Browse content similar to The Truth About Looking Young. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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My name is Dr Rozina Ali and I'm a consultant plastic surgeon in the | :02:27. | :02:37. | |
:02:37. | :02:46. | ||
And I have it damps what, please? But what fascinates me is how it | :02:46. | :02:56. | |
:02:56. | :03:04. | ||
This is a natural! -- this is not natural! So I left the operating | :03:04. | :03:11. | |
theatre behind for the frontiers of skin science. This is not what I | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
Along the way I discovered a diet that could potentially help us all | :03:18. | :03:28. | |
:03:28. | :03:41. | ||
look younger. What do you think That we're on the verge of changing | :03:41. | :03:51. | |
:03:51. | :03:51. | ||
summers forever with the contents And that something we all love to | :03:51. | :04:01. | |
:04:01. | :04:26. | ||
eat is revolutionising the science Skin, believe it or not, is an | :04:26. | :04:36. | |
:04:36. | :04:38. | ||
organ. Just like the heart, lungs But what makes it special is that | :04:38. | :04:48. | |
:04:48. | :05:00. | ||
unlike any other organ, you can see It's the largest organ in the body. | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
In fact, laid out flat, it's as big as this. And that's somewhere | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
around 20 square feet. But it's not just big, it's the very first organ | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
we developed. In fact, skin is the difference between a collection of | :05:11. | :05:21. | |
:05:21. | :05:45. | ||
It's the first thing I look at when But why do some people look older | :05:45. | :05:55. | |
:05:55. | :06:11. | ||
What's the scientific truth about Time for me to declare my personal | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
interest. I'm 44 years old and I've not had any plastic surgery. I'm | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
probably a bit like you. I'm young enough to care, old enough to know | :06:20. | :06:27. | |
better. So for me, it all comes down to the science. If it stacks | :06:27. | :06:37. | |
:06:37. | :06:41. | ||
up, if it's scientifically credible, Every day of our lives, our skin is | :06:41. | :06:51. | |
engaged in a relentless war with The first battle is against the | :06:51. | :07:01. | |
:07:01. | :07:04. | ||
Working out how the sun helps to make you look older means | :07:04. | :07:14. | |
:07:14. | :07:18. | ||
investigating the effect it has on This is what gives young skin its | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
distinctive plumpness. If it deflates, the skin wrinkles and | :07:23. | :07:33. | |
:07:33. | :07:44. | ||
Surprisingly, scientists trying to understand how you can look younger | :07:44. | :07:54. | |
:07:54. | :07:57. | ||
for longer have been studying lorry Meet Rob and Alan. Between them, | :07:57. | :08:07. | |
:08:07. | :08:15. | ||
they've been driving around Britain Would you like to get in? Thank you. | :08:15. | :08:25. | |
:08:25. | :08:35. | ||
Just as well I'm sensibly dressed! And there's something about their | :08:35. | :08:42. | |
faces that provide clues about the hidden power of the sun. A good- | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
looking guy like you, tell me about your skincare regime, what do you | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
use? Apart from washing my face with soap and water, I don't use | :08:51. | :08:58. | |
any. Moisturiser? No. My wife would start getting a bit suspicious if I | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
started using moisturiser! Does she have reason to be suspicious? | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
Absolutely not and she knows that. Have you had any problems with your | :09:07. | :09:13. | |
skin? Ever get sunburnt? Have not in a cab. I use protection when I'm | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
not -- when I'm on holiday. For work, never. Why don't you bother | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
with protection or any skin care when you are driving? You are | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
always in the truck. You get out every now and then, but you will | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
only be going from the cab to an office or into the back of a | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
trailer to help unload at something. You are never in the sum for very | :09:36. | :09:46. | |
:09:46. | :09:50. | ||
long. For -- in the sun. doesn't get burned in his cab. | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
That's because the glass he sits behind for most of the day filters | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
out the rays that cause sunburn. This bit of the sun's spectrum is | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
This bit of the sun's spectrum is called UVB. These rays have a very | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
short wavelength and so only burn the top layer of our skin. They | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
can't penetrate any deeper. And they can't get through window glass | :10:10. | :10:18. | |
Now, I don't want to seem unkind, but Rob's skin doesn't look | :10:18. | :10:28. | |
