Heavy drinking and smoking are linked to visible signs of physical aging and looking older than a person's age, new research shows. Light to moderate drinking was not associated with biological aging, the findings showed. But it was also not linked to slowing the visible aging process, as there was no difference in the prevalence of the signs of aging between light to moderate drinkers and non-drinkers, the researchers point out. They base their findings on information from more than 11,500 adults, whose heart health and visible signs of aging were followed for an average of 11.5 years as part of the Danish study. This study, which started in 1976, followed a sample of Danish people over the age of 20 living in the Copenhagen area in 1981-3, 1991-4 and 2001-3.
Before each visit to the clinic, participants were questioned about their lifestyle and general health, and how much they drank and smoked. And they were checked for four signs of aging that were previously associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and/or death. These were:earlobe folds; a grayish opaque colored ring or arch around the peripheral cornea of both eyes (arcus corneae); yellow-orange plaques on the eyelids (xanthelasmata); and male pattern baldness (receding hairline or a bald spot on top of the head).
The mean age of the participants was 51, but ranged from 21 to 86 in the women and from 21 to 93 in the men. Average alcohol consumption was 2.6 drinks/week for women and 11.4 for men. Just over half of the women (57%) and about two-thirds of the men (67%) were current smokers.
Arcus coneae was the most common sign of aging in both sexes, with a prevalence of 60 percent in men over 70 and in women over 80. The least common sign was xanthelasmata, with a 5 percent prevalence in men and women over 50. A receding hairline was common in men, affecting 80 percent of those over 40.
For example, compared with a weekly alcohol intake of up to 7 drinks, an increase of 28 or more was associated with a 33% increased risk of arcus coneae in the women, and a 35% increased risk in men who drank 35 or more drinks per week. week drunk. Similarly, compared with not smoking, smoking one pack of 20 cigarettes a day for 15 to 30 years was associated with a 41 percent increased risk in women and a 12 percent increased risk in men. The appearance of the visible signs of aging was no different in light to moderate drinkers than in non-drinkers, the analysis found. Male pattern baldness was not consistently associated with heavy drinking or smoking, possibly because it is heavily influenced by genes and circulating levels of male hormones (androgens), the researchers suggest.
