Increasingly, I think good skin is down to good genes. What? I can’t believe I said that. That’s so, like, defeatist. A beauty heresy. The whole cosmetics industry is predicated on a profound, almost Thatcherite, belief in self-improvement. And if changing your eating habits might help your skin, change them you do.

I recently interviewed a registered dietician from the Dr Perricone team, to keep up with the latest thinking on how to glow. Perricone, who started the fish craze of 2001 that saw the Atlantic sieved of salmon, believes that beauty lies within… your gut. He is the most sought-after cosmetic dietician in Manhattan (”I’d do anything to get an appointment,” raved a customer in a recent New York Times profile). Perricone’s representative in London has his own niche in Selfridges’ Living Beauty. He also has strong views on protein. It’s not a one-stop shop, protein. I always thought that, say, two days of leaf-eating followed by a mixed grill kept your levels even. But, apparently, skin gets more out of a small protein instalment several times a day: a handful of nuts with your cereal, a boiled egg in your salad etc. Mete out your meat, basically. That gives the body a chance to convert it into amino acids, which in turn help regulate cell production and hormone levels. As for supplements, the dietician preaches discernment. Knocking back Evening Primrose oil will stimulate sebum production, so while it helps dry skin it hinders acne. You can do no better, of course, than biting the golden bullets of Perricone’s Omega-3 capsules ([pound]59 for 270, tel: 0800 783 25 83 or www.drperricone.com). Fruit is important for smokers - not juices, in which vitamins are degraded and sugars released - but whole pieces, which have more fibre too. Or you could try Perricone’s Super Berry Powder ([pound]41.90 for 135g), which makes a sour, grainy, virulently purple cocktail that some would call a refreshing drink.

I’ve been following these rules for a few weeks now. My skin is not transformed, but it is better. And will continue to become so. Oh yes, it will. Because beauty is attained by effort, right?

Copyright 2006 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.