8 tips for avoiding wrinkles

Wrinkles are one of the more bothersome side-effects of getting older -- something that many people are self-conscious about. Here are a few lifestyle tips for avoiding wrinkles:

Sunlight causes 90 percent of age-related damage to your skin, making sun protection the most effective anti-wrinkle measure you can take. The culprits are UVA rays — the longer, more penetrating ultraviolet light that's constant throughout the year — and UVB, the rays that cause sunburn and are strongest in summer.

• Your best protection comes from clothing and a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher.
• For the best protection from UVA rays, look for a product with mexoryl, avobenzone (Parsol 1789), ecamsule, zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.

When University of Utah researchers compared facial wrinkling in 109 smokers and 23 non-smokers, they found that heavy smokers were five times more likely to have deep, craggy lines.

• Chemicals in cigarette smoke seem to dismantle the internal scaffolding — which includes connective tissue made of the proteins collagen and elastin — that keeps skin firm and smooth.

When British researchers checked the diets and wrinkles of 4,025 middle-aged women, they found that vitamin C-rich foods reduced the risk of significant wrinkles by 36 percent.

• This antioxidant vitamin may protect skin by mopping up free radicals, the unstable oxygen molecules that damage collagen.
• Increasing your intake of vitamin C is as easy as having berries or a glass of orange juice at breakfast, red peppers and grapefruit at lunch and broccoli at dinner.
• Other studies show that the more produce of all kinds you eat, the lower your odds of wrinkling.

This bumps up your intake of the good omega-3 fatty acids that the researchers found reduced the risk of old-looking skin by 25 percent.

• Walnuts, canola oil, fish-oil capsules and flaxseed are also great sources.

Each 50 gram (two ounce) increase in your daily carbohydrate consumption (the amount in two 235 millilitre/eight ounce soft drinks) increases your risk of wrinkles by 28 percent, according to the British study mentioned earlier.

• The link may be "advanced glycation end products," molecules made from sugars and proteins that attack collagen as well as elastin, the stretchy protein that keeps skin looking firm.

In one study, antioxidants called epicatechin and catechin in cocoa protected skin from sun damage and boosted circulation to skin cells.

Confused by the countless anti-aging creams on the market? A recent test by Consumer Reports magazine reports that most do very little. But products containing these active ingredients may help.

• Retinoids. Available in prescription creams (such as Renova) and in weaker over-the-counter versions, this vitamin A derivative minimizes fine lines and helps build new collagen.
• Alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs). These natural acids minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, especially around the eyes, by lifting off the top layer of dead skin on your face. At higher concentrations, they may even spur the production of new collagen.
• Antioxidants. Creams and lotions containing vitamin C, idebenone and other antioxidants may help reduce fine lines and wrinkles by battling cell damage.

• Driving your car could give you wrinkles. Dermatologists at the St. Louis University School of Medicine report an upswing in patients with mysterious, lopsided facial wrinkles.
• These signs of aging were usually worse on the left side than the right. The cause? Sun streaming through the driver's side window of the car — even for just a few minutes each day.
• The sun's UVA rays, which penetrate more deeply into the skin and cause more of the damage that leads to wrinkles, travel easily through window glass — a good reason to wear sunscreen daily.

Wrinkles are a natural part of life. However, for the young-at-heart that want to look as young as they feel, these tips should help deter wrinkles for as long as possible. Just remember your sunscreen!