Ageing well: don’t smoke, use sunscreen, eat nuts to keep wrinkles at bay and your skin looking young

Gravity tugs our skin downward each decade after the age of 35 or so, but there are ways to slow the decline – by not smoking and by using sunscreen
The best way to slow the signs of ageing is from the inside out, by eating whole foods such as almonds that contain protective nutrients

How to age well

Barbara Quinn

Published: 10:15pm, 20 Jul, 2020

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I didn’t like being called “freckle face” when I was a kid. So when my mum took me to the paediatrician for a routine check-up, I asked him if he could make my freckles go away.

He kindly told me he could, “but you will never be able to go out in the sun again or your freckles will come back”. So I got used to being “freckle face”.

Freckles may be the least of our skin worries as we grow older. Like it or not, gravity tugs our skin downward each decade after the age of 35 or so. And there is really no such thing as anti-ageing.

The best we can do is to age well, according to dermatologist Dr Raja Sivamani at a recent webinar sponsored by the Almond Board of California (yes, almonds can be good for our skin).

Almonds are a good source of dietary fibre and vitamin E, which helps protect our skin from the effects of the sun. Photo: Shutterstock

I was fascinated with the photos Sivamani showed us that compared the faces of 60-something identical twins. One was a non-smoker. The other a smoker. Can we influence the rate that our skin shows the signs of ageing? Definitely, yes!

Smoking, for example, puts a tremendous amount of oxidative stress on the skin. The result: a face that ages rapidly.

Smoking puts a lot of oxidative stress on the skin. Photo: Shutterstock

Photo-ageing is the damage to our skin caused by sun exposure. It shows up in the form of wrinkles, dark spots and leathery skin.

Besides not smoking and the dedicated use of sunscreen, we can also protect our skin from the inside out with certain nutrient components, says Sivamani.

Carotenoids – various colour pigments in plants – are photo-protective, for example. That means they work like a sunscreen to guard against sun damage. These carotenoids include lycopene, the pigment that makes tomatoes and watermelon red; beta carotene that gives orange and green colour to carrots, sweet potatoes, kale and other greens; and astaxanthin (asta-zan-thin), a lesser known carotenoid responsible for the reddish pigment in salmon and other marine animals.

Foods containing astaxanthin, antioxidants and zinc, which can work like a sunscreen to guard against sun damage. Photo: Shutterstock

While Sivamani advocates certain dietary supplements to achieve healthier skin, he says eating whole foods sometimes has a better impact.

Almonds are a good example. They offer a good source of dietary fibre (fibre feeds the good bacteria in our gut which can promote healthy skin, believe it or not) and vitamin E, which helps protect our skin from the damaging effects of the sun. One recent clinical trial found that older men and women had slower wrinkle development after eating a handful of almonds every day for four months.

Other whole foods high in vitamin E include sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, spinach, pine nuts, Brazil nuts, kiwifruit and broccoli.

Each time we put on sunscreen, we help slow down the ageing process. Photo: Shutterstock

No, there is no magic formula that will stop our skin from its downward sag. But each time we put on sunscreen, consume healthful foods or choose not to smoke, we help slow down the ageing process.

Now is the time to start, says Sivamani. Our choices over time can really help us put our best faces forward.

Barbara Quinn is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator. Photo: Barbara Quinn

Barbara Quinn is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator in the US state of California.

Tribune News Service

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