Do Vegetarians Have More Wrinkles?

March is National Nutrition Month and I have vowed to eat at least 5 servings of  fruits and vegetables a day.  Its the minimum that most dietary  guidelines recommend and I can certainly see why.  Fruits and veggies are the source for anti-oxidants vitamin A, vitamin C, and then there is their all important fiber content. I was then stunned to  read  new study which found that vegetarians  had more wrinkles than  peple who ate everything. ???

How could that be?  The NHANES study showed that higher vitamin C levels and lower fat intake was associated with firmer, younger looking skin.   Vegetarians  usually eat lots of nuts which are rich in linoleic acid and linoleic acid  was also a key  factor  in fewer wrinkles. Drilling deeper into the topic, I  wondered if  vegetarians could  have  lower protein intake– and  healthy  protein levels were also crucial to fewer  wrinkles in the NHANES study.  And then there is the carbohydrate levels in vegetarian meal plans.  NHANES found that higher carb levels in the diet  was a particularly potent wrinkles maker.  Vegetarian diets  can get plenty of protein by combining grains and beans, but  larger servings are needed to meet protein needs– as much as 11  servings  of carbs a day.  Protein can also be supplied by dairy, but unless  its  the low fat  kind, fat levels  can be higher than needed. All of these factors can be controlled with  detailed  planning, but its not easy. My cousin Nicole  is a vegetarian and thinks that  Caesar salad and french fries is a perfect vegetarian meal.  On the other hand, a vegetarian classmate at NYU typically   drinks a Kale smoothie for breakfast, has  a soy yogurt for lunch and dives into a  huge bowl of  brown rice, sweet potato and steamed escarole for dinner.   If you  are vegetarian do you  have  strategies for balacing nutritional needs?

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