So what's going on? To answer that question, I've arranged for Rob and | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
Alan to have a skin check-up. And that's taking place here at | :10:33. | :10:43. | |
:10:43. | :10:44. | ||
Manchester University's world Conducting the test is Britain's | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
leading skin scientist - Professor Chris Griffiths. He's taking Rob | :10:48. | :10:54. | |
and Alan's picture with this very special camera. And he's been using | :10:54. | :11:04. | |
:11:04. | :11:05. | ||
it to uncover some of the secrets of how the sun ages our skin. Who | :11:05. | :11:11. | |
wants to go first? Let's get the ugly out of the way! Swing around | :11:11. | :11:18. | |
and close your eyes. Bath exactly the same again, look in the mirror. | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
It is just getting used your face. What does that mean? What's wrong | :11:23. | :11:33. | |
with it? Well done. What will the photographs reveal about Rob and | :11:33. | :11:43. | |
:11:43. | :11:43. | ||
A you can see on Allen's face that there are deeper wrinkles on the | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
right side, they are longer off compared with the left side. | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
There's a deeper wrinkle here if compared with the left side. I tell | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
you what is really obvious to me. On the right, the eyebrow is lower | :11:58. | :12:04. | |
than his brow bone. This is significantly longer and then it | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
goes down passed his lips into the Marion neckline and on the other | :12:09. | :12:14. | |
side, or you see is that slight line. It is much, much less for | :12:14. | :12:22. | |
elastic tissue. Exactly. I think that is gruesome! It is gruesome! | :12:22. | :12:29. | |
Right, can we see Rob? This time, it has been colour-coded so the | :12:29. | :12:37. | |
green lines are marking the wrinkles. That is not as bad! | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
interestingly, considering you are younger, don't be depressed, a lot | :12:41. | :12:48. | |
more wrinkles. Her thank you! lots more of them. There are more | :12:48. | :12:58. | |
:12:58. | :13:02. | ||
on the right than the left. G fact that one side of their face is | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
more wrinkled than the other is no surprise to Professor Griffiths. | :13:05. | :13:07. | |
He's conducted numerous studies into the condition of lorry | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
drivers' skin. That confirms our previous work. People who are | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
professional long-distance lorry drivers get a lot of sun exposure | :13:16. | :13:26. | |
:13:26. | :13:26. | ||
You might think, behind the safety of the windscreen, the drivers are | :13:26. | :13:36. | |
:13:36. | :13:46. | ||
There's another form of sunlight that does penetrate glass. It's | :13:46. | :13:52. | |
called UVA. It has a much longer wavelength, allowing it go get much | :13:52. | :14:02. | |
:14:02. | :14:19. | ||
Job done. And what about you? don't think so. I don't think | :14:19. | :14:29. | |
that's very fair! I we need a comparison. This is a natural. -- | :14:29. | :14:36. | |
this is not natural. Reluctantly, in the interests of science, I gave | :14:36. | :14:44. | |
in. And I soon wished I hadn't. That's interesting. If you have | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
more wrinkles on the right side of your face than the left. That is | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
amazing. On the left, that is quite a nice picture. I'm not unhappy | :14:54. | :15:01. | |
with that. My gosh! On the right... You have four more -- far more. | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
That is probably from everyday driving. It is not just for truck | :15:06. | :15:13. | |
drivers? Not at all. I have to say I'm truly shocked. I think that | :15:13. | :15:23. | |
:15:23. | :15:23. | ||
gets the message home. Now you know There's no question that from now | :15:23. | :15:29. | |
on I'll be slapping on sunscreen when I'm driving. But what kind of | :15:29. | :15:39. | |
:15:39. | :15:54. | ||
UVA ages UVB burns. Look for five- star UVA rating. I'll be wearing it | :15:54. | :16:04. | |
:16:04. | :16:13. | ||
Most of us are smart enough to make sure we slap on sunscreen in the | :16:13. | :16:22. | |
But no matter how diligent you are, slapping on sunscreen isn't | :16:23. | :16:32. | |
:16:33. | :16:35. | ||
The problem with sunscreen is that it keeps rubbing off. It provides a | :16:35. | :16:42. | |
protective coating to the skin, but it doesn't penetrate it. Lie down, | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
touch anyone, or even go in the water, and its protective qualities | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
But there's a possible solution to this problem that's at the cutting | :16:52. | :16:59. | |
I've come here to Sharm-el-Sheik on Egypt's Red Sea, because it's one | :16:59. | :17:09. | |
of the best places in the world to One of the most intriguing and | :17:09. | :17:11. | |
promising new developments is being unearthed not here, but out there | :17:11. | :17:17. | |
under the waves. And it has the potential to change summers for | :17:17. | :17:27. | |
:17:27. | :17:55. | ||
Damaging UVA rays can penetrate So why doesn't everything in the | :17:55. | :18:04. | |
According to Dr Paul Long, who's one of the world's leading experts | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
in biochemical adaptation, the answer lies on this stunning coral | :18:07. | :18:17. | |
:18:17. | :18:24. | ||
It's hard to get your head round, but it's a strange mix of animal | :18:24. | :18:32. | |
The plant half of the creature gets its energy from the sun, through | :18:32. | :18:42. | |
:18:42. | :18:50. | ||
And that creates a problem for the Photosynthesis need sunlight, so, | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
can only live in the first couple of metres of water because | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
otherwise it will not penetrate through the water column but it is | :18:58. | :19:04. | |
a double-edged sword. They want to live through photosynthesis but | :19:04. | :19:14. | |
:19:14. | :19:20. | ||
But the coral isn't in fact actually damaged by the sun. And | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
that's because the plant half, the algae, makes a sun protection | :19:22. | :19:32. | |
:19:32. | :19:42. | ||
compound that's passed onto the What we found it is a partnership | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
between the two of them, so the plant will make a certain compound, | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
pass it to the animal which will train -- change it to the Sun | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
screening compound for the benefit of most partners. So both are | :19:54. | :20:04. | |
:20:04. | :20:07. | ||
Remarkably, coral is the source of sun protection for huge numbers of | :20:07. | :20:17. | |
:20:17. | :20:19. | ||
Smaller fish get the sun protection compounds from grazing the reef. | :20:19. | :20:25. | |
Bigger fish from eating the smaller fish. What I want to know is, how | :20:25. | :20:35. | |
:20:35. | :20:37. | ||
To solve the puzzle, Dr Long invited me out for a special | :20:37. | :20:47. | |
:20:47. | :20:49. | ||
evening, which involved a close And there's one particular part of | :20:49. | :20:56. | |
this ocean predator's anatomy he wanted me to look at. We are going | :20:56. | :21:04. | |
to take out the RA and take out its lines. -- take out the Ivy and take | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
out its lens. No girl travels without scissors. I will start just | :21:10. | :21:15. | |
on the outside. That is the cornea coming off. This could get quite | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
messy. The eyeball is pressurised. I know you are a great surgeon, but | :21:20. | :21:30. | |
be careful way you make the cut. can feel it now. Just cut the iris. | :21:30. | :21:39. | |
Oh! Gently. There we go! I told you it was pressurised. Quickly, we | :21:40. | :21:49. | |
still have got the lens. Unbelievable. Verities. That he's | :21:49. | :21:58. | |
the lens. -- then it is. So what is in that? What does that do in the | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
eye of any animal? Lech * like three selling its the retina. -- | :22:03. | :22:11. | |
lets the light through. So it can see through the retina. It will | :22:11. | :22:18. | |
Lettin UV light. So they need sunglasses. The compounds that are | :22:18. | :22:24. | |
concentrated in the lens, they filter out the damaging UV Ray | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
before it hits the retina. This is a super concentrated form of all | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
the goodness in the Coral? Can I tell you one thing? I do not | :22:33. | :22:43. | |
:22:43. | :22:47. | ||
normally squeal. That is important But to find out just how much sun | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
protection there is in the squid's eye, I need to travel back to | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
London and Dr Long's lab. The lens from the eye of the squid has been | :22:54. | :23:01. | |
broken down into an extract for analysis. It's then placed in this | :23:01. | :23:09. | |
It measures how much UV protection the MAAs provide. The results are | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
displayed on this simple graph. And what it shows is that the compounds | :23:14. | :23:24. | |
:23:24. | :23:32. | ||
give the squid massive amounts of So ET is absorbing the U V A, so no | :23:32. | :23:41. | |
more ageing. It is absorbing some of the UVB. Could I get a tan? | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
But it is protecting me from damaging rays. Sounds like good | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
stuff to me. What's even more remarkable is that in tests in the | :23:49. | :23:51. | |
lab, they've found that these compounds appear to be actually | :23:51. | :24:01. | |
absorbed by skin cells. And that means they can't rub off. Our work | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
is to see how well using human skins with these compounds, do they | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
get absorbed in? Rather than slapping it all over like normal | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
sun cream we have an indelible stain. You've applied only just | :24:14. | :24:21. | |
