 The skin is the largest organ in the body, about 20 square feet. And the most vulnerable organ in the body exposed to both the oxidizing effects of UV radiation from the sun and the oxidizing effects of oxygen in the air. And years of oxygen stress can take a toll. Over the years, skin becomes thinner, more easily damaged, loses volume, elasticity, and can sag and wrinkle. What can we do about it? Skin wrinkling, can food make a difference? They measured healthfulness of skin using a micro-topographic method. It's cool. They make a mold of the back of your hand with a silicone rubber, peel it off, and then look at it under a microscope. This is what young, tight, healthy skin looks like. But then as we age, our skin can get all coarse and flaccid. How can we stop it? Well, three things contribute to the aging of skin. Oxidative stress induced by sun damage, inflammation, and ischemia, lack of adequate blood flow. Oxidative stress means we need anti-oxidants. Under these circumstances, many skin antioxidants undergo depletion, must be replaced continuously in order to delay the otherwise inevitable deterioration which would lead to skin aging. So plant foods would presumably help. And then inflammation and lack of blood flow. And so one might predict saturated fat, inflammation, and cholesterol ischemia might be associated with adverse effects on our skin. Let's see if our predictions hold up. In particular, a high intake of vegetables, bean, peas, lentil, soy, and olive oil appeared to be protective against skin wrinkling, whereas a high intake of meat, dairy, and butter appeared to have an adverse effect. Prunes, apples, and tea appeared especially protective. A recent study, for example, found that green tea phytonutrients were able to protect skin against harmful UV radiation, help improve skin quality of women. After a few months on green tea, there was a 16% reduction in skin roughness and a 25% reduction in scaling. Here's a micrograph showing the reduction in scaling, as well as improved skin elasticity and hydration.