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Fri/Sat/Sun June 16~18, 2017

WITH the offi cial start of summer just one week away, you probably already have your fi rst beach trip planned. But before you risk damaging your skin in an attempt to get a tan, there might actually be a safe way to increase the pigmentation of your skin.

David E. Fisher and his team at Mas-sachusetts General Hospital set out to tan skin while combating the risk of cancers and aging that can result from sun exposure — and it looks as if they’re well on their way.

As a follow-up to a study released in 2006, Fisher and his team just came out with fi ndings of an ingredient that may be applied topically to darken the appearance of human skin in a way that mimics the natural tanning process.

While it’s no secret that many of us just want the glow, he emphasizes the greater value in stimulating melanin production.

“Dark pigment clearly is benefi cial in preventing the photo aging phe-nomenon — the injury from ultraviolet

radiation that causes our skin to look old,” he says. “It accelerates the aging process of our skin, and dark pigment appears to strongly antagonize that by multiple different mechanisms.”

The understanding that increased melanin in the skin is in fact valuable might not be new.

However, using UV to stimulate the

pigment’s response is so detrimental that the skin doesn’t actually reap the benefi ts of it.

So once the team at MGH identifi ed the processes that underlie natural tan-ning, they began to work on discovering an ingredient that would safely produce the same response.

“The way we went about this was

to identify an ingredient that has the ability to target something in our skin which normally inhibits pigment pro-duction.

So that by inhibiting the inhibitor, it allows pigment to be synthesized, without any of the damaging effects,” Fisher explains.

Although there is still testing to be done, Fisher anticipates that physical changes caused by the fi nal product are expected to be gradual, taking a few days to darken the skin. However, just like a natural tan, the color will only begin to disappear as skin natu-rally sheds off.

And although this sounds like an easy-out from both spray tans and sunblock, Fisher warns that the result-ing product should always be used with sunscreen, and not in place of it.

“Sunscreen will always be useful for certain things,” he assures. “But dark pigment in addition to sunscreen may provide a whole dimension of protec-tion.” (SD-Agencies)

Scientists may have found a safe way to tan

DAME Vivienne Westwood isn’t planning on giving up her rebel-lious reputation anytime soon.

The pioneer of the punk aesthetic took her spring/summer 2018 collection to new rule-breaking heights during London Fashion Week Men’s on Monday.

Dancers, models and contortionists took to the runway in an energetic show — with messages about climate change and the state of the world at its heart. In true Westwood fashion, the 76-year-old designer defi ed age and gravity by being held aloft by a muscly contortionist for the fi nale.

Here are a few things from her show that made us stop, stare and share.

1. From plastic forks and empty packets, to coffee cup lids, the designer stuffed and stuck rubbish to models’ legs — making a very strong statement about climate change and recycling.

Vivienne Westwood’s rebellious runway

4. Notes distributed at the show explained that the repeated circle motif — or “spotty animal print” — was “meant to be the noughts which endlessly multiply money by 10 over and over. We only need a few to save the rainforest, but billions disappear every day in global infl ation,” according to The Guardian. (SD-Agencies)

»3. Beauty incorporated nature: Westwood replaced lipstick with crimson rose petals.

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2. Acrobats (and a clown) made their way down the runway in a series of lively, playful and heart-stopping moments.

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WHEN it comes to weight loss, some people opt for ultra-calo-rie-restrictive diets and often end up later gaining the weight back because those diets aren’t sustainable. Yet, a new study found that following a vegetar-ian diet is twice as effective in reducing body weight as con-ventional low-calorie diets. On top of that, dieters who go vegetarian may also boost their metabolism by reducing their muscle fat.

Published in the Journal of the American College of Nutri-tion, the study set out to exam-ine the effect of vegetarian diets on patients with type 2 diabetes. Scientists from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine analyzed 74 subjects with type 2 diabetes, who were randomly assigned to follow a vegetarian diet (mostly fruits, grains, vegetables and nuts, with the only animal product being low-fat yogurt) or a conventional low-calorie, anti-diabetic diet.

After six months, those fol-lowing the vegetarian diet lost an average of 6.2 kg, as compared to 3.2 kg for those following the conventional diet, which means the vegetarian diet was nearly twice as effective in reducing the participants’ body weight. The scientists also looked at the adi-pose (fat-storage) tissue in the participants’ thighs to see how the diets affected the fat on the surface of and inside muscles. Both of the diets had a similar reduction in subcutaneous fat, but more muscle fat was lost by those on the vegetarian diet.

The fi nding is relevant to anyone who takes their weight management seriously and wants to stay lean and healthy.

(SD-Agencies)

Vegetarian diets may be effective for weight loss

» 5. Vivienne Westwood at the show.