once and it would be absorbed into the scheme. Dr Long is confident he | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
can makes these MAAs into a synthetic sunscreen. Slap it on | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
once, and you'd be protected all day. But because this sun | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
protection passes up the food chain, he believes we can get it without a | :24:30. | :24:40. | |
:24:40. | :24:41. | ||
cream. Not by eating squid's eyes, but by taking a sun protection pill. | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
Potentially we could manufacture these compounds in to a tablet or | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
capsule and we should be able to swallow it. I now know that I would | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
have it every day, not just on holiday, because I want to protect | :24:53. | :24:59. | |
myself against the raised and I need all the help I can get. -- the | :24:59. | :25:09. | |
:25:09. | :25:23. | ||
If all goes to plan, Dr Long hopes to have the pill on the market in | :25:23. | :25:32. | |
And that would be a major leap forward in helping all of us keep | :25:32. | :25:42. | |
:25:42. | :25:48. | ||
But it's not just in the science of sun protection that radical new | :25:48. | :25:58. | |
:25:58. | :26:06. | ||
There's another area of research that's uncovering more of the | :26:06. | :26:15. | |
secrets of how and why our skin wrinkles. And this understanding | :26:15. | :26:25. | |
:26:25. | :26:31. | ||
holds out the promise that we can The problem is that this important | :26:31. | :26:41. | |
:26:41. | :26:44. | ||
factor in skin ageing is something we can't live without - oxygen. We | :26:44. | :26:54. | |
:26:54. | :26:58. | ||
breathe it in every day, but it can Professor John Casey has been | :26:58. | :27:00. | |
grappling with the problematic connection between oxygen and | :27:00. | :27:10. | |
:27:10. | :27:15. | ||
ageing for nearly 20 years. Every time we breathe, at 98% of that | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
oxygen goes to burn the food we are eating and liberate the small | :27:20. | :27:23. | |
molecules we need for regeneration and it releases lots of energy is | :27:24. | :27:29. | |
to allow muscles to work. A good thing. But there is maybe one or 2% | :27:29. | :27:39. | |
:27:39. | :27:42. | ||
of the oxygen that goes down a This small amount of oxygen, | :27:42. | :27:52. | |
:27:52. | :27:54. | ||
commonly known as free radicals, Over time, the damage starts to | :27:54. | :28:04. | |
:28:04. | :28:09. | ||
accumulate. And the classic signs Our bodies have a defence mechanism | :28:09. | :28:19. | |
- it's just not quite efficient So you have a system which is | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
continually being slightly damaged due to the reaction to oxygen and | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
another system, sell defence, which is about correcting the damage. | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
Putting things back to where they should be. So you have a balance. | :28:32. | :28:42. | |
What happens with ageing? Is the cell systems overwhelmed? | :28:42. | :28:46. | |
Eventually the accumulation of damaged molecules, dysfunctional | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
molecules, is always that be greater than the rate at which you | :28:51. | :29:01. | |
can clear it up. So inexorably, the animal cages. -- ages. Professor | :29:01. | :29:06. | |
Casey works at Unilever's science park in Bedfordshire. And what he's | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
investigating is how the signs of ageing that appear on the surface | :29:09. | :29:19. | |
:29:19. | :29:27. | ||
of our skin are caused by processes This will blow your socks off. A | :29:27. | :29:32. | |
fantastic set of images. This might look like a computer graphic, but | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
it is in fact what your skin really looks like. The two layers are easy | :29:35. | :29:43. | |
to see. The epidermis at the top is shaded dark. The dermis at the | :29:43. | :29:49. | |
bottom is slightly lighter. This is where collagen, the protein that | :29:49. | :29:53. | |
helps to keep us looking younger, is made. And at the heart of the | :29:53. | :29:55. | |
dermis are the cells that produce it. They're called fibroblasts and | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
they're highlighted in red in this image. They're collagen making | :30:00. | :30:09. | |
machines. And if you really want to understand how important | :30:09. | :30:15. | |
fibroblasts are, you have to look at this. Filmed over 24 hours, it | :30:15. | :30:18. | |
shows a collagen filled with a young person's fibroblasts on the | :30:18. | :30:28. | |
:30:28. | :30:37. | ||
left, compared with an older They are hardly moving at all, they | :30:37. | :30:42. | |
are doing their best, but nowhere near as good as the cells from a | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
young person's skin, as we see here. You can really only see how the | :30:47. | :30:56. | |
collagen factory works at extreme The object in the centre of the | :30:56. | :31:06. | |
:31:06. | :31:09. | ||
screen is a fibroblast. The spider's web around it is collagen. | :31:09. | :31:15. | |
Oh, my goodness. Let's have a look in more detail. It's the fibroblast | :31:15. | :31:18. | |
