Carrying extra pounds can help you look younger 'but only in later years'
Tuesday December 22 2009
Carrying a few extra pounds can help people look younger, but only in later years, a new study shows.
Researchers found that being overweight could disguise the appearance of wrinkles.
But young people who were carrying extra weight tended to look older than their years.
The research seems to prove the old wives' tale that weighing a little bit more in later life age can make people look younger.
The findings could explain the youthful looks of celebrities such as Dawn French, 52, and Ruth Jones, 42, the Gavin and Stacey star.
Although much of how we age is linked to genetics up to 40pc of the changes to the human face are caused by other factors.
Culprits include too much exposure to the sun or smoking cigarettes.
The latest study looked at 65 pairs of twins to identify which lifestyle factors were ageing them.
The researchers found that being overweight tended to make the volunteers look older.
Animal studies have suggested that eating too much fat can make the skin more likely to be damaged by the sun’s rays.
However, if the twins were in their mid-fifties or older the effects of extra weight on their appearance seemed to be change, the researchers from the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, Cleveland, found.
From 54 onwards, those who were overweight started to look younger than their slim twin.
“Implying that although excess fat may increase the skin’s susceptibility to damage, it may help mask the appearance of wrinkles in old age,” the authors write in the Archives of Dermatology journal.
Damage to the skin, including wrinkles, age spots and broken veins in the face, can all make people look older.
The colour of the skin can also be affected, giving people an aged complexion.
- Kate Devlin
© Telegraph.co.uk
