Do you shun having to closely inspect your face, unable to stand the wrinkles and signs of aging the passing years have dealt?  Short of going in for cosmetic surgery, using an anti-aging wrinkle cream and a similar home-based regimen is your best bet for keeping the ravages of age and the environment from getting the best of your skin.

You must be wondering, though, if anti aging wrinkle creams really work.  Can a simple topical cream really keep you looking younger for longer?

With so many products all claiming to work wonders on your wrinkles, finding an effective anti aging wrinkle cream can prove exhausting.  Even the reviews don’t make it any easier with each product creating different results for each type of customer.  Still, the ingredients should give you some clue about whether a product is worth trying.

Things To Avoid

As much as possible, you would like to avoid potentially harmful ingredients mixed into your anti aging wrinkle cream.  Chief among these are the so-called mineral oils, which constrict the skin and keeps it from breathing.  Other components you should look out for include dioxane, fragrances, parabens and alcohol - they could do your skin more harm than good.

Good Ingredients

Creams that are based on antioxidants are great for keeping wrinkles at bay.  While they’re not likely to diminish existing fine lines, they should help stop more wrinkles from appearing on your skin.  Anti aging wrinkle cream products that contain 3D crystals, on the other hand, don’t actually remove wrinkles but cover them up very well.

Alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) and beta hydroxy acid (BHA) are both very good in treating existing wrinkles and are often prescribed by dermatologists.  Collagen enhancers of any kind also work well in improving the skin’s elasticity and tightness.

Your mother’s wrinkles - or lack there of, may not be the best predictor of how you’ll age. In fact, a new study claims just the opposite. The study, involving identical twins, suggests that despite genetic make-up, certain environmental factors can add years to a person’s perceived age. Results just published on the web-based version of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), reveal that factors like divorce or the use of antidepressants are the real culprits that can wreak havoc on one’s face.

“A person’s heritage may initially dictate how they age - but if you introduce certain factors into your life, you will certainly age faster. Likewise, if you avoid those factors you can slow down the hands of time,” said ASPS Member Surgeon and study author Bahaman Guyuron, MD, professor and chairman, department of plastic surgery, University Hospitals Case Medical Center.

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Advanced Skin Technology announced this week the release of a new moisture sealant and skin protectant called Aqualant. When applied after showering, this anti-oxidant rich skin-care product seals in the moisture that skin absorbs and creates a barrier against the environment.

Aqualant has been in development for the last two years, and will be available to the public beginning mid-February. Initially, the product will be available through physicians, licensed estheticians, and select online retailers.

Aqualant is a unique concept in moisturizing the skin. Water is the best moisturizer on the planet. The problem with water is that it evaporates too quickly. It evaporates particularly quickly after a shower because you have washed away the barrier that would trap it into the skin. Under the suggestion and development of Dr. Nia Terezakis, AST has created Aqualant as a head-to-toe, after-shower moisture sealant. This oil based sealant traps moisture in the skin and prevents evaporation. Primary ingredients consist primarily of olive oil and grape seed extract; which are two of the planet’s most powerful anti-oxidents. Staying true to their Green Cream roots, AST has also included a small amount of retinol in Aqualant as well.

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An interview with the Osiris Therapeutics president is as revealing of the way in which the FDA constrains progress as it is of the work being done. Broadly promising scientific applications are held back for years and squashed down to minor, narrowly approved uses - and everyone involved has to speak as though this is wonderful and the best of all possible worlds lest they are targeted for retribution. It’s a sorry state of affairs. From the interview: mesenchymal stem cells or MSCs “do three things: They downregulate inflammation, they work to regenerate the damaged connective tissue, and they prevent scarring or fibrosis. That’s the Holy Trinity of the mesenchymal stem cell. It’s the natural progression or sequence of how we respond to injury. When we’re young, that process works well. Children heal in miraculous ways. Conversely, an elderly person will die of something like a fractured hip. This is because children have 1,000-fold more MSC in their body than adults do. What happens is an adult ends up with a very exaggerated inflammatory response, a weak regenerative response, and a lot of scarring. We can reverse that trend by administering MSC. Because MSCs naturally have a broad range of things they can respond to, our job is to package them as something that will satisfy the FDA.”

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There is a myriad of supplements on the market today.  With all the choices available and all the promises being make by the manufacturers, its hard to tell which products work, why to purchase then, and when to do so.  Its particularly hard for a novice to single out the most important supplement, which is of great importance to those on a budget.

Well, the answer is simple: Protein.  Why protein?  Well, to keep things as simple as possible, when we workout we cause micro-trauma to the muscle tissue.  The tears in the muscle result from the workload that we put it though as we lift the weight.  The body then says to itself that it needs to get larger to responder to the ever growing workloads that we are subjecting it to.  The body then uses protein to rebuild the muscle and recuperate from the micro-tears.

So, we need to give our bodies the tools it needs to get bigger.  Regular North American diets simply don’t have enough protein in them to meet the demands of even the most novice gym enthusiast, thus the need for a protein supplement.  There are various types of protein available, some which is isolate protein for faster absorption into the bloodstream, other like whey protein is mid-range and the most commonly available, and there are other types like casein protein which is slow digesting and is best suited for right before bed as to feed your body during your eight hours of sleep.

I’ll give you a big tip right now: If you’re not consuming enough protein in your diet, don’t bother going to the gym because you’re just wasting your time.  Simple as that.

Protein intake requirements will vary greatly between people.  However, you should consume a bare minimum of half of your body weight in pounds in grams of protein per day.  So if you weigh 150 lbs. you should consume at least 75 grams of protein a day.  Ideally you should consume 1 gram per pound.  Advanced athletes can consume as much as 1.5 to 2 grams per pound a day.  You will want to keep you water intake high as high protein consumption puts extra stress on the kidneys.

Your protein purchase should be based on your budget and taste-buds.  Go for something you can afford and something that taste good to you.  There’s nothing worse than buying a protein that you don’t want to drink because it taste really bad.  Been there, done that, and it’s not fun.

Of course, don’t forget that protein is readily available in meats, such as chicken breast, ground beef, and tuna.  All of which add to your daily protein intake measurements.

F. Martinez