that makes the collagen. Crucially, in young, tight skin, the | :31:19. | :31:28. | |
:31:29. | :31:30. | ||
fibroblast also pulls powerfully It creates a three-dimensional, | :31:30. | :31:36. | |
tense network of collagen which gives young skin its characteristic | :31:36. | :31:40. | |
strength and smoothness. With old skin, the connection between the | :31:40. | :31:50. | |
:31:50. | :31:54. | ||
fibroblasts and collagen breaks As the skin ages, it almost rejects | :31:54. | :32:02. | |
the collagen, so they start to round up the projections and often | :32:02. | :32:08. | |
cells start to disappear. The collagen, instead of looking like a | :32:08. | :32:18. | |
:32:18. | :32:34. | ||
well-sprung network, looks like a Scientists are still trying to work | :32:34. | :32:37. | |
out exactly how oxygen helps the clock to keep ticking on our ageing | :32:37. | :32:47. | |
:32:47. | :33:01. | ||
But is it possible to turn back the Can we repair and rejuvenate our | :33:01. | :33:11. | |
:33:11. | :33:16. | ||
Part of the answer appears to lie Dr Gail Jenkins has been working on | :33:16. | :33:22. | |
what scientists call oxidative stress for a decade. And she's | :33:22. | :33:25. | |
convinced what we consume is key to protecting and recharging our | :33:25. | :33:35. | |
:33:35. | :33:46. | ||
And she has four rules to make life The first rule is always look for | :33:46. | :33:53. | |
bright colours. And one of the most important of the brightly coloured | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
fruit and veg is the humble tomato. It's chock full of a very special | :33:58. | :34:08. | |
:34:08. | :34:09. | ||
ingredient. Tomatoes by an excellent source of lycopene. That | :34:09. | :34:16. | |
gives it the bright red collar. Excellent at absorbing oxygen and | :34:16. | :34:26. | |
presenting -- preventing oxidative stress. Rule number two is look for | :34:26. | :34:32. | |
bitter tasting fruit and veg. Broccoli and radishes are an | :34:32. | :34:36. | |
excellent source of Clicquot assimilates. By eating these | :34:36. | :34:40. | |
ingredients and getting them deposited in the skin, you allow | :34:40. | :34:45. | |
the skin cells to defend itself. An excellent natural source of helping | :34:45. | :34:55. | |
:34:55. | :34:57. | ||
yourself protect yourself from Time for rule number three - eat | :34:57. | :35:05. | |
lots of oily fish. Fish is an excellent thing for for skin, it | :35:05. | :35:09. | |
contains omega 3. You have to choose a certain type of fish. You | :35:09. | :35:14. | |
are looking for oily fish. Things like mackerel. Why is the mackerel | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
good for our skin? The omega 3 in the mackerel have been shown that | :35:19. | :35:23. | |
have anti-inflammatory benefits. They dampen down inflammation in | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
the skin cells. Anything that dampens down in for mentioned is | :35:27. | :35:33. | |
good to prevent ageing. -- inflammation. Final rule? Try and | :35:33. | :35:43. | |
:35:43. | :35:44. | ||
avoid startchy food like rice, But what kind of meal can you make | :35:44. | :35:54. | |
:35:54. | :35:58. | ||
with these natural anti-ageing, We took the food we bought in the | :35:58. | :36:08. | |
:36:08. | :36:16. | ||
If I say so myself, very well cooked! But winning the fight | :36:16. | :36:18. | |
against oxidative stress would severely test the appetites of most | :36:18. | :36:27. | |
of us. The one big issue is the amount of ingredients. For example, | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
the broccoli. In terms of the amount of properly you need to get | :36:31. | :36:37. | |
any benefit, it is about half a kilo a day. A huge amount. | :36:37. | :36:42. | |
about the fish? The fish levels are not too bad. But in those two | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
together, you would deliver a significant amount of the omega 3 | :36:46. | :36:52. | |
fatty acids, but it would be two together for one person. If we 85 a | :36:52. | :36:57. | |
day or fruit, would that cover skin benefits? It would depend on the | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
portions, but I suspect not. To get the benefit you need from these | :37:01. | :37:06. | |
particular ingredients, you would need to eat much more. And But | :37:06. | :37:08. | |
scientists at Unilever believe they've come up with a pill that | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
could have all the benefits of the diet in a capsule. This is it. | :37:13. | :37:15. | |
Apparently, everything that's in the anti-oxidant diet is in this | :37:15. | :37:25. | |
:37:25. | :37:34. | ||
This is the Culture Lab. Just about every skin cell type is growing in | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
here. Professor Casey and his team have been testing the contents of | :37:38. | :37:47. | |
the anti-wrinkle pill on older skin They've found fibroblasts that were | :37:47. | :37:53. | |
dormant begin to reproduce collagen. They then ran a study of the | :37:53. | :38:03. | |
:38:03. | :38:06. | ||
effects of the pill on 480 middle You can't tell everything from | :38:06. | :38:11. | |
pictures, but it has a good place pictures, but it has a good place | :38:12. | :38:14. | |
to start. This is a picture of a woman's eye before taking the pill. | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
