Eating vegetables and fruits can make you look attractive, says a new study, which showed that a healthy diet is crucial to achieving the most desirable complexion.
In the study, researchers from the universities of Bristol and St. Andrews in the UK found that the colour of a person''s skin affects how healthy and therefore attractive they appear.
Using specialist computer software, a total of 54 Caucasian participants of both sexes were asked to manipulate the skin colour of male and female Caucasian faces to make them look as healthy as possible. They chose to increase the rosiness, yellowness and brightness of the skin.
"We knew from our previous work that people who have more blood and more oxygen colour in their skins looked healthy, and so we decided to see what other colours affect health perceptions. This has given us some clues as to what other skin pigments may relate to a healthy appearance," said Dr. Ian Stephen who is now at the University of Bristol.
Skin that is slightly flushed with blood and full of oxygen suggests a strong heart and lungs; supporting the study''s findings that rosier skin appeared healthy.
Smokers and people with diabetes or heart disease have fewer blood vessels in their skin, and so skin would appear less rosy.
The preference for more golden or ''yellow-toned'' skin as healthier might be explained by the ''carotenoid pigments'' that we get from the fruit and vegetables in our diet.
These plant pigments are powerful antioxidants that soak up dangerous compounds produced when the body combats disease. They are also important for our immune and reproductive systems and may help prevent cancer.
They are the same dietary pigments that brightly coloured birds and fish use to show off their healthiness and attract mates, and the researchers think that similar biological mechanisms may be at work in humans.
"In the West we often think that sun tanning is the best way to improve the colour of your skin but our research suggests that living a healthy lifestyle with a good diet might actually be better," Stephen said.
Melanin, the pigment that causes the tan colon when skin is exposed to the sun makes the skin darker and more yellow, but participants in the study chose to make skin lighter and more yellow to make it look healthier.
Professor David Perrett, head of the Perception Lab at the University of St. Andrews, where the research took place," said: "What we eat and not just how much we eat appears to be important for a healthy appearance. The only natural way in which we can make our skin lighter and more yellow is to eat a more healthy diet high in fruit and vegetables."
The study has been published in the December issue of Springer''s International Journal of Primatology.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Eating fruits can make you look sexy!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Fruits, veggies, nuts keep kidney Stones away
A healthy diet helps prevent kidney stones, says a new study.
fruits-veggies-nuts-keep-kidney-stones-away
The study, appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN), claims that loading up on fruits, vegetables, nuts, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains, while limiting salt, red and processed meats, and sweetened beverages is an effective way to ward off kidney stones.
To reach the conclusion, Eric Taylor, MD (Maine Medical Center) and his colleagues at Brigham and Women”’’s Hospital conducted a large study.
The investigators collected information from individuals enrolled in three clinical studies: the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (45,821 men followed for 18 years), the Nurses”” Health Study I (94,108 older women followed for 18 years), and the Nurses”” Health Study II (101,837 younger women followed for 14 years).
Dr. Taylor”’’s team assigned a score to each participant based on eight components of a DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) style diet: high intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains and low intake of salt, sweetened beverages, and red and processed meats.
Individuals with higher DASH scores consumed diets that were higher in calcium, potassium, magnesium, oxalate, and vitamin C and lower in sodium.
A total of 5,645 incident kidney stones developed in the participants in the three studies. In each study, participants with the highest DASH scores were between 40 percent and 45 percent less likely to develop kidney stones than participants with the lowest DASH scores. The reductions in kidney stone risk were independent of age, body size, fluid intake, and other factors.
Because a DASH-style diet may affect the development of hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic diseases associated with kidney stones, the researchers also performed an analysis limited to study participants without hypertension or diabetes. Even among those individuals the DASH diet reduced the risk of kidney stones.
