Unilever Discover, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2009 Dec 1;4(12):e8021. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008021.
The desire of many to look young for their age has led to the establishment of a large cosmetics industry. However, the features of appearance that primarily determine how old women look for their age and whether genetic or environmental factors predominately influence such features are largely unknown. We studied the facial appearance of 102 pairs of female Danish twins aged 59 to 81 as well as 162 British females aged 45 to 75. Skin wrinkling, hair graying and lip height were significantly and independently associated with how old the women looked for their age. The appearance of facial sun-damage was also found to be significantly correlated to how old women look for their age and was primarily due to its commonality with the appearance of skin wrinkles. There was also considerable variation in the perceived age data that was unaccounted for. Composite facial images created from women who looked young or old for their age indicated that the structure of subcutaneous tissue was partly responsible. Heritability analyses of the appearance features revealed that perceived age, pigmented age spots, skin wrinkles and the appearance of sun-damage were influenced more or less equally by genetic and environmental factors. Hair graying, recession of hair from the forehead and lip height were influenced mainly by genetic factors whereas environmental factors influenced hair thinning. These findings indicate that women who look young for their age have large lips, avoid sun-exposure and possess genetic factors that protect against the development of gray hair and skin wrinkles. The findings also demonstrate that perceived age is a better biomarker of skin, hair and facial aging than chronological age.
许多人希望自己看起来比实际年龄年轻，这导致了庞大的化妆品行业的建立。然而，决定女性看起来比实际年龄年轻的主要外貌特征，以及决定这些特征的是遗传因素还是环境因素，在很大程度上还不清楚。我们研究了 102 对年龄在 59 至 81 岁的丹麦女性双胞胎和 162 名年龄在 45 至 75 岁的英国女性的面部外观。皮肤皱纹、头发变白和嘴唇高度与女性看起来的年龄显著相关。面部太阳损伤的外观也与女性看起来的年龄显著相关，这主要是由于其与皮肤皱纹的外观具有共同性。还有相当一部分可察觉的年龄数据无法解释。从看起来年轻或年老的女性创建的复合面部图像表明，皮下组织的结构部分负责这一点。对外貌特征的遗传分析表明，可察觉的年龄、色素斑、皮肤皱纹和太阳损伤的外观受到遗传和环境因素的影响程度大致相同。头发变白、额前头发后退和嘴唇高度主要受遗传因素影响，而环境因素影响头发稀疏。这些发现表明，看起来比实际年龄年轻的女性拥有较大的嘴唇、避免阳光照射，并且具有遗传因素，这些因素可以防止头发变白和皮肤皱纹的形成。这些发现还表明，可察觉的年龄是皮肤、头发和面部衰老的更好生物标志物，而不是实际年龄。
