Forget Madonna's punishing exercise regime... the key to youthful looks is a healthy appetite

Forget Madonna's punishing exercise regime... the key to youthful looks is a healthy appetite



Forget punishing exercise routines and restrictive diets, the key to looking young is having a healthy appetite.

Research shows that being thin is what ages us most, with plump cheeks and soft features making women appear younger.

So strong is the link that the loss of just 10lb in weight - around a dress size - can age a woman by some four years.

Experts said the U.S. study showed that dieting does not always have the desired effects on looks.

Rajiv Grover, secretary of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said: 'It's not wrinkles and lines that make people look older, it's changes in the shape of the face.

'People have this thing about being thin. It perhaps gives them a slimmer body but they certainly age in the face more quickly.'

The US researchers made the link between weight and perceived age after studying 200 pairs of identical twins for two years.

Identical twins share all their genes and so any differences in their looks had to be explained by their lifestyle, rather than their DNA.

The body mass index of each twin was calculated by dividing their weight in kilograms by their height in metres squared.

The ideal BMI for an adult is between 18.5 and 25. A BMI of below 18.5 is classed as underweight, while above 25 is considered overweight and above 30 obese.

The study showed a clear link between BMI and the age the women were perceived to be.

Researcher Dr Bahaman Guyuron said: ''The twins were divided into groups based on a four-point BMI difference.

'A BMI higher by four points was found to result in a younger appearance of between two and four years in women over 40 years old.'

In some cases, this meant that a difference in weight of as little as 10lb added four years to a woman's appearance, the Plastic and Reconstructive Journal reports.

Mr Grover, a consultant plastic surgeon at King Edward VII Hospital in London, said that while most people will find their cheeks start to lose their plumpness from around the age of 38, extreme dieters have the most to worry about.

He said: 'People who are trying to stay stick thin lose weight from their face sooner than they would otherwise and those is extremely ageing.


Drastic weight loss: Fern Britton has dropped from a size 22 (right) to a slimmer 14-16 (left) after having a gastric band operation in 2006

'This volume loss can be compounded by yo-yo dieting , where not only do you create volume loss, but also stretching of the facial supporting ligaments due to repeated facial volume gain and loss, which causes deeper nose to mouth lines and jowls.

'The more fat that is preserved in the face, particularly the cheeks, the more you will preserve the facial proportions of youth.'




Marital status was also found to impact on the ageing process, with women who were divorced looking older than their married or single counterparts.

'The twin who is divorced appears about 1.7 years older than the twin who is not divorced,' said Dr Guyuron, of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Suffering from depression also had an ageing effect, as did smoking, drinking and sunbathing.

But those going through tough times should not fret too much.

Dr Linda Papadopoulos, a psychologist and relationship expert, said: 'You shouldn't look at it and think, "I'm divorced and depressed etc, so that's it..."

'If you really turn it on its head, its encouraging because it suggests that if you learn to cope with stress and learn to accept your body, then you cannot only change the way you think, but the way you look too.'

Dr Guyuron said: 'What we've essentially discovered is that, when it comes to your face, it is possible to cheat your biological clock.'