There are some amazing tips and techniques out there on how to avoid dry lips or heal them in case they are severely dry. Since our topic has to do with foods, namely vitamins and minerals that specifically battle dry skin, here are a few related tips.

Drinking orange juice or eating grapefruit, or indulging in any other citrus fruits for that matter, can dry your lips. The key to the citrus food conundrum is to not let the fruits touch your lips, so using straws or a fork when eating/drinking them is a step in the right direction.

Spicy foods do the same thing and terribly dry your lips, and the same goes for salty treats. The only way around this is to avoid or reduce such foods if you want to have amazing well-moisturized lips.

There are three major vitamins and one powerful mineral you need to look out for and add to your diet; go for either organic supplements or their actual food sources.

1. Zinc

Let usstart with the mineral. Not only does it improve immune system related functions, zinc is also known to safeguard lips from harsh elements in the environment, which can result in chapping.

• Suppose your lips have chapped to the point of cracking. Zinc heals them.
• Aside from encouraging cellular growth, zinc also helps with lip hydration; keeps it moisturized from within.
• In addition to using lip balms that contain zinc, here are its food sources: peanuts, pork, oysters, almonds, baked beans, crab, cheddar cheese, beef,fruit yogurt, dark meat chicken, chickpeas, dark meat turkey, and milk.
• Zinc oxide ointment is a good alternative or substitute for lip balms; at least until you get your hands on some quality balms for your lips.

2. Vitamins

The ones we are going to cover are Vitamins A, B-3, and B-12. These work perfectly against dry, chapped, and cracked lips.

• Vitamin A: Safeguards lips against poulltants, toxins, infections, and viruses that work to dry your lips. By supporting sebum production (from sebaceous glands; prevents lip dryness), including soft tissue and skin cell growth, your skin will look and feel soft and healthy. Food sources: mangoes, milk, fortified cereals, collared greens, broccoli, carrots, kale, eggs, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and squash.
• Vitamin B-3: Also called Niacin, this vitamin helps with moiture retention in lips. Any pain that comes of cracked and dry lips finds relief in this vitamin. It ideally moves oxygen, blood, and nutrients to your lips, aiding in their healing. Food sources: peanuts, light meat chicken, beef, coffee, enriched pasta, salmon, lentils, whole wheat bread, and lima beans.
• Vitamin B-12: Also called Cobalamin, this vitamin helps battle dryness, cracking, and cell damage in lips. Your lips can fail to heal properly if you get anemic, and this vitamin lowers risk of anemia. It also heals and moisturizes lips. Food sources: salmon, clams, roasted chicken, beef, skimmed milk, Brie cheese, roasted turkey, and eggs.

Depletion of moisture in lips results in dryness and a slew of other problems that lead to cracking, flaking, even bleedingand inflammation.This can make even the simplest things in life hard; smiling, eating, talking, bathing. Exposure to wind, prolonged time spend under the sun, and cigarette smoke are other causes of dry skin.

Do not ever lick your lips. Saliva’s chemical composition in no way moisturizes lips; in this case, wet does not eman moisturizing. It ends up drying it even further. There are several outstanding natural, herbal (Ayurvedic), and fruit-based lip balms. Search for quality and look in their ingredients list for the mineral and three vitamins detailed above.

Begin your search here.