This Underrated Supplement Can Help Keep Your Lips Soft & Supple*

To tame chapped lips this winter, you're likely familiar with the following marching orders: Opt for lip balms filled with emollients that build up the skin barrier, such as ceramides and fatty acids; use a lip scrub to manually buff away flakes; and slather on an overnight lip mask to drench the skin in some much-needed hydration. 

Your skin is a reflection of your internal health, and it's constantly sending you signals—a chapped pout is a surefire signal for more hydration, but in some cases, it also might indicate some nutritional gaps. "Dry lips may also be a sign of a vitamin [gap] like B vitamins or zinc," Ife J. Rodney, M.D., FAAD, founding director of Eternal Dermatology + Aesthetics, tells mbg about the chapped skin. Specifically, dietary gaps in folate1, B62, B123, and B24 (aka riboflavin) have all been associated with cracked lips. 

An iron gap has also been linked to a dry, chapped pout—which makes sense, given the mineral's ability to support healing processes5.* Zinc is important for healthy skin as well,* and a lack of it has been associated with dryness around the mouth6.  

Something to watch out for: Many multivitamins don't actually contain all eight B vitamins—and if they do, they're often not in their most bioactive formats or in potent doses. "We intentionally formulated this next-generation multi to include a built-in, high-potency, and complete B complex, featuring 200% or more of the Daily Value of all eight B vitamins," mbg's director of scientific affairs Ashley Jordan Ferira, Ph.D., RDN, says regarding our ultimate multivitamin+. "It also features all eight B's in their most bioactive forms—including methylation technology for folate (5-MTHF) and vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin)—to optimize bioavailability and bioactivity in the body for all consumers."*