Skin test determines healthy lifestyle

An intriguing story has recently emerged about the very real effects of a healthy lifestyle on the skin.

Scientists at the University of Berlin have developed a skin test that can reveal whether a person has adopted a healthier diet or stopped smoking within minutes.

It works by projecting light onto the skin, and ‘reading’ patterns in the light that is scattered back.

Prof. Lademann, of the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergy, hopes that showing people the visible effects of their lifestyle will encourage them to adopt healthier habits. Doing so improves the results of the skin test within just 2-3 days.

To ensure you get top marks, take a look at your diet, sleeping pattern and say goodbye to vices such as smoking and excessive drinking.

Its creators claim the test works by measuring the body’s concentration of antioxidants, so increase your intake of dark chocolate, dried fruits and beans - all of which are rich in skin-protecting goodness.

What with this and the five-a-day tan, soon we’ll be able to ditch our makeup routine altogether…

Uncaria unveiled as new natural anti-ageing ingredient

Exciting news emerged last week of a new natural anti-ageing ingredient.

Rhamnose, derived from the tropical Uncaria flower, is said to have proven regenerative properties that can counteract the ageing process.

According to researchers L’Oreal, Rhamnose tricks skin cells into producing collagen, a chemical that plumps the skin, increases its elasticity and reduces the depth of wrinkles.

Incorporated into a cream, the ingredient was tested on 400 women aged from 50 to 70. When applied once a day for 8 weeks, skin cells produced levels of collagen normally found in much younger women.

Though there are already many collagen-containing products on the market, questions have been raised as to whether the molecules are too big to penetrate the epidermis.

Chocolate is better for you than fruit juice

Scanning over today’s news I couldn’t help but notice that chocolate has been hailed as a new ‘super-food’.

Apparently, gram-for-gram chocolate contains more healthy plant compounds than most fruit juices.

This is something I blogged about myself a couple of years ago - glad to see those scientists are finally catching up!

Obviously these results need to be taken in their wider context. The purest chocolates are being compared to relatively impure fruit juices, in respect of only very specific nutrients.

Nonetheless, good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids and above) is full of anti-oxidants, chemically improves our moods and can even promote cardiac health.

It’s the cheaper milk and white chocolates that are the baddies, due to their high animal fat and sugar content.

It should be noted that this new research has been published by Hershey’s and so should perhaps be taken with a little pinch of refined sugar!

So if your loved one usually buys you chocolates for Valentine’s Day make sure they’re of the dark variety. That way there’s no reason to feel guilty when you munch your way through the whole box…