If you’ve been following the newest trends in skin care, you’ve probably heard of a new term: nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology is a new buzzword in skin care and the cosmetics industry; it refers to the use of very small molecules to help deliver treatments below the skin’s surface.
The biggest complaints about nano-molecules is that they behave differently than their normal-sized counterparts.
This may have adverse reactions for the skin or the environment. For example, one type of nano-particle conducts electricity at nano-size, but does not conduct electricity at full-size.
If this particle were added to cosmetics or skin care products, it may have damaging effects for the individual applying it.
Since many cosmetics and supplements can be sold without FDA approval, this may become a growing issue as nanotechnology allows chemicals to be delivered deeper and deeper into our bodies.
The FDA has created a special group to focus on nanotechnology. We’ll be hearing more about this issue as the science continues to evolve.
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Here’s good news for those of you who hate to exercise: a new review of more than 45 weight loss studies finds that changing your nutritional habits offers greater results, in shorter time, when you are first trying to lose weight. Exercise is better for keeping the weight off in the long term.
Diet was found to have more of an impact on weight loss than exercise. Dietary changes, alone, could produce weight loss of about 20 pounds in about six months. Exercising without dietary changes produced about a 4-5 pound weight loss in the same time frame.
Being overweight has serious implications for your heart, metabolism, and your skin. A poor diet can lead to skin which is dull, prone to breakouts, and dry. It can also lead to reduced capacity to fight off infections, and accelerated aging. Excess body weight can lead to breakdown of the skin’s underlying layer, resulting in stretch marks.
If you are considering losing weight, look first to your diet. Make some changes there, and then add in the exercise.
Your health, and skin, will both improve.
Smoking has long been considered “cool”, but smoking can cause significant damage to your skin. Cigarette smoke generates free radicals on the surface of the skin, which can lead to skin damage and premature aging. The constant pulling motion will lead to lines and wrinkles around the mouth. Smoking dehydrates the skin, and leaves it more susceptible to infection.
Despite this, teens often start smoking due to peer pressure, concerns about weight gain, and because it makes them look and feel more mature. Many movies aimed at teens often promote subtle pro-smoking messages. For teens who are not that media savvy, these messages are likely to influence their smoking habits.
A new study suggests that helping teens become more media savvy can help them reduce their likelihood of taking up smoking.
Many movies involve subtle “pro-smoking” messages which can, in turn, move teens to start smoking.
Teaching teens how to recognize, analyze and evalute media messages, including advertising, may be an effective tool in the war against smoking.
In this study, researchers examined responses from 1211 high school students, in areas such as current smoking habits, potential future smoking habits, and their media literacy in terms of identifying fact from fiction in media and advertising about smoking.
Students who scored high on media literacy were less likely to be smokers now, and were less likely to pick up smoking in the future. These students were more able to determine that advertising may be leaving important facts out, and were more thoughtful about the messages portrayed by the media.
This study was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
More research is needed, but it seems that smoking prevention for teens will get a boost with increasing media literacy.
