Just when I thought I’d witnessed every themed grocery haul in the books – 30 hard grocery hauls, budget family supermarket breakdowns, buzzy Trader Joe’s frozen hauls, even aesthetic panty restocks – I stumbled upon an anti-ageing grocery haul on TikTok. The food itself, spread across creator Brandon Miles May’s kitchen bench, consisted of healthy but relatively popular picks from your local produce section (broccoli, carrots, and lemons) so I was immediately sceptical of whether avocado toast would help me turn back the hands of time. That was until I spoke to May and he told me he was 35 (he could pass for a teenager). And May is just one of many creators across social media making food-focused skincare content. There are smoothie recipes for clear skin, “fountain of youth” soup recipes, retinol replacement bok choy recipes, and “anti-aging” dinner plates.

For people like Alice Sun, a 30-year-old food creator who grew up making Chinese medicinal recipes with her family, the idea that what and how you eat can impact your skin is nothing new. Sun has a holistic approach to skincare, focusing on eating healthy foods to improve her overall health (which, in turn, impacts how healthy her skin is). She’s been sharing meals based on Chinese medicinal wisdom since 2022 and has already witnessed the “food as skincare” space online shift with the increased buzz around the topic.

“I’ve noticed people creating content that says ‘eat this for this,’” she says. “It’s a pretty easy line to get people to stop scrolling but not everything is going to work for every single person.” That’s why Sun, who has a background in biology and chemistry, chooses to focus on personal stories rather than any particular promises to “glow from within” or age backward. “A lot of this is just passed down wisdom and figuring out what works for you based on feeling and testing over time,” she says.

Despite the watering down of lessons from cultures with a more holistic approach to physical health (like Chinese medicine), Sun says the current emphasis on “eating your skincare” is most likely the result of general fatigue around topical-only treatments. “I think we’ve started to transition towards the message of taking care of your body from the outside in because we’ve already had the messaging that only products are going to give this type of solution,” she says. “Then we’ve realised that doesn’t work for everyone, so what’s the next possible action?” It’s also worth noting that being interested in nutrition and cooking at home is also very chic right now thanks to the likes of Gabbriette and her grain-free lemon poppyseed loaf and Nara Smith and her made-from-scratch cereal.

After years of the Western beauty industry pushing multi-step topical skincare routines and using “superfoods” as buzzwords to sell products, the rising interest in skin-centric nutrition could be seen as a more holistic approach to skincare and health. But the end goal is often still (suprise, surprise) aesthetics and looking like a yassified baby, with May saying the trend coincides with a growing appetite for longevity content (hello Bryan Johnson). May’s diet is something he has been implementing for years, scouring through journal articles and research papers for a correlation between different nutrients and anti-ageing for the skin. The results, he says, would be evident at his high school reunion.

“I just see the differences between people of my age and me and I believe it’s because of my diet,” he says. According to May, 90 per cent of his meals consist of what his followers see on TikTok and YouTube (broccoli, strawberries, cacao powder, etc), and the rest are cravings-specific (like burgers and pizzas). It is important to remember, however, that genetics do play a role in how youthful we look, with some research suggesting 60 per cent of skin aging can be attributed to genetic factors, so we’ll never know what May would have looked like without implementing his diet.

According to Joshua Zeichner, MD, associate professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital, there is a clear correlation between diet and skin health, and the best diet for the skin is thought to be the Mediterranean diet. “What you ingest provides your skin cells with the building blocks for healthy functioning, cell turnover, antioxidant protection against environmental aggressors, and maintenance of an intact skin barrier and hydration,” he says. This is part of the gut-skin axis connection, which factors in the gastrointestinal microbiome as one of many factors contributing to acne and is why people with dandruff are often advised to avoid sugar, animal fats, and greasy food products. This even extends to how your skin ages.

“High sugar levels in the bloodstream lead to a process known as glycation, which leads to collagen stiffening and the development of wrinkles and skin laxity,” says Zeichner. But this doesn’t mean you should overdose on “anti-ageing” vitamins, as too much vitamin A can cause skin dryness, affect your vision, increase the risk of sunburn, and even lead to liver toxicity, he adds.

As with any transformative claims on social media, it’s still worth taking recipes that claim to be the “fountain of youth” with a pinch of salt, without discounting the role diet can play in overall health. Vegan food blogger Candy Samareta says she knows layering bold skincare claims over videos of bok choy and rice will divide people in the comments, but she hopes it encourages people to eat bok choy nonetheless. “‘Eat your retinol’ is a provocative statement and is maybe not backed by science but some people can’t handle topical retinol,” she says, noting that at least half of her current skincare routine is diet-based. “It’s funny because these foods are already healthy to eat for internal health, but it takes skincare and aesthetics to get people to say ‘Maybe I will eat a papaya.’” In other words, eat your fruits and vegetables and you might not “age backward” but you’ll still reach your recommended daily fibre intake (a win is a win).