Skin wrinkling: can food make a difference?

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Skin wrinkling: can food make a difference?

New evidence has emerged from Monash University in Australia by our Editor-in-Chief Professor Mark Wahlqvist, Dr Martalena Purba and Dr Antigone Kouris-Blazos (our Managing Editor) that certain foods may protect sun-exposed skin from UV damage and wrinkling. This is of interest for obvious aesthetic reasons, but it also has implications for protection against skin cancer through diet. So are there particular foods we can include in our diet which may protect our skin from UV damage and possibly reduce our risk of skin cancer?

This is the first cross-sectional epidemiological study to investigate the relationship between food intake and actinic skin damage.

Cross-sectional food intake data on 453 people aged 70 was used to see if certain foods predicted or were associated with skin wrinkling in a sun-exposed site. Since this is a cross-sectional study we can only identify associations between variables which does not imply "cause and effect".

Results of the study indicate that:

Foods associated with Less skin wrinkling	Foods associated with More skin wrinkling
total fat	saturated fat
monounsaturated fat	meat (especially fatty processed meat)
olive oil and olives	full fat dairy (especially unfermented products, ice cream)
fish (especially fatty fish like sardines)	soft drinks/cordials
reduced fat milk/yoghurt, cheese	cakes, pastries, desserts
eggs	potatoes
nuts and legumes (especially lima, broad beans)	butter
vegetables (especially leafy greens, spinach, eggplant, asparagus, celery, onions/leeks, garlic)	margarine
whole grain cereals	vitamin C
fruit and fruit products (especially prunes, cherries, apples, jam)
tea and water
zinc

More studies are needed to determine whether particular foods do indeed prevent skin wrinkling, actinic skin damage and possibly skin cancer.

View the Abstract in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition

View the citation in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition

Read an article based on this study, published in the Herald-Sun (Melbourne) July 5 2001.

Last Updated: December 7, 2001.