And this is 14 weeks later. What you can see straight away, the | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
quality of the skin significantly improved. The wrinkles are less | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
long, and the wrinkles that she does still have are much more | :38:23. | :38:26. | |
shallow. It might not be much compared to surgery, but it's | :38:26. | :38:36. | |
:38:36. | :38:40. | ||
We've been working on this for quite a few years. It is only now | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
that we know this really works in people. We've tested it on hundreds | :38:45. | :38:55. | |
:38:55. | :38:57. | ||
of women and we are now confident Unilever are planning to publish | :38:57. | :39:05. | |
their results in a leading peer And that's important. Because other | :39:05. | :39:08. | |
scientists can test their claims and see if the results are | :39:08. | :39:18. | |
:39:18. | :39:19. | ||
But what you eat isn't the only new approach to solving the problem of | :39:19. | :39:29. | |
:39:29. | :39:30. | ||
There's a powerful and radical new science emerging that has the | :39:30. | :39:40. | |
:39:40. | :39:50. | ||
potential to completely transform It's hard to believe, but one of | :39:50. | :39:53. | |
the things most of us love to eat is a factor in determining what our | :39:53. | :40:03. | |
:40:03. | :40:05. | ||
Sugar doesn't just have the potential to make you put on weight, | :40:05. | :40:15. | |
:40:15. | :40:16. | ||
it can also help to make you look It's incredible to think that it | :40:16. | :40:26. | |
:40:26. | :40:36. | ||
The effect of sugar on skin ageing has fascinated biologist Dr David | :40:36. | :40:46. | |
:40:46. | :40:47. | ||
Working with the University of Leiden in Holland, he asked a | :40:47. | :40:57. | |
:40:57. | :41:05. | ||
random group of people to guess the If you go to a school reunion, why | :41:05. | :41:15. | |
:41:15. | :41:18. | ||
do some people look younger than they are and others older? We were | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
very interested in the reasons behind this variation in how old | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
people look and maybe what the secret work behind how some people | :41:27. | :41:34. | |
maintain the youthful appearance as they got older. In the study of 600 | :41:34. | :41:37. | |
people, Dr Gunn also measured everyone's blood sugar levels. And | :41:37. | :41:47. | |
:41:47. | :41:52. | ||
the link between blood and looks We put people into groups based on | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
their glucose levels. Then we looked at between these groups are | :41:57. | :42:01. | |
at their perceived age. What was interesting was that the guys in | :42:02. | :42:04. | |
the High group looked older than those with the average levels and | :42:04. | :42:09. | |
the average levels looked older again than the guys with the lowest | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
levels of glucose sugar in their blood. What was fascinating on top | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
of that is when we bring in the diabetics and looked at their | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
perceived age, they were older yet again. The diabetics have had the | :42:21. | :42:29. | |
longest exposure to high levels of glucose. On average, people with | :42:29. | :42:36. | |
high blood sugar looked around two So does my skin look older than it | :42:36. | :42:46. | |
:42:46. | :42:47. | ||
Dr Gunn offered to run the test on To do that, he first needs to take | :42:47. | :42:57. | |
:42:57. | :42:58. | ||
a series of pictures. But there was one small hitch. This is the | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
photography room. This is where we will take two photographs of | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
yourself. One thing I notice straightaway is we will have to ask | :43:07. | :43:13. | |
you to remove your make-up. Are you sure that is necessary? A very | :43:13. | :43:18. | |
necessary -- necessary, I'm afraid. It can hide how your skin looks. | :43:18. | :43:28. | |
:43:28. | :43:31. | ||
This is not what I had envisaged. Does it look radically different? | :43:31. | :43:41. | |
:43:41. | :43:43. | ||
Perfect. Finally, the pictures were taken and adjusted so only my skin | :43:43. | :43:52. | |
He then mixed up the images with people of a similar skin type and | :43:52. | :44:02. | |
:44:02. | :44:10. | ||
age to me. And he finished up by So what were the results? What age | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
do you think people would give you? I daren't give you a figure. In | :44:15. | :44:24. | |
case I'm wildly out. OK. I can tell you... Are whereas the box of | :44:24. | :44:29. | |
tissues? We have a box of tissues here. You came out as 34 years of | :44:29. | :44:39. | |
:44:39. | :44:46. | ||
I was shocked to discover that the panel thought I looked ten years | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
younger. Up now I want to know your glucose levels. I want to see | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
whether you have low glucose. If you could show me that, I would be | :44:55. | :45:03. | |
very interested. I have that here. I want to keep this! This is the | :45:03. | :45:11. | |
