Wrinkles and Diet are Linked
In order to perform any effective clinical study, a large and uniform group of individuals is randomly divided into two groups. A single variable has to be controlled, like the use of a placebo drug with one group, besides an effective drug with the other, and none of those who are involved in the study, those administering the test as well as those participating, would know which group is receiving which substance. Once the treatment is administered, the results are to be studied in order to draw conclusions regarding the effectiveness of the substance being tested, while taking into account the random statistical variations. This study must be conducted several times on different groups of individuals in order to draw any verifiable conclusions about the substance.
Food and Wrinkles
Conducting this type of study on the optimal diet for wrinkle prevention is next to impossible. A number of prohibitively restrictive obstacles exist, like the presence of an unmanageable amount of variables, besides the fact that such a long-term study would be extremely costly to perform, as it would require huge amounts of public funding.
There is some proof still, that the consumption of certain nutrients may have direct and/or indirect effects on the appearance as well as overall health of our skin.
Monash University in Melbourne Australia has produced the most complete as well as inclusive study on the correlation between diet and wrinkles. This 2001 study, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, observed the diets of 453 individuals who were over the age of seventy from Greece, Sweden as well as Australia in order to determine the relationship, if any, between food consumption and wrinkling.
The administrators of this study concluded that a diet which is low in glycemic with a high variety of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and fish, can lead to less wrinkling of the skin with age. Those having low levels of skin wrinkling consumed relatively large quantities of the food products such as total fat, mono-unsaturated fat, olive oil and olives besides fish, reduced fat milk and milk products, eggs, as well as nuts and legumes, vegetables – especially leafy greens, spinach, eggplant, asparagus, celery, onions, leeks and garlic and wholegrain cereals, fruit and fruit products – like prunes, cherries, apples and jams, tea and water, zinc.
Foods which seem to exacerbate wrinkling in the aged include saturated fat, meat, dairy products, soft drinks and cordials besides cakes, pastries and desserts, potatoes, butter, margarine.
Though the Monash study is correlational, trying to find a connection between existing events instead of determining a causative relationship between them, related studies have come to similar conclusions. The results of this study are hence the best information that we have in order to advise you on what to eat and not to eat in order to maintain healthy skin even into your later years.