Sunday, November 26, 2006
New Ways Women Can Slow the Skin's Aging Process
There’s a new laser on the market. No, it won’t bleach away age spots or iron away face furrows, but it will tell you how much collagen you’ve lost. And according to a study just released in Optics Letters, the novel laser finds that women lose collagen faster than men.
The laser uses ultra-brief pulses of infrared light to stimulate tissues to emit light at shorter wavelengths -- blue in the case of collagen, and green in the case of elastin.
Because upper layer of the skin is virtually transparent to infrared light, the infrared laser can reach the deeper layers of the skin with intense pulses of light without damaging the upper layers. By two different “quantum” processes, collagen and elastin will then respond by glowing blue or green respectively.
Even though this technique is still at the experimental stage, women can take action now to slow their untimely collagen loss.
Smart anti-aging steps women can take include consuming foods to optimize their skin’s estrogen and collagen content. Estrogen is important to preventing premature aging because this hormone determines the moisture level and collagen concentration of the skin with age.
Research has established the link between estrogen and collagen. Estrogen boosts the skin’s moisture content by increasing the amount of hyaluronic acid in the skin.
Hyaluronic acid is naturally found in the body. One of hyaluronic acid’s primary jobs is to make the skin firm and provide support for the collagen and elastin fibers that give skin a firm, youthful appearance.
You can potentially increase that amount of hyaluronic acid in your skin by increasing your intake of certain estrogens. For example, animal studies show that soy isoflavones protect skin against sun damage and may increase production of hyaluronic acid.
Soy dishes come in a variety of options including soy tofu, soy protein shakes and even soy protein bars.
While eating your way to a firmer face, you don’t want to overlook vitamin C. Vitamin C remains a potent antioxidant and it also helps your body to produce collagen.
Ironically, even though vitamin C’s beauty potential is loudly touted by the media, 33% of the US population is not getting enough vitamin C according to a 2005 survey done by the U.S. Agricultural Research Service's Food Surveys Research Group.
You can enjoy vitamin C in foods like broccoli, red or green peppers, strawberries, oranges and Brussels spouts.
Eating vitamin C and optimizing your estrogen levels are just one step in a series of things you can do to slow down the aging process. One simple tip to keep your anti-aging regime working is to ask yourself each time you eat, “Is this food protecting me from radials and allowing my body to repair itself, or causing more radial damage?” This way you’re sure to be eating your way to more youthful skin.
For now, you do not need a laser to tell you how well your skin is aging. What’s on your plate can serve as your anti-aging barometer instead. Take a tip from the Food and Drug Administrations and enjoy at least five fruit and vegetables a day. Your face will thank you.