figure. 4.5. OK. You would be counted in the low Group. Indeed, | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
this supports the data we showed, that people with low glucose 10 to | :45:15. | :45:25. | |
:45:25. | :45:28. | ||
By So why do high blood sugar levels, amongst other things, help | :45:28. | :45:35. | |
The answer lies in how the sugar gets attached to the collagen in | :45:35. | :45:45. | |
:45:45. | :45:53. | ||
Once it gets attached to collagen and makes it more brittle, it makes | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
it more difficult for the skin to repair itself. Once that occurs, | :45:57. | :46:02. | |
you are on your way to advance staging of the skin. -- advanced | :46:03. | :46:12. | |
:46:13. | :46:17. | ||
ageing. Obviously, cutting back on the sugars in our diet is one | :46:17. | :46:20. | |
factor in looking younger. That might help to hold back the ageing | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
process, but is there anything we can do to reverse it? And make our | :46:25. | :46:35. | |
:46:35. | :46:40. | ||
ageing sugar damaged skin look Our understanding of the power of | :46:40. | :46:42. | |
sugar is totally transforming our view on skin ageing. It's also | :46:42. | :46:46. | |
creating a whole new branch of science. And I think this science, | :46:46. | :46:49. | |
probably more than anything, holds out the tantalising possibility of | :46:49. | :46:59. | |
:46:59. | :47:16. | ||
giving us the tools to help us look Babb the centre of this new science | :47:16. | :47:26. | |
:47:26. | :47:33. | ||
It's called Light Co biology, the study of complex issues which | :47:33. | :47:39. | |
scientists called liking. Our understanding of the power of sugar | :47:40. | :47:42. | |
is totally transforming our view on skin ageing. It's also creating a | :47:43. | :47:52. | |
:47:53. | :47:54. | ||
whole new branch of science. The incredible power of this biology is | :47:54. | :47:57. | |
being on the brink of being realised and it starts with this, | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
the mosquito. And of the disease which is the scourge of the | :48:01. | :48:11. | |
:48:11. | :48:13. | ||
It might seem improbable, but using glycobiology to find a vaccine for | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
malaria holds vital clues for solving the puzzle of how to make | :48:16. | :48:26. | |
:48:26. | :48:36. | ||
The most ground-breaking work on glycobiology is being done here at | :48:36. | :48:39. | |
the world famous Max Planck Institute. I'm slightly humbled to | :48:40. | :48:49. | |
:48:50. | :48:50. | ||
I'm here to meet Professor Peter Seeburger. He's in charge of the | :48:51. | :48:53. | |
cutting edge research programme and believes that the science of | :48:53. | :49:03. | |
:49:03. | :49:10. | ||
glycans has enormous untapped It has only been in the last couple | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
of years the people really understood the importance of the | :49:15. | :49:23. | |
Kuli cans and we are seeing a huge Glycans are found all over the | :49:23. | :49:33. | |
:49:33. | :49:39. | ||
And without them, our cells couldn't talk to one another. To me, | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
they're like a kind of essential social network. Messages for | :49:43. | :49:46. | |
everything from making organs to growing hair can only be sent when | :49:46. | :49:51. | |
the glycans are attached. Block that connection, and the dialogue | :49:51. | :50:01. | |
:50:01. | :50:05. | ||
Inspired, Professor Seeburger used this insight to make a vaccine for | :50:05. | :50:15. | |
:50:15. | :50:17. | ||
malaria. He invented a revolutionary technique that | :50:17. | :50:20. | |
enabled him to switch off the glycan that allowed the malaria | :50:20. | :50:29. | |
parasite into our cells. parasite cannot survive without it. | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
But it is really important in the life cycle and there is another | :50:33. | :50:38. | |
aspect of the work. We do not try to kill the parasite. We only block | :50:38. | :50:44. | |
the toxin. So the parasite is still there, but it no longer causes any | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
symptoms or bad effects on the host? That's right. I'm really | :50:49. | :50:52. | |
astonished to discover that in tests, the vaccine has proved 100% | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
effective. So, the painstaking work carried out in these labs could end | :50:57. | :51:07. | |
:51:07. | :51:12. | ||
up saving millions of lives all And cracking the code of how our | :51:12. | :51:14. | |
cells talk to each other is radically altering our | :51:14. | :51:19. | |
understanding of how and why our skin ages. In a young person's skin, | :51:19. | :51:25. | |
it is different to an old person. So the question is what happens | :51:25. | :51:28. | |
with the communication between cells. The interesting part is that | :51:28. | :51:34. | |
we found that if they Gallwey, the interaction can't happen any more, | :51:34. | :51:44. | |
:51:44. | :51:49. | ||
and that leads to all sorts of So, a breakdown in this | :51:49. | :51:59. | |
:51:59. | :52:01. | ||
communication appears to be a key I suppose it was only a matter of | :52:01. | :52:05. | |
time before the huge potential of this new language of life was used | :52:05. | :52:15. | |
:52:15. | :52:17. | ||
