have from breaking down.
6. Encourages Smooth and Healthy Skin
If your skin’s been throwing tantrums, chaga might help keep things in check. Its ability to soothe irritation can help tone down flare-ups of dryness, redness, and itchiness. It’s no miracle cure, but these benefits are more like a cherry on top of everything else chaga has to offer.
7. Supports an Even Skin Tone
Chaga’s arsenal of antioxidants, like polyphenols and triterpenes, can help neutralize free radicals that speed up signs of aging like age spots. Chaga’s melanin content may also help minimize pigmentation changes by protecting skin cells from oxidative damage.
8. Encourages Skin Barrier Function
Clear skin isn’t just about what you put on it — it’s also about what your immune system’s up to behind the scenes. Chaga is rich in beta-glucans, opens in a new tab, which can help support healthy immune responses and minimize irritation that can contribute to acne and other skin woes. A balanced immune system can contribute to fewer flare-ups and breakouts, even during bad skin days (or weeks).
How Can You Get More Chaga in Your Diet?
Chaga isn’t just for those who happen to stumble upon it in the forest — it’s in capsules, tinctures, teas, and, yes, even your morning coffee (if you want it to be). Supplements make it easy to sneak chaga into your daily routine, but mushroom coffee is by far our favorite way to enjoy the benefits of chaga.
Our Mushroom Coffee+ contains chaga mushroom, as well as lion’s mane mushroom to support focus, L-theanine to encourage relaxation and sleep, collagen to support gut and skin health, and coffee extract to provide that smooth coffee taste we all know and love.
Plus, our formulas are made with only the best of the best ingredients. Our chaga is double-extracted using 100% fruiting bodies, opens in a new tab — you won’t find any mycelium here.
The mushrooms we use are grown on wood instead of grain, which means they have a richer concentration of helpful compounds. Finally, all of our mushroom blends are tested for beta-glucans, mold, heavy metals, mycotoxins, and allergens.
The Bottom Line
Chaga is known for its ability to support your immune system, but it can also support your overall skin health. From fighting wrinkles to calming redness, it can do more than most $200 serums.
Here at Everyday Dose, we are firm believers in the magic of mushrooms. We include chaga and lion’s mane in our formulas because we’ve seen the results for ourselves. To learn more about the power of functional mushrooms, visit the Everyday Dose blog, opens in a new tab today.
Sources:
The Protective Role of Melanin Against UV Damage in Human Skin | PMC, opens in a new tab
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