« New study finds high salt diet to be good for health | Home | Why do we put on weight after we quit smoking? »
Facial wrinkles reflect weaker bones in women
By jeremyc | June 25, 2011
A new study by the Yale School of Medicine has revealed that wrinkles in the skin reflect the weak stature of bones in women. These wrinkles would increase the chances of ailments from osteoporosis and hard to heal breaks and fractures as they start ageing. But the scientists have also confirmed that diagnosing brittle bones will be as simple as diagnosing someone’s face in the coming years. Osteoporosis is a disease that lowers bone mineral density and affects 200 million women worldwide. Currently, three million women in Britain have come under its vicious affects. According to International Osteoporosis Foundation, this disease is more common among women above the age of 50 and it often leads to breaks in the wrists, spine and hips.
America’s Yale School of Medicine studied 114 women in their late forties and early fifties who have recently gone through menopause. It does not include women who used Botox or other cosmetic procedures to smooth their furrows. Thereafter the researchers chose 11 points on each test subject’s face and neck and measured the number of wrinkles and also their depth. The firmness of forehead and cheek skin of women was also noted along with the density of bones in these two points, which was again measured by the X-rays. In addition to linking wrinkles to low bone density, the researchers showed that women with firm facial and forehead skin had greater bone density. In the Endocrine Society’s annual conference in Boston, it was confirmed that women with worst wrinkles also had the weakest bones. This particular phenomenon was not only evident in the older women, but younger women were also seen with these complications.
Sex hormones expert and a part of this research, Lubna Pal said that deepening and worsening skin wrinkles are related to lower bone density among the study participants. She also added that the connection between bones and skin may seem unclear but they share their common building blocks – collagens. When the human body starts ageing, changes in collagen starts taking place that accounts for age-related skin changes which includes worsening skin wrinkles and sagging skin. It also results in deterioration in bone quality and quantity. Women are more prone to fracturing bones, specially the hip bones. In postmenopausal women, the appearance of the skin may offer a glimpse of the skeletal well-being, a relationship not previously described.
Lubna Pal also stressed on the fact that the study will be helpful for the clinicians to identify fracture risk in post-menopausal women at a glance without depending on costly tests. The study has also confirmed the fact that a 20-year-old can expect to have 56 per cent more wrinkles by the time she is 28, while one aged 40 can expect a 73 per cent rise in wrinkles by the age of 48. But the older women need not worry because after the age of 60 or 70, few new lines appear!
Topics: | Osteoporosis |
Comments are closed.
