[ExI] "How not to look old" Yahoo news

[John Grigg]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090210/hl_time/08599187771700

 It's a question surely as old as vanity itself: How can you look young
forever? A forthcoming
study<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/time/hl_time/storytext/08599187771700/30905916/SIG=13ve38a32/*http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Media/Press_Releases/Divorce_Antidepressants_or_Weight_GainLoss_Can_Add_Years_to_Your_Face.html>in
the journal
*Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery* offers one surprising idea: as you age,
don't be afraid to put on a few pounds. Fat, it turns out, can significantly
smooth out wrinkles and give you a younger-looking face. (Read "Beth
Teitell: On Not Looking
Old."<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/time/hl_time/storytext/08599187771700/30905916/SIG=120fp6s02/*http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1849850,00.html>
)

The authors of the new study, a team led by Dr. Bahman
Guyuron<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/time/hl_time/storytext/08599187771700/30905916/SIG=149fskprp/*http://www.uhhospitals.org/rainbowchildren/AboutRainbow/NewsRoom/DogaruTwins/MeettheRainbowTeam/DrBahmanGuyuron/tabid/2394/Default.aspx>of
Case
Western Reserve University in Cleveland, are plastic surgeons who study
faces for a living. They analyzed photographs of the faces of 186
pairs of identical
twins taken at the Twins Days
Festival<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/time/hl_time/storytext/08599187771700/30905916/SIG=10rdp907l/*http://www.twinsdays.org/>,
a sort of twin-pride event held every summer in (naturally) Twinsburg, Ohio.
Because the pairs had identical genetic material, differences in how old
they looked could be attributed entirely to their behavioral choices and
environment. Guyuron's team had the twins fill out extensive questionnaires
about their lives - everything from how many times they had married to
whether they regularly used sunscreen. Then a panel of four judges
independently estimated the twins' ages by looking at photos taken in
Twinsburg. (See pictures from the Annual Twins Days
Festival.<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/time/hl_time/storytext/08599187771700/30905916/SIG=11vsdmd1c/*http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1829375,00.html>
)

The Guyuron team's most interesting findings had to do with weight. Many of
the twin pairs were of similar weight, but differences in how old they
looked began to appear when one had a body mass index
(BMI)<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/time/hl_time/storytext/08599187771700/30905916/SIG=11r085hmq/*http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/index.html>at
least four points higher than the twin sibling. For twin pairs under
40,
the heavier one looked significantly older. But surprisingly, after 40, that
same four-point difference in BMI made the heavier twin look significantly *
younger*. (Read "Aging
Gracefully."<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/time/hl_time/storytext/08599187771700/30905916/SIG=12oe6jgsa/*http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1720049_1722077_1722425,00.html>)


The study's authors theorize that "volume replacement" - that is, fat
filling in wrinkles - accounts for the rejuvenated appearance of the over-40
twins. This theory was supported even more dramatically among 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. (Read "A Brief
History of Multiple
Births."<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/time/hl_time/storytext/08599187771700/30905916/SIG=1209gt8q3/*http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1874637,00.html>
)

Guyuron doesn't recommend that people gain weight just to look younger, and
one limitation of his study is that the Twinsburg photos included only
faces. If they had shown the whole body, the judges may have knocked a
couple of years off the age estimates of those who had kept a youthful
figure - and added a couple of years for those who were well fed in the
middle.

The paper also makes clear that, weight aside, healthy living is crucial for
keeping a youthful face. The siblings 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 had not. (They also looked older than those who had
stayed single, which reinforces a point I made in this
article<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/time/hl_time/storytext/08599187771700/30905916/SIG=124d9lecd/*http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1587273-1,00.html>:
you are better off staying single than getting into a bad relationship.)

Finally - and this was the cruelest finding - those who had taken
antidepressants also looked older than their twins who hadn't. In other
words, if the misery of your divorce doesn't age you, your attempt to treat
it with Prozac might. Guyuron and his colleagues believe this unjust fact
has something to do with the drooping relaxation of facial muscles that
antidepressants can cause.

The bottom line is that if you care mostly about a young-looking face, don't
smoke, don't spend time in the sun without protection, and try not to get
into a bad relationship that will make you depressed. Instead, this summer
at the beach, stay inside and have an ice cream. Make it a double scoop.
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