Your face is positively glowing: but how positively and is it attractive?

Faces are said to glow with a touch of sun and a touch of tan. But faces can also glow from pregnancy, and high levels of carotenoid. In humans, carotenoid comes from an intake of fruit and vegetables.

Researchers wanted to see what type of facial glow was more attractive to other people (Wellbeing No. 154, 2014; wellbeing.com.au – Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology). They conducted three experiments.

The first experiment involved people looking at images of faces that had a glow from an intake of high levels of carotenoids from fruit and vegetables and compared them with images of faces of people with low carotenoid levels. The best-known carotenoid is carotene found in crude palm oil, carrots and apricots (which gives them their bright orange colour). Hence images were of people who had increased their intake of carrots and apricots, and those who had not had a high intake of fruit and vegetables. People were asked to indicate which faces were attractive. The result was that 86% of people rated the high-carotenoid faces as more attractive.

The second experiment involved people looking at images of faces with high melanin pigmentation (skin tan) and compared them with images of faces with low melanin pigmentation (no tan). People were asked to indicate which faces were attractive. The result was that 78.5% of people rated the high melanin pigmentation – tanned faces – as more attractive.

The third experiment was a comparison of images of faces with high carotenoid levels against high melanin pigmentation faces (i.e. a comparison of faces that glow due to high fruit and vegetable intake with images of tanned faces). People were asked to indicate which faces were attractive. The result was that 75.9% of people rated the high carotenoid faces as more attractive than the tanned faces.

The researchers concluded that eating more carrots and apricots is more likely to produce a healthy facial glow that other people would find attractive. What they don’t add is that an excess of carrots can also produce an orange appearance, and too much sun can produce sunburn, so how much is enough and how much is too much?

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog