Page 54 - 31OCT2019E

Almonds

reduce

facial

wrinkles

Consuming 60 grams of nuts daily also improves sexual functions (TEWL) and from harmful irritants com-
such as boosting desire and orgasm quality, tehelka bureau finds out ing from the environment.
By the end of the study at 16 weeks,
photographic image analysis showed
aily consumption of almonds nut-free snack that also accounted for 20 statistically significant improvements for
is likely to help reduce the per cent of calories: a cereal bar, granola participants in the almond snack group
severity of facial wrinkles in bar or pretzels. Aside from these snacks, compared to the control group, the re-
post-menopausal women, study participants ate their regular diets searchers said. They also found that wrin-
D a first-of-its-kind study to and did not eat any nuts or nut-contain- kle width decreased by 10 per cent, while
examine the effects of the nuts on skin ing products. wrinkle severity reduced by nine per
health has claimed. Researchers at the Skin assessments were made at cent. There were no significant changes
University of California (UC), Davis in the the start of the study, and again at four in skin barrier function between groups,
US found that a daily snack of almonds in weeks, eight weeks, 12 weeks and 16 the researchers said. “Almonds are a
place of other nut-free snacks improved weeks. At each visit, facial wrinkles were rich source of antioxidant vitamin E and
measures of wrinkle width and severity assessed using high-resolution facial im- deliver essential fatty acids and polyphe-
in postmenopausal women. aging and validated three dimensional nols. They are a smart choice for overall
The post-menopause is the time after (3D) facial modelling and measurement. good nutrition,” said Sivamani. “As seen
which a woman has experienced 12 con- “These high resolution cameras allow for in this study, almonds may hold promise
secutive months of lack of menstruation. 3D reconstruction of any wrinkles so that as a food to include as part of a healthy
In the 16-week randomised controlled they can be mapped for their key charac- ageing diet, especially for post-menopau-
trial, published in the journal Phytother- teristics of width and severity. The sever- sal women.”
apy Research, 28 healthy postmenopau- ity score is a calculation of the depth and However, the outcomes warrant
sal women with Fitzpatrick skin type 1 or length of a wrinkle,” said Raja Sivamani, future studies with expanded population
2 — characterised by increased tendency Associate Professor of Clinical Dermatol- groups and additional evaluations for
to burn with sun exposure — were ran- ogy at UC Davis, and lead researcher on signs of skin ageing, the researchers said.
domly assigned to one of two groups, the study. Ageing is a long-lasting process so the
media reports said. Skin barrier function was also as- findings from this study may be difficult
In the intervention group, women ate sessed, by measuring sebum produc- to reproduce and generalise to extended
almonds as a snack, which accounted for tion and transepidermal water loss periods of time, they said.
20 per cent of their total daily calorie in- (TEWL). Skin barrier function examines The researchers noted that skin-age-
take, or 340 calories per day on average the strength of the skin barrier and how ing is also multi-factorial in nature and
(60 grammes). The control group ate a well it protects skin from moisture loss although certain groups were excluded

Tehelka / 31 october 2019 54 www.Tehelka.com