to see how it could help us all The focus of this research isn't | :52:17. | :52:27. | |
:52:27. | :52:44. | ||
here in Berlin, but in the fashion I'd secretly hoped that this | :52:44. | :52:46. | |
investigation between glycans and looking younger would be being | :52:46. | :52:49. | |
conducted near the Boulevard St Germain, the Champs Elysee or any | :52:49. | :52:52. | |
of the other celebrated fashion districts of the capital, but my | :52:52. | :53:02. | |
:53:02. | :53:10. | ||
I had to leave it behind and make Out here, amongst the warehouses | :53:10. | :53:19. | |
and small industrial units are the They've been working with | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
glycobiology to see if it can be used to make skin look younger. Of | :53:23. | :53:33. | |
:53:33. | :53:35. | ||
all of the cosmetics companies, The man leading the project is Dr | :53:35. | :53:45. | |
:53:45. | :53:52. | ||
For him, glycans are on the verge Like towns are involved in all | :53:52. | :53:58. | |
Major biological processes, and in all human tissues. That includes | :53:58. | :54:04. | |
skiing, of course. Without them, we cannot live. -- that includes | :54:04. | :54:13. | |
L'Oreal lead the world in manufacturing synthetic skin. | :54:14. | :54:16. | |
They've even managed to create the two separate layers of the skin, | :54:17. | :54:19. | |
the dermis and the epidermis, in the lab. And what they're | :54:19. | :54:25. | |
investigating is how these two layers are connected. How they talk | :54:25. | :54:31. | |
to each other. That communication takes place in the epidermal | :54:31. | :54:41. | |
:54:41. | :54:49. | ||
But as we get older, our glycans The messages to keep making the | :54:49. | :54:59. | |
:54:59. | :55:13. | ||
vital collagen don't get sent and What L'Oreal claim is that, in the | :55:13. | :55:15. | |
lab, they've been able to switch ageing glycans back on, restoring | :55:15. | :55:25. | |
:55:25. | :55:29. | ||
the dialogue between the dermis and We have shown that when you treat | :55:29. | :55:35. | |
the skin, you are able to restore the quality of the dermatological | :55:35. | :55:40. | |
junction. In other words, you restore the quality of the dialogue | :55:40. | :55:50. | |
:55:50. | :55:52. | ||
between epidermis, and Gomis. This is the key. -- and dermis. L'Oreal | :55:53. | :55:56. | |
have used that science to make a cream. Which they claim increases | :55:56. | :56:06. | |
:56:06. | :56:06. | ||
the number of glycans in the That should restore deflated | :56:06. | :56:16. | |
:56:16. | :56:21. | ||
collagen, eliminate sagging and The woman in me is obviously very | :56:21. | :56:27. | |
excited, but the surgeon in me is sceptical. And that's because most | :56:27. | :56:30. | |
cosmetic creams just don't penetrate deep enough, or contain | :56:30. | :56:35. | |
enough active ingredients. But maybe gylcans can reach the parts | :56:35. | :56:42. | |
other cosmetic creams can't. L'Oreal have conducted a series of | :56:42. | :56:52. | |
:56:52. | :56:52. | ||
tests on real skin and I'm going to Looking at this dermatology trial | :56:52. | :56:55. | |
of patients before and one month after using the product, what you | :56:55. | :56:59. | |
can see in this classic crow's feet view is that the lines are | :56:59. | :57:07. | |
And the skin quality certainly seems to have improved around this. | :57:07. | :57:10. | |
This is the very difficult under eye area where the skin is really | :57:10. | :57:14. | |
thin. And I've not seen results this good even with | :57:14. | :57:24. | |
:57:24. | :57:30. | ||
microdermabrasion or with laser Before you think of buying this | :57:30. | :57:40. | |
:57:40. | :57:41. | ||
cream, this study only featured 60 women. And it hasn't been published | :57:41. | :57:47. | |
in a peer reviewed journal. It's promising, but I'd like to see more | :57:47. | :57:50. | |
data to convince me. What I'm really interested in is the power | :57:50. | :57:55. | |
of the fundamental science that lies behind it. Science that | :57:55. | :57:58. | |
Professor Peter Seeburger, who's a consultant for L'Oreal, has helped | :57:58. | :58:07. | |
to pioneer. Being cynical, in the beginning I was worried about the | :58:07. | :58:13. | |
level of any signs done at a cosmetic company, but I learnt that | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
it is good basic science and they have people there who have been | :58:17. | :58:21. | |
doing this biology for 25 years in some cases. They are employing the | :58:21. | :58:31. | |
:58:31. | :58:47. | ||
same techniques as you would find If we're being honest, I think a | :58:47. | :58:51. | |
lot of us would like to look younger if we could. But time only | :58:51. | :59:01. | |
:59:01. | :59:23. | ||
flows in one direction. And its As a surgeon, I used to think that | :59:23. | :59:27. | |
the only way to staunch the flow was with a scalpel. But I know it | :59:28. | :59:34. | |
is not the only answer. I didn't know what to expect when I started | :59:34. | :59:38. | |
out on this journey. The influence of diet on skin ageing was a real | :59:38. | :59:43. | |
eye opener. But it's made me much more thoughtful about what I eat. I | :59:43. | :59:46. | |
was also pretty disappointed at just how strong and direct an | :59:46. | :59:51. | |
effect sun exposure has on wrinkles. But I'm really hopeful that the new | :59:51. | :59:53. |