Beauty and wellness roundup: Ingredients, happiness, sugar and coconut oil

Every week we like to bring you a roundup of some of the latest trends in beauty, health and wellness, and other articles of interest to ZENMED blog readers. Last week, we came across some interesting information about ingredients to erase the signs of aging, how beauty is linked to happiness, sugar’s impact on children and why health experts love coconut oil.

10 skin care ingredients to erase 10 years

Rhonda Allison shares ten superb ingredients believed to inhibit skin aging. The list includes several promising ingredients, including Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7/palmitoyl oligopeptide, a potent peptide shown to improve skin tone and increase elasticity and firmness.  Another age-fighting ingredient to make the cut is sorbitan olivate, which is rich in essential fatty acids and derived from olive oil.  Both of these breakthrough ingredients are found in Omegaceramide+.

The beauty-happiness connection

Modern historian Cody Delisraty reports on the link between things of beauty and the feeling of joy. He cites new research on how finding beauty in our everyday lives can actually improve our quality of life. Abraham Goldberg, a professor at University of South Carolina Upstate, penned a paper on the subject after analyzing results of happiness surveys conducted in metropolitan areas across the globe. According to this new research, green space, being surrounded by beautiful architecture and other aesthetically pleasing surroundings all can increase happiness. This makes sense. When I was on vacation, I spent a week in historic New England — the cobblestone streets, the waterfront, beautiful ships and an abundance of flowers all made me smile the entire stay. There may be something to this research!

4 shocking ways sugar affects your kid’s health

We know that sugar is bad for the skin, but Julie Revelant shares just how negatively it impacts the health of children. While sugar’s link to hyperactivity and obesity have long been established, new research shows that sugar can cause many other health issues in children. Among them: an increased risk of croup, allergies and asthma, acid reflux and weakened immunity. The World Health Organization recently proposed new guidelines recommending that no more than 5% of our total calories each day should be from sugar.

Coconut oil making a comeback after recent studies show it isn’t bad for you

Rebecca Pollock reports on the reasons everyone seems to be jumping on the coconut oil bandwagon. Once frowned upon my medical experts because it is high in saturated fats, new research has helped shed the oil’s bad reputation. Rich in lauric acid, this fat may lower cholesterol, increase metabolism, boost brain function and even lower blood pressure. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says that when you eat the medium chain fatty acids found in coconut oil, your metabolism is three times higher than consuming lower chain fatty acids so you are more likely to burn stored fat. If you haven’t tried coconut oil, what are you waiting for?

 

 

 

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