A New Wrinkle In Your Face?

There is a new study in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery that has a unique finding. As you approach middle age a few extra pounds may be a good thing. It seems that a few pounds may be just what you need to smooth out wrinkles on your face and make you seem younger.

The authors of the new study are plastic surgeons at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. They analyzed photographs of the faces of 186 pairs of identical twins taken at the Twins Days Festival, held in Twinsburg, Ohio.
Since they all had the same genetic material, any differences in how old they looked had to be due to their behavioral choices and environment.

The study team had the twins fill out extensive questionnaires about their lives. Questions ranged from how many times they had married to whether they had regularly used sunscreen. Afterwards four judges independently estimated the twins' ages by looking at photos taken in Twinsburg.

The most interesting conclusions concerned weight. Many of the twin pairs weighed about the same, but when one looked younger or older than the other one. The differences was when one had a body mass index (BMI) at least four points higher than her sister. If they were under 40, the heavier one looked much older. But the surprise was that after 40, that same four-point difference in BMI made the heavier twin look much younger.


The possible reason was "volume replacement" or the fat filled in the wrinkles of the older twins and gave them a more youthful look. This theory was supported even more dramatically by twins older than 55. For them, having as much as an eight-point higher BMI than their twin was associated with a younger appearance in the face.

That being said they only studied faces and not the whole body. If they had there might have been adjustments made for those who kept their youthful figure, and added a couple years to those who were more well fed.

The report concluded , regardless of weight, healthy living is crucial for keeping a youthful face. Those who smoked and didn't wear sunscreen looked significantly older than those who avoided cigarettes and tanning. Those twins who had been divorced also looked older (by about 1.7 years) than the twins who didn't divorce. (They also looked older than those who had stayed single, (maybe it’s better to stay single than get into a bad relationship?)

A rather harsh finding in this report was those who had taken antidepressants looked older than their twins who hadn't. The researchers believe this has something to do with the drooping relaxation of facial muscles that antidepressants can cause.

So what we might be able to conclude from all this is that if you care mostly about a young looking face, don't smoke, don't go into the sun without protection, and try not to get into a bad relationship that will make you depressed. Or while at the beach this summer, stay inside and have an ice cream. Make it two scoops.

You Can Do It

In order to stay on track with that commitment to eat healthier and lose weight it's going to be important to control your diet but ...
You Can Do It!

Have you ever wondered what/why Body Mass Index (BMI) is?

Your standard bathroom scale gives you one indication of your size, but unless you figure in your height, you might be “under tall” for your weight.

The body mass index (BMI) provides a more accurate assessment of your weight.

The categories are:
Under 25 - normal weight,
25 to 29 – overweight,
30 and above - obese

If you can’t find one of those BMI calculators you can use this formula to do it yourself. You might even build your own spreadsheet to do it. This example is of someone who is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds:

1. Write down your weight in pounds (200).
2. Multiply that number by 703 (200x703=140,600).
3. Multiply your height in inches by itself (70x70=4,900)
4. Divide the answer to No. 2 by the answer to No. 3(140,600 ÷ 4,900=28.69)

So if you check your BMI and determine that you are indeed too short for your weight where do we go from here. We have all heard at one time or another that the optimum diet is balanced and varied. It includes fruits and dark green vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products in addition to fish and low fat meat and chicken.

If we can faithfully stick to that plan it will provide nearly all the nutrients that most of us need. On the other hand, if you are one of those who have trouble eating healthful foods on a regular basis, like dieters who avoid carbohydrates or consume less than 1,200 calories daily or strict vegetarians, you may need to add a daily multivitamin to help fill the shortcomings.

And for those people over 50 or those with chronic diseases we might eat healthfully but still need higher amounts of certain nutrients.

Eating healthy and staying trim is not about having a genetic advantage though. Consumer reports recently asked their readers about their lifetime weight history and their eating, dieting and exercise habits. The "always thin" group made up 16 percent of the sample, and successful losers who had dropped at least 10% of their heaviest weight and kept it off for at least 3 years, made up another 15%. Dieters who wanted to slim down but still weighed at or near their lifetime high were the largest group at 42%. The other 27% didn't fit into any of the categories.

Only about 3 percent said that they didn’t exercise and they could eat whatever they wanted. In order to maintain their weight and health the people who responded said they ate healthy foods regularly, watched their portions, and exercised regularly. The only advantage the always thin have over the successful dieters was that those habits seem to come a bit more naturally to them, according to Consumer Reports.

So it seems that if you want to stay fit and trim in this culture, you are going to have to work at it. About half of us can successfully lose weight by our own will power but others need the help of some type of sponsored diet program, a medical treatment, a book, or diet pills.