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Smooth Your Skin with a Cup of
This
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Wrinkles are like birthdays. We'll deal with them, considering the alternative. But here's a potential new option for keeping face creases away:
sipping white tea.
According to a recent lab study, extracts in white tea exert an anti-inflammatory effect that slows the breakdown of collagen and elastin fibers --
those super-supportive intracellular structures that skin needs to stay firm and wrinkle-free.
Put the Kettle On
So that's what happened in a lab dish. But can drinking tea really fight wrinkles? Research in human skin will be required to confirm it. In the cell
study, though, the wrinkle-fighting effects of white tea extracts showed lots of promise. White tea exhibited almost 90 percent more collagen- and
elastin-protective activity than the control did. (White tea may have special fat-thwarting powers, too.)
The War on Wrinkles
While research continues into how tea -- whether sipped or slathered on via lotions -- helps fight wrinkles, you'll want to stick with the proven
protect-your-skin basics. That means avoiding sun during peak hours, covering up, and faithfully applying sunscreen every day -- even if it's cloudy.
And here are a few more off-the-beaten-path ways to keep your complexion fresh and dewy:
Feed your face. Get the lowdown on the best wrinkle-smoothing edibles.
Load up on these:
Vegetables
Beans
Olive oil
Nuts
Whole-grain bread
Cut down on these:
Red meat
Butter
Sugary, processed foods
Sure, every health expert says you should eat this way, but skin researchers have found that people who actually do watch what they eat not only
have bodies that are physically younger, healthier, and slimmer but also are less likely to get wrinkles. Cool.
Why? Experts suspect it's because the foods in the "load up" category are crammed with antioxidants, those cellular warriors that fight both aging
and disease. Specifically, credit for their wrinkle-fighting success is given to five potent antioxidants --zinc, selenium, and vitamins A, C, and E --
which excel at reducing the amount of free radicals that skin cells produce. Free radicals are what do the aging damage in the first place.
Chill out. Discover how being relaxed lets the rumples out of your face.
Take a deep breath. Now let it out. Breathe in again. Breathe out. In. Out. Slowly. Evenly. Feel better? More relaxed?
Good. You might look better when you are done, too, because studies show that stress does more than rumple your mood. It may actually help
rumple your face, too.
Curl up in bed. Not getting enough sleep can definitely affect your skin and produce wrinkles….believe it